The practice's ongoing design collaboration with TOTO has seen it design a number of installations and the reinvention of its London gallery and showroom spaces.
Squire & Partners’ collaboration with heritage Japanese bathroom brand TOTO began with the design of a contemporary Japanese teahouse and zen garden for its showroom exhibition and a hotel and interiors show display in 2024, and developed into playing a role in the reinvention of its customer experience, gallery and courtyard spaces at its London concept showroom in 2026.
Client TOTO
Design Squire & Partners
Construction Takenaka
Contributor The Stonemasonry Company
Contributor Cipango
Soundscape Tom Middleton & Bang Olufsen
Status Completed 2026
Japanese teahouse and zen garden design
The TOTO Teahouse design was conceived as a contemporary take on a traditional Japanese teahouse, launched for the brand's Technology Meets Tradition exhibition in 2024, and retained as a permanent feature of the TOTO London gallery and showroom.
The teahouse structure was developed into an installation titled ‘The Beauty of Shadows’ for the brand’s display at the hotel and interiors show HIX LDN 2024.
Woven into the journey to the teahouse, a multi-sensory zen garden was conceived to display products, and showcased the power of collaboration with contributions from 400-year-old Japanese construction company Takenaka, Japanese artisan and social enterprise Cipango, The Stonemasonry Company, and a bespoke soundscape by Tom Middleton experienced through Bang & Olufsen’s omnidirectional Beosound Balance speaker.
In 2026, the practice was invited to contribute to the reinvention of TOTO’s London gallery and showroom – located in the heart of Clerkenwell design district and launching during Clerkenwell Design Week as an immersive brand destination.
Created for the international design community, the transformed space brings together Japanese craftsmanship, circular design and advanced bathroom technology within a multi-sensory environment.
At the heart of the showroom, Squire & Partners has designed a sequence of customer experience toilets envisioned as a three-room journey: Clay, Timber and Stone, each defined by natural materials and a distinct sensory character.
Texture, lighting, sound and fragrance work in harmony to create calm, immersive spaces that demonstrate how considered design can elevate everyday rituals.
Materials, craft, multisensory design and proportion are all carefully composed to create spaces that feel intuitive, calm, distinctly human and natural.
On the lower ground floor, a flexible exhibition and gallery space designed by the practice is set to host talks, workshops, curated installations and collaborative events to celebrate Japanese design and craftsmanship, while encouraging exchange within London’s architecture and interior design community.
Japanese courtyard garden
Composed of stone and raked gravel, the space evokes the presence of water through texture and form, creating a quiet, contemplative pause within the visitor journey.
Rooted in the Japanese concept of ma – an intentional use of space, the garden encourages balance, simplicity and reflection, reinforcing TOTO’s commitment to clarity, comfort and wellbeing through design.
