There's a house in South Korea designed to look like a toilet.
The "toilet house," as it is called, was built in 2007 by a Mr. Sim Jae-deok, who later became chairman and founder of, wouldn't you know it, the World Toilet Association.
His goal was to promote proper restroom hygiene and sanitation around the world and to set international standards on how to clean public restrooms, and most specifically, toilets. According to Sim, inadequate restroom and toilet cleanliness "have caused epidemics around the world that cost two million lives a year."
Photo credit: Lee Youn-sook, a manager of Mr. Toilet House.
The Toilet-Shaped house is in Suwon, which is about 25 miles south of Seoul. While Sim was famously called "Mr. Toilet," and the house nicknamed the toilet house, that is not its official name.
Instead, he named it Haewoojae, which signifies in Korean "a place of sanctuary where one can solve one's worries." The house has two bedrooms, two guest rooms, and three "deluxe" bathrooms. The entire house is made of steel, white concrete, and glass. It also has a symbolic bowl-like opening in the roof.
Along with being chairman of the World Toilet Association, Sim was also mayor of his small town, and became famous for providing all the toilets at the 2002 World Cup, held in South Korea.
He also made a fortune developing metal products, many of which were purchased by Samsung Electronics, which is headquartered in Suwon.
So how did Sim get so focused on toilets? According to him, he was born in a toilet. "My mother believed that people born in bathrooms enjoyed longer lives." One of his close associates adds that "he literally began life in a toilet and his life ended in a commode shaped house."
Sim died in 2009. He was 70 years old, which means he was only able to enjoy his famous toilet-shaped house for two years. However, the house lives on. Today it is a museum that not only tells the story of the history of toilets but is also used as an art gallery.
Oh, and by the way, if you want, you can spend the night there. While there have not been any takers so far, the house can be rented for the night for $50,000.
Waterless Co. Inc. develops technologies that help reduce water consumption. For more information, contact a Waterless Co Specialist
