A computationally designed concrete 3D printed public toilet in Thrissur, Kerala, India
Complexity should not simply look good. It should perform.
Optimised Public Infrastructure is a full-scale prototype exploring the potential of computational design and concrete 3D printing in public architecture. Developed at the Konface campus in Thrissur, Kerala, the project uses a public toilet as a test case. It examines how geometry can respond to environmental conditions and structural requirements. The design also explores spatial efficiency and the possibilities of digital fabrication.
The project adopts a simple programme comprising a toilet, shower and wash area organised within a compact club-shaped plan. The geometry moves beyond a conventional rectangular layout to improve spatial efficiency while maintaining clear circulation and privacy within a limited footprint. The design focuses on practical performance rather than formal expression. It brings spatial organisation, environmental performance and fabrication requirements together through a single design process.
A Public Toilet In Thrissur Designed With Digital Tools And 3D-Printed Concrete | Raving Dots Studio
The design process began with performance analysis rather than a complex form. The team used annual solar exposure data to generate the non-linear concrete walls through an iterative process. The geometry creates areas of self-shading throughout the day. This reduces the surface area exposed to direct sunlight. Compared with a flat reference surface, the optimised façade has approximately 21% more surface area. Despite this increase, it receives 7.6% fewer cumulative hours of direct sunlight. When adjusted for surface area, the design achieves a 23.6% reduction in direct sun hours per square metre. This lower solar exposure is expected to moderate peak surface temperatures and reduce conductive heat transfer through the building envelope.
The same principle extends to the structural system. A freestanding column was topologically optimised to concentrate material where structural demand is greatest, increasing its section towards the roof and foundation while reducing unnecessary material through the middle. Spatially, the compact club-shaped plan organises the toilet, shower and wash areas within a small footprint while maintaining functional separation and comfortable movement.
Concrete 3D printing makes it possible to translate these digitally generated geometries directly into built form without relying on conventional formwork for the non-linear walls. Raving Dots Studio developed the computational workflow, including the parametric design, environmental analysis and print toolpaths, while Konface executed the concrete 3D printing. The structure was completed in 12 days.
The exposed concrete retains the layered texture produced by the printing process, allowing fabrication to remain visible as part of the architecture. Steel-framed windows, a timber-panelled door and a continuous microtopping finish across the interior provide a restrained material counterpoint to the expressive printed enclosure.
The project explores a broader possibility for additive manufacturing: not simply making complex architecture easier to construct, but making complexity useful. Environmental performance, structural logic, spatial organisation and fabrication are treated as interconnected aspects of the same design process. In this sense, the small public building becomes a prototype for a wider approach to digitally fabricated infrastructure, where geometry is not an end in itself, but a means of improving how architecture performs.
Fact File
Designed by: Raving Dots Studio
Project Type: Public Utility / 3D Concrete Printing Prototype
Project Name: Optimised Public Infrastructure
Location: Thrissur, Kerala, India
Year Built: 2025
Duration of the project: 12 Days
Project Size: 56.32 Sq.ft
Principal Architect: Ar. Rohit B Anandan
Photograph Courtesy: unsolvedcomet
Firm’s Instagram Link: Raving Dots Studio
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