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An elegant assembly of city furniture that both day and night, enriches the public realm. Deceptively simple, these two new public toilets display architectural skill both in concept and detail.

This small building provides a small landmark in central Nelson, responding to this heritage context with a contemporary and innovative design that references surrounding features. The building integrates with the existing context by extending the brickwork of an existing boundary wall forming the backdrop to the existing stage. 

A self-supporting arched roof of aluminium construction is supported by the brickwork, spaced above to create suitable headroom. Glazed clerestory windows infill the interstitial space which visually separates the wall and roof, and allows daylight to the interior.

The roof extends forward to provide shelter to the doors and to increase the presence of the building entrances. The roof is supported by fluted posts, making a deliberate reference to the canopies on adjacent buildings - in particular that of the Chez Eelco. 

The front panel and doors are formed with a decorative aluminium and obscured glass screen, allowing light in during daylight hours and out in darkness. The pattern on the screen is based on the central boss to the decorative lamp forming the centrepiece to upper Trafalgar Street.

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1903 Square Toilets

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JTB Architects is an award-winning NZIA Registered practice, founded in Nelson in 1986. We now work from studios in Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch and Wanaka, on projects around New Zealand. We design beautiful contemporary buildings of all sizes and across a broad range of project types.

Design-led
We are a design-led practice which is committed to understanding and responding to our client’s needs with professionalism, energy and creativity. With each project we aim to find the optimum balance between sustainability, value and design quality, based on our client’s priorities. We design robust and durable buildings without compromising aesthetic quality.

Committed to sustainability
Innovation forms a central part of our approach in relation to materials technology and energy use. We are members of the New Zealand Green Building Council, and our business is also EKOS Zero Carbon for Business Operations.