The Hunan Street Public Service Station is located in the center of Shanghai. The original building was composed of public toilets, a garbage transfer station and a janitor's lounge. With the development of tourism and urban regeneration in recent years, the original building has become increasingly difficult to meet the requirements of the public and the authority in terms of external image and internal functional configuration. After the public call for proposals, professional evaluation and public voting, our renovation plan was successfully won and implemented.

The renovation design provides an eye-catching image of the service facility and the experience of urban public space by creating a dynamic line from the city into the building and integrating the public hand-washing sink. In turn, through the relocation of plan functions, the renovated service station is harmonized with the environment of the landscape area in terms of plan scale, equipment configuration and facade’s form.

The renovation pays attention to the rights and interests of all the users and pet-friendly, and provides a more comfortable office and rest space for janitors and managers on the second floor. Upon completion of the renovation, the public will enter the building through huge openings and flower beds and experience an interior patio courtyard, making the public-to-private transition more comfortable and appropriate.

This project, as one of the very few cases in which young architects were awarded design commissions through an open call, provides a mechanism for urban micro-regeneration construction in Shanghai that has value beyond the improvement of the built environment.