Eugene Oregon holds one of the largest homeless populations within all the cities across the state of Oregon. Throughout Eugene, some designs welcome the homeless, however, some spaces actively designs ‘out’ the unhoused as well. Whether the barriers are built intentionally or not, it holds an impact on the homeless population, as one can see by observing the environment around Tailored Coffee Roasters.
Tailored Coffee Roasters is a coffee shop that is located on 13th Avenue by the campus of the University of Oregon. Many students go to this location to finish their school work in a cafe environment. According to the blog post Tailored Coffee Roaster’s Connection to Modernity and Comfort written by ‘kperrone’, the cafe has a welcoming and warm atmosphere with the help of its open and transparent design. The space was not created with the intention of being exclusive. However, intentionally or not, the space has multiple barriers to those who are not consumers. It is worth noting that many of the blog posts describing Tailored are designing the environment from the inside, but to truly determine whether a space is open to the unhoused, one would need to make observations from the other side. One element noticed was their windows, ironically, as many noted them to be a reason for their welcoming atmosphere. On the inside, one can look out and monitor everything happening around them, however, the glazing located around the majority of the customer’s seating area is tinted. This was probably implemented to create a private space, but this is a built barrier to those on the outside. More implicit hostile design can also be found around the entrance, as the planted bushes around the entrance create a natural barricade and act as a filler for the open space. Those who are not picking apart the logistics of the design may not think twice about the plants, as it integrates nature and the cafe decorated with house plants. Yet, from the perspective of the unhoused looking for places to rest, the building does the most it can to block those who are not visiting the shop. As ‘ayakov’ and ‘kperrone’ have mentioned in their posts, the outside area is only inviting to the following customers.
The Perspective of the Interior of Tailored Coffee Roasters.
Exterior Facade
Large glass facade of Tailored.
Plants surround the entrance of Tailored.
Although Tailored Coffee Roaster is not actively trying to deter its use by the unhoused, unfortunately, it can not be said the same for the surrounding campus area of the University of Oregon. This can be seen in the seats of multiple bus stations and the design choices used by many locations. One example of this is the benches located at the EMX Dad’s Gate Station. It can be said that the seat designs are directly tailored to inhibit the use of other activities that are not sitting, as there are a lot of homeless people that use the bus services. Their methods are to design the seats with separated, waved, and rounded bars that make it uncomfortable for those to stay around for long periods of time. There are also dividing armrests found at the center so those who wanted to use the benches as resting areas are unable to lay down on them. This method is common, as you can see the strategy repeats itself around other bus stations as well by the Lillis Business Complex. This one is a long bench that is divided up into three seats with armrest rails. Another example of hostile design can be found near 13th Avenue, the US Bank, which designs out those who are not wanted, including the homeless population. With its use of a bordering retaining wall outside the bank, it makes it so that there are no loiterers around. The metal railing around the wall makes it clear that they want unsolicited people in the area, ultimately affecting the unhoused population.
One can see that designs all over the Eugene area affect the homeless, whether it was intentional throughout or not. With Tailored Coffee Roasters near campus, the designs just so happened to affect the unhoused from the result of designing for privacy. Yet, it can be seen that the other designs around the area are much more directed toward weeding out a specific user group.
This image shows the surrounding context of the hostile architecture bench.
Close-up of the Benches of the EMX Station.
This image shows the plan view of the bench and how the armrest is located in the middle on the right of the bench. There is no way around the armrest for a sleeping person.
This image shows the section view of the bench clearly indicating the armrest that divides the space.
Benches with dividers to prevent sleeping.
Hostile bench at Lane Transit District
Bus Benches Near Lillis Business Complex Detail.
Railings blocking sitting on a wall in front of U.S. Bank Branch.
Diagram of the Hostile design around US Bank.
Bibliography:
Perrone, K. (2023, May 9). Tailored Coffee Roaster’s connection to Modernity and Comfort. Retrieved from https://blogs.uoregon.edu/h3s23/2023/05/09/tailored-coffee-roasters-connection-to-modernity-and-comfort/
Yakov, A. (2023, April 18). Individuality Among The Public Sphere – Tailored Coffee Roasters. Retrieved from https://blogs.uoregon.edu/h3s23/2023/04/18/individuality-among-the-public-sphere-tailored-coffee-roasters/
Krois, W. (2023, May 10). Humans and their Constant Desire for Personalization. Retrieved from https://blogs.uoregon.edu/h3s23/2023/05/10/humans-and-their-constant-desire-for-personalization/
Aslan, C. (2023, May 30). Hostile Architecture, The EMX Dad’s Gate Station. Retrieved from https://blogs.uoregon.edu/h3s23/2023/05/30/hostile-architecture-the-emx-dads-gate-station-and-concrete-benches-outside-the-emu/
Baker, S. (2023, May 31). Hostile Design at the University of Oregon: Examining Lillis Business Complex. Retrieved from https://blogs.uoregon.edu/h3s23/2023/05/31/hostile-design-at-the-university-of-oregon-examining-lillis-business-complex/
Smith, L. (2023, May 30). Don’t Choose Here: Hostile Architecture in Eugene. Retrieved from https://blogs.uoregon.edu/h3s23/2023/05/30/dont-choose-here-hostile-architecture-in-eugene/
