I am not in the habit of taking a camera into public toilets.
But you can be forgiven in Kawakawa.
Since 1999, this small town in New Zealand's Bay of Islands, has been talked about because of its public toilets, put plumb in the middle of the high street. Even the shops around it have taken to imitating the style of the Austrian architect..
Viennese architect Frederick Hundertwasser volunteered a design (as he had done for many other public buildings, and been rejected) in his idiosyncratic style - and it was adopted, grass roof and all.
The design includes a living Macropiper excelsus tree, after which the town is named in Maori.
This was the only building he designed in the southern hemisphere. It is probably the most photographed public toilet in the world !!
The toilet was opened in a dawn ceremony on completion and is the town's claim to fame.
To Hundertwasser, a toilet is very special because "you meditate in a toilet."
Like a church. "The similarity is not so far fetched" - he said.
Hundertwasser said straight lines are evil.
There are no straight lines in the toilet. Only crooked beauty.
It's a landmark loo, and Hundertwasser was named a 'living treasure'.
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