Violent Architecture Against the Unhoused

This article explores the issue of homelessness in larger cities and the inhumane way they are treated and excluded from the rest of society. It specifically explores an incident in London where a large apartment complex installed spikes in one of their alcoves to deter unhorsed people from sleeping there. Legally this was not an issue but after it was posted on social media their was an uproar of people who saw the spikes as a deterrent that looked like something for animals. However, the article goes further to say that many people are ignoring the fact that many homeless people are oppressed in smaller ways but go ignored. The spikes play an interesting part because people seem to be angry at the intensity and openness of going against homeless people more than being concerned with the actual issue of homelessness and how governments should have systems in place to help with mental health and social security. The article says the spikes made people angry because they were directly targeting a marginalized group in a seemingly violent manner but they fail to acknowledge the larger issue of the system that let them down before this.



Eugene, Oregon has an interesting connection to the issue of unhoused people. On one hand the city wants to be accepting of everyone and help them in any way possible. On the other hand the city is home to a multi-billion dollar institution that is almost single handily keeping the town on the national radar and has deep connections into every political policy that gets put into the community. The subject of gentrification has become a new factor that the university is pursuing with them tearing down all of 13th street to build giant multiuse buildings and are seemingly having homeless people drove away whenever they come near it. Expressing Roma is one of those buildings on 13th which is next in line to get torn down and made anew. In preparedness for this they have blocked their alleys with large fences and barbed wire to keep people out that only want to seek shelter from the elements. Like the apartments in London they seem to want to drive the homeless out to solve the issue instead of fixing the problem. They approach it with a sort of out of site, out of mind approach and ignore the fact that these are people who are just trying to find some sort of escape from the elements.

Changing a Space to Target a Certain Group

The second hostile design is outside Safeway on 18th and Pearl Street under the bus stop. The bus stop provides a perfect space for unhoused people to escape from the elements and the city understood this and made the bench as uncomfortable as possible. The bench is also specifically designed to be as unusable as possible for unhoused people. It is made of metal with a row of slats to make it harder to conserve warmth. There are also armrests on either side that prevent people from being able to lay down. The city was aware of how some people might use their bus stop and took several measures to ensure an unpleasant experience for them. Figure 1 (Bus Stop Bench outside Safeway)

Hostile Design chooses who is part of their “Public”

Hostile design preys on a certain demographic of people and is designed under the guise of “helping the public.” However, these designs ignore the specific people that this design is meant to exclude as part of the public. The first use of hostile design is on the University of Oregon campus outside their new building, Tykeson Hall. They designed an outside plaza space that is connected with the new building with sweeping, curved benches and landscaping. However, these benches have metal dividers inserted into them every few feet. These dividers serve to not allow skating on these benches to eliminate some “undesirable” people hanging out around the new building. The metal dividers also serve to make it uncomfortable for people to lay down on them, which is the most obvious hostile tactic against unhoused people. 

Figure 1 (Outside Tykeson Hall)

 

Furniture Forcing Gender Bias

This article explores the issue of gender assumptions in the workplace, specifically into the issues of office furniture and how there has been a clear separation between genders in manufacturers when creating office furniture. They go on to describe how executive chairs were designed to fit men and secretary ones were designed for women. This clear indoctrination of gender roles into the workplace is very harmful for women as it clearly sees them as unable to achieve these higher-level jobs and should instead be involved as a secretary. This is also apparent with the old, standardized desk heights as they were designed for the average size of women at the time which excluded a large amount of people regardless of gender. One company decided to have a large chart of different sizes of chairs and desks as well as a separation of gender which on a surface level seems progressive, but on a deeper level it continues to hammer in gender norms. The office chair is the closest piece of furniture to reflecting the human body as every aspect has something to do with the body and its importance cannot be understated as it must be applicable to everyone regardless of averages or gender.

 

The issue of gendered office furniture is an interesting topic that has impacted the workplace for decades. However, this issue stems farther than the simple white color office spaces. It extends to schools as well because gender separations have been imbedded in educational institutions since they first began. An older educational space like the University of Oregon is bound to have some parts that are made with the idea of men being there instead of everyone being there. It extends to bathrooms having to be revamped, furniture being changed, or even the names of buildings being changed because certain parts of their lives were problematic. The Knight Library stands tall as a strong central building at the University of Oregon. It has a lot of history rooted in it but often times with history, it can be problematic. Some aspects of the library fall into this problematic lens but the University is clearly taking steps to improve the older buildings on campus as well as implementing changes into new buildings that are made on the campus.     

Unhoused Being Oppressed

This article specifically focuses on how the modern architecture movement caused designers to lose the personal feel and livability of residential spaces. They discuss how modern homes have lost the sense of domesticity that was present in older homes. The lack of ornament and the transparent aspect with the large amounts of glass have taken away the sense of refuge that was an integral part of the space. Modern spaces lose the feeling of personal change as no matter what is changed in the home does not change the overall feel like it would in a more classic home. The copious amounts of glass also cause a loss of refuge. Homes used to be a place to escape from the outside world and modern homes have completely abandoned that aspect for the sake a sense of false progress. The author alludes to the fact that modern homes have evolved because humans have lost the ability to dwell and instead require a place to simply live while their true home is around the area and involves them interacting with the surrounding environment rather than having their own space to retreat to and dwell.

Unhoused people are approaching an apex in their specific predicament. The most interesting part about this problem is how complex it is. Everyone has a different story or reason as to how they ended up being unhoused and some of their stories are awful. They have lived through problems that many people cannot even fathom and yet they are often written off as simply addicts or lazy in some people’s minds. The true issue is that there has been a housing crisis in the United States for many years as the suburban area continued to expand and focus on automobile transportation and single-family housing which has separated our society and fractured our sense of community. Many unhoused people are forced to live in crevasses between buildings near popular places because it is their only place of refuge. They are constantly driven out of every place and must find any space to escape the elements. Expresso Roma is one of these spaces as there are always people under the covers and next to the walls to hide from the elements. The space provides certain outdoor spaces that provide some sort of refuge that are not provided by the government. If they provided certain federal run psychological options and more housing options, then these people may not have to use alley ways and covers as their only form of escape. Expresso Roma recently put up a fence to their alley with barbed wire to make sure no unhoused people could use it for refuge.

Modernism Rising from Surveillance

This reading serves as an in-depth look into the meanings behind many of modern architecture’s cornerstone features. Peter Jones explores how the timing in the popularity of modern architecture coincides with the rapid industrialization of a capitalist society and sees the stray away from more classical forms of architecture as a clever way to lure people into a false sense of progress. He believes that the true motive of these changes is to perform better surveillance of the general populace. Modern architecture prides itself on the use of glass as almost a status symbol, with glass being a heavily sought after material to include in this style. Jones writes how it is advertised as a way to see the world around them but also doubles as a way to make the surrounding world have an easier time looking in. He also writes of how glass is a cheat with there being no true form, so it almost betrays what architects are supposed to design. It eliminates the need for architects to consider every form and wall to support the overall structure and instead makes that a later problem with columns and glass being the main parts, so form is eliminated, and a deeper consideration of architecture is ignored along with it.

 

The Knight Library perfectly supports Jones claims of a lost art when creating modern architecture. When walking through campus the new modern buildings blend together because they all look similar and are made of glass and metal with them seemingly being just square masses. As people move across campus, they eventually are greeted by the Knight Library standing tall and strong. It stands a beacon of the more classic architecture that defined the campus for so many years. This iconic look remains unchanged for over a hundred years and looks across the main quad across campus which eventually leads to Lillis which is the beacon of modern architecture so these two stand in direct opposition of each other. The Knight Library has some windows, but they are higher and set back so not everyone can look in and if they want to pursue knowledge then they have to make the effort to get within the walls. The brick exterior also gives the appearance of strength behind the walls. The building does not rely on glass to define its exterior and instead uses it as intended by capturing some natural light while not exposing the interior to everything beyond it.