Alisan Dockerty A New York City Public Toilet

Public Plaza, 1257 Avenue of the Americas, Manhattan, NYC.

The Watershed is a water recycling plant and public toilet which collects, harnesses and treats water in all states, and finally reuses it.  A masterplan of a mega infrastructural stormwater collection membrane provides a backdrop and infrastructure connecting the Public toilet and water treatment with the combined sewer inlets at street level.

The concept extends from research into Manhattan’s overflowing combined sewers and how they are responsible for the pollution to the city’s surrounding waterways. The building will aim to collect large quantities of stormwater and will become a large scale water attenuation device, disrupting the journey of water by harnessing it for public toilet use and convoluted further using fountains, whirlpools are waterfalls, preventing as much water as possible from entering the nearest combined sewer inlet. This project will develop a new take on the traditional NYC style public plaza using the processes associated with water, mainly aeration, to become a public spectacle.

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