What's in a restroom? Most of us don't want to know. But one Alabama park has public toilet facilities that are as eye-popping as they are utilitarian.

The restrooms at Perry Lakes Park in Marion, Ala., were designed and built in 2003 by architecture students at Auburn's Rural Studio, a program that teaches students about designing and building while helping provide much-needed facilities.

RuralSWAlabama.org

The complex includes the Mound Toilet, shown above from the back, the Long Toilet and the Tall Toilet, which is a 50-foot-tall structure. The walls of the Long Toilet are built around a tree and the Mound Toilet hides the facility's septic system.

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RuralSWAlabama.org

The designs were built with local materials: a mix of cypress and locally-milled cedar along with anodized aluminum, stainless steel and concrete. They were designed to enhance the natural beauty of the park as well as to provide a fun atmosphere for visitors, according to the Rural Studio. The photo above shows the interior of the Long Toilet.

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In 2015, the toilet complex was a finalist in America's Best Restroom Contest sponsored by Cintas. The design team included Sarah Dunn, Matt Foley, Brannen Park and Melissa Sullivan. The Tall Toilet is shown above.

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RuralSWAlabama.org

The architecture students built several other structures in Perry Lakes Park, which is a unique swampy area. They built a pavilion, a covered bridge, a birding tower and a boardwalk in the 600-acre park.

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RuralSWAlabama.org

According to RuralSWAlabama.org, "The park contains four oxbow lakes, formed when the Cahaba River changed its course about 150 years ago. Foot trails traverse the park's mature hardwood forests and swampy lowlands."

It also includes the Barton's Beach Cahaba River Preserve, a 125-acre preserve owned by the Nature Conservancy of Alabama and the Perry County Commission. The photo above shows the Long Toilet.

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RuralSWAlabama.org

Looking up the 50-foot Tall Toilet.

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The Long Toilet.

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The Mound Toilet.

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Altairisfar/Wikimedia Commons

Read more about Alabama architecture

Surviving examples of Alabama's I-House architecture, or 'plantation plain' style

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Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com

READ MORE: Take a look at Alabama's few surviving examples of Carpenter Gothic homes

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