High altitude
ALTITUDEWorking conditions & equipment performance
QQINGHAI
TOILET PROJECT
TOILET PROJECT
Seven Winters
Qinghai, China · A record of people and place
Begin with life as it is.
Then ask what could change.
Six conditions shape the design. Three perspectives bring the everyday needs into focus.
Extreme cold
CLIMATEFrozen pipes, water seals & equipment
Limited water
WATERLimited flushing, cleaning & water supply
Permafrost
PERMAFROSTExcavation, foundations & seasonal changes
Dispersed communities
DISTANCEHigher costs for centralized pipe networks
Poor connectivity
CONNECTIVITYData transmission & emergency contact
A toilet people can afford to use.
Most village toilets are still dry latrines, and upgrades remain uneven. Water is scarce, so residents are reluctant to use even newly built flush toilets.
How should the budget be allocated, and can limited investment meet actual needs?
Can it keep working for years to come?
Privacy needs protection. Cleaning and maintenance require considerable effort and dedicated public-service staff; emptying the pits is also difficult.
Long winters can cause pipes to burst, so the school needs a dedicated team to carry out routine maintenance and repairs.
On the plateau, transport and frost are major challenges.
Villages are scattered. Moving materials, equipment and workers requires longer journeys and more time.
Strong sunshine, large day-night temperature swings and low temperatures put water systems at risk of freezing. Existing pipes need deep burial and routes near heat sources to prevent freezing.
The needs behind the numbers
Xu rang Xiang Central School · School data & field interviews
802Students · grade totals
59Teachers · 27 male / 32 female
99Boarders · 42 boys / 57 girls
9Grades · 1 through 9
Students by grade
Boys · 407Girls · 395
Unit: students. All bars use the same scale.
Student ethnic composition
Tu84.4%
Han12.3%
Tibetan2.4%
Mongolian0.9%
Hui, Salar and other ethnic groups were recorded as 0%.
Boarding & day attendance
99Boarders · 12.4%
701Day students · 87.6%
Based on 800 students in the accommodation section: boarders 42 boys / 57 girls; day students 363 boys / 338 girls.
Beyond the numbers: what matters?
Qualitative findings from the record and interviews; these are not survey percentages.
Privacy
Unpartitioned pit latrines lead some girls to avoid using the toilet; private menstrual-care space is also lacking.
Warm water in winter
Female students and teachers want reliable warm water for handwashing in winter and better washing facilities.
Cleaning & maintenance
Sanitary waste needs timely removal, alongside improvements to ventilation and sewage drainage.
Safety & everyday use
Students usually visit in groups at night. One younger pupil’s parent raised concerns about wide gaps in the pit latrine.
DESIGN
Design that belongs here.
Let everyday needs, the plateau climate and local memory shape the spaces we build.
Everyday needs, clear principles.
DESIGN BRIEF
What kind of toilets do rural plateau communities need?
- 01
Low cost
Simple to use and easy to maintain.
- 02
No sewer network
Microbial treatment and settling; safe treatment and volume reduction.
- 03
Little or no flush water
Reduce water use and emptying frequency.
- 04
Resource recovery
Enable beneficial reuse of recovered resources.
- 05
Easy installation
Lightweight and straightforward to install.
- 06
Comfort in use
Consider outdoor toilet comfort during winter.
- 07
Clean & hygienic
No exposed waste, fewer flies and less residue.
- 08
Plateau frost protection
Insulate pipes and protect equipment against freezing through long, cold winters.
Xu rang Xiang School · Shaped by the landscape
From the landscape to a place for everyday life.
Mountain rhythms
Overlapping plateau ridges become a rhythmic roofline.
Sheltered spaces
Inward-facing spaces and thick walls create a quiet, sheltered place.
Hehuang memories
Hehuang shadow puppetry brings local cultural memory into everyday architectural details.
Living landscape
Cold- and drought-tolerant planting responds to the plateau climate.
A light after dark
Translucent panels and illuminated signs provide light and orientation.
Jiajia Xiang School · From daylight to nightfall
One building, day and night
DAYNIGHTXu rang Xiang School · Architecture & structure
Architecture · Structure · Floor plans
Architecture · Space and elevations
Architecture · Design notes I
Site plan · Within the campus
Floor plan · Everyday use
Jiajia Xiang School · Architecture & structure
Architecture · Structure · Floor plans
Architecture · Plans & elevations
Structure · Foundations & roof
Details · Architectural construction
Structure · Design notes
BUILD
Ideas, made tangible.
From sketches to prototypes, water saving to frost protection: explore the details that make a design work.
From a sketch to a working prototype.
Concept exploration
Start with the body. Sketches, paper mock-ups and posture studies explore how one toilet can accommodate different habits.
Engineering input
Bring the idea into a technical discussion. The meeting record and exploded view connect the proposed form with components and assembly.
Prototyping
Move from drawings to objects. Compare physical samples, components and workshop processes documented in the source.
SYSTEM / HOW IT WORKS
How it works
No-water approach · Applied in Yangjiashan Village.
Self-sealing toilet
Keeps feces enclosed after use.
Negative-pressure ventilation
Exhaust airflow helps reduce odors in the toilet room.
Source separation
Feces and urine follow separate collection and treatment routes.
Fecal treatment route
- Separate collection
- Mix with microbial bedding
- Volume reduction & treatment
- Organic fertilizer recovery
Urine recovery route
- Separate collection
- Dedicated storage tank
- Maturation: over 30 days
- Subsurface return to soil
SYSTEM / WATER-SAVING & MICROFLUSH
Water-saving & microflush ecological toilet system
Micro-flush approach · Applied in Jiajia Xiang School and Xu rang Xiang School.
Collection
Waterless urinals are paired with water-saving or vacuum toilets. Solar power is optional.
Separate treatment
Urine enters a storage and fermentation tank; feces enter septic tanks for treatment. The diagram also shows washbasin drainage.
Recovery & maintenance
Urine recovery is optional. Collected material is transported for further treatment or use; fecal and urine storage tanks require regular emptying.
System architecture & resource recovery
A three-stage approach: separate at source, treat each stream, and recover resources. The guide describes urine–feces separation, anaerobic fermentation and organic fertilizer return to farmland, saving over 90% of water and turning waste into agricultural resources.
Source separation
Waterless urinals collect urine separately. Water-saving toilets use no more than 1 L per flush to move feces, while handwashing greywater is collected separately. Separation reduces wastewater at source and avoids the added treatment difficulty of mixing urine and feces.
≤1 LPer micro-flush
Separate anaerobic treatment
Urine enters a static fermentation chamber for 30–60 days of stabilization to inactivate pathogens. Feces and greywater enter a three-stage septic tank for 20–40 days of anaerobic breakdown, producing nutrient-rich liquid digestate and stabilized solid digestate.
20–60Days across treatment routes
Closed-loop resource recovery
Fermented products are transported by specialist pump trucks to composting facilities for further processing into organic fertilizer, or returned directly to farmland and orchards. The guide describes a soil-to-soil cycle and a 30–50% reduction in chemical fertilizer use.
30–50%Chemical fertilizer substitution
Technical safeguards for cold climates
Energy autonomy
Rooftop distributed photovoltaics generate 2–5 kWh daily, paired with lithium iron phosphate battery storage. The guide describes 24-hour electricity supply for heating, mixing and monitoring, supporting off-grid operation without an external grid connection.
Multi-layer frost protection
Treatment units are buried 1.2–1.5 m deep to use stable ground temperatures. XPS insulation and polyurethane foam surround the units, with a stated heat-transfer coefficient below 0.35 W/(m²·K). When pipe temperature drops below 5°C, 80–150 W electric heat tracing starts automatically. Stored energy is specified to provide more than 72 hours of power.
Localized treatment
Small underground treatment units beneath the toilet extend the pump-out interval from 30 days to 120–180 days. Average transport distance falls from 15 km to within 3 km. The guide reports a reduction of more than 60% in annual operating costs and lower transport emissions.
Solar-powered heating
Capture sunlight. Store energy. Deliver heat.
Solar-powered toilet unit
The rooftop panel supplies the integrated storage and inverter unit.
Storage + inverter
Stores electrical energy and supplies the heating devices and lighting.
03 / HEATING & LIGHTING
Fecal tank heater
50 W220 VUrine tank heater
50 W220 VLighting
10 W220 VTWO HEATING DEVICES50 W + 50 W
LIGHTING10 W
Ratings shown in the source diagram. Actual equipment configuration depends on climate, operating time and site conditions.
On site · A construction journal
Follow the work on site. Select a construction stage to watch.
SITE RECORD site-01
01 / 11September 2024 · Yangjiashan · Site survey
CARE
Built to be cared for.
Cleaning, checks, repairs and records keep everyday improvements going.
Care, one day at a time.
Daily cleaning, preventive checks and stock management, page by page.
JIAJIA XIANG PRIMARY SCHOOL · TOILET CARE
01Daily cleaning
For Grade 4 and above, assigned by a teacher. Tick each completed task and report abnormalities immediately.
- Flush and clean the toilets.
- Wipe sinks and countertops clean.
- Remove litter and visible standing water.
- Check doors, partitions and locks for visible damage.
- Check for blockages, persistent leaks and unusual odors.
Record week, date range and supervising teacher. Log each task Monday–Sunday, with the student's signature.
JIAJIA XIANG PRIMARY SCHOOL · TOILET CARE
02Weekly preventive checks
School maintenance staff check each item and record OK, action needed and notes.
- Toilets: test flushing and resetting on every unit.
- Sinks / taps: check drips, slow leaks and loose fittings.
- Drainage: check sinks and floor drains for slow drainage or backflow.
- Doors / partitions / hardware: inspect locks, hinges and fixings.
- Ventilation / odors: confirm exhaust operation; investigate persistent odors.
- Pipes / corners / metalwork: inspect leaks, damp, rust and mold.
- Seals / joints: check cracked sealant and leaking connections.
- Sensors / thermostats / frost protection, if fitted: verify operation.
1–2 / 6
Adapted from the Jiajia Primary School Toilet Maintenance Manual. English text is translated from the Chinese source. Full weekly tables, signature fields and stock logs are in the original PDF.
Original PDF (Chinese) ↗Download printable forms ↓YANGJIASHAN / CARE & SUSTAINABILITYEveryday care.
Everyday care.
Shared participation.
How can care continue after construction? Yangjiashan links toilet cleaning and facility maintenance with a supermarket points scheme, connecting the upkeep of shared spaces to residents’ everyday lives.
The village's Electric Power Charity Supermarket Care for shared spaces
Residents take part in everyday care by cleaning toilets and maintaining facilities.
The “Earn points by participating” board Turn participation into points
Cleaning and maintenance efforts connect to the village's activity points system.
Goods available at the supermarket Exchange points for goods
Accumulated points can be exchanged for goods at the charity supermarket, bringing practical benefits to everyday life.
Stills from the supplied video “October 10”, 02:56–03:02. Original Chinese subtitles retained.
A place for daily care.
A flower for every effort.
From village points to school flowers: a noticeboard outside the toilets brings duties, records and encouragement together.
OUR SCHOOL CARE BOARDTAKE PART · TAKE CARE
Toilet maintenance manual
Original posting sheets · Click to read
Small tasks. Everyday care.
Assigned by a teacher to students in Grade 4 and above.
- Clean toilets, sinks and countertops
- Remove litter and standing water
- Look out for damaged locks, blockages, leaks and odors
- Tick, sign and report any issues promptly
This week’s flowers
Complete duties → Teacher checks → Record a flower
Flowers recorded: 0
Interactive demo: click a flower to record it. No student data is saved. Flowers are a proposed incentive, not a rule in the original manual.The manual defines duties. The board makes them visible. Flowers recognize the effort.