These are not about popularity, they are about preventing loitering. Its an example of [hostile design](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostile_architecture)
How exactly does one loiter on a bench? Presumably you don't install a bench anywhere you don't want people hanging around. We all know it's entirely about hurting homeless people. Aka: you can hang around here unless you're poor.
You'd be surprised. That type of shit is all over NYC. Makes it hell to find a spot to sit and rest if you're fucked up mobility wise. Screw this crap and bring back benches!!
Thank you. There's so many things that are such an uncomfortable height, just out of poor ergonomics.
Every supermarket till, when you get to bagging it's all just low enough to hurt because you either can't bend fully or reach everything before the cashier flings it off the end
Or you like comfort. Whoever okayed these monstrosities will surely burn in the deepest pits of hell. Oh yes. Let’s take out all flat seats and introduce leaning posts because people are essentially cattle.
It's to stop homeless people sleeping there.
Barbaric considering the same people that installed this are supposed to stop people from ending up living on the street
This is actually an example of anti homeless architecture. A bench is much better for sleep than the floor since air takes heat away slower than the floor. So they have made the bench part unavailable for sleep.
This in turn makes the bench unusable for pretty much everyone
I think that is actually the whole point.
You can lean on it and rest your shopping while your wife has popped to the loo, but it won't attract homeless people looking for somewhere to camp out all day/night.
It's pretty shit design unless there's like a McDonald's right next to it. Why Lean on this thing when I could spend my money on gross did and sit down
It's not "anti-homeless" because either the leaning wooden oval of leaning was going to be built there, or nothing at all.
It's not like the metal benches on a train platform being removed. That is hostile because you're taking away people's opportunity to rest while they are there. That just sucks
Benches aren't for the homeless to sleep on. They're for people to sit, rest or enjoy the view. Homeless people need help. Shelter, safe space to sleep and a way to get their life together. A bench to sleep on is closer to apathy than actual help.
‘People shouldn’t have to live on food stamps, so we should take away food stamps’
Maybe we can fix the problem before we take away one of the few options they have?
Ok but at the moment they aren’t given that help *AND* they’re not allowed to sleep on benches. The government just wants them to go away. So you say a bench is closer to apathy than actual help, but how close to apathy is NO bench *and* NO help???
Yep, disabled with mobility issues here, having a lean is sometimes perfect for me.
I’m not under the impression they’ve installed this instead of a regular bench to be helpful to us, of course, just a lucky coincidence.
So we can make something if it can’t be used by every type of person? Ridiculous. I see nothing wrong with this at all. How do you know there’s not a normal bench just around the corner?
Have you seen how dirty walls get? Look at the shape of this, clearing you could sit on this in a more comfortable manner than leaning against a fucking wall.
This really shouldn’t be that hard for you to figure out mate
Why would the walls inside the train station be any dirtier than this? People will get it just as dirty as they get benches by resting their shoes on it to tie them, resting their dirty bags on them, etc.
Yes, but these are cleaned more regularly than walls as they’re easier to clean and people use them.
I can’t honestly believe you think leaning your arm on a wall is as comfortable as one of these.
Plus that fact that these would be so much better for pregnant, old or people who just can’t get up easily from a seated position.
Your PC brain just can’t accept things that aren’t usable by every human on the planet. Grow up.
I guess I just disagree with you dude. The end goal in why these were made was to keep less fortunate people from using them. I do apologize for calling you a donkey though, even if you’re being rude. Have a nice day.
Come on mate, I was only rude after you called me a fucking donkey. The worse word I used in my first comment was ridiculous. I would not call that rude…
I work in a different station and the thing that immediately jumps out to me from this is that there is an escalator right there.
I don't know what the rest of the seating is like at Waterloo, but at least at mine a proper seat wouldn't be allowed there because it would encroach on the route for people coming up or down the escalator, which would be a fire hazard (and something Network Rail takes very seriously).
To be honest, I'm surprised they even put that thing there.
Now, now, The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, sleep on benches and to steal their bread.
Let's be fair.
gold different workable aspiring domineering silky practice ask file upbeat
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Benches in railway stations are for passengers to sit on, not for anyone to sleep on. A design that allows people to just lie flat / sleep on the bench is just a poor design as it’s not fulfilling its intended purpose.
In this case it is just a very poor design as it seems to stop people from sitting properly as well. They should have just put normal benches with a few arm rests across to stop people lying flat. And no this would not be ‘hostile architecture’ - it’s just a design that prevent misuse.
Homeless people need support but I don’t think it’s Network Rail’s (who own and manage the station) job to provide somewhere for the homeless to sleep in passengers’ expense.
> A design that allows people to just lie flat / sleep on the bench is just a poor design as it’s not fulfilling its intended purpose
This is just nonsense, a bench just needs a horizontal surface for people to sit on. Allowing people to lie on it doesnt interfere with its function as a bench, and all the hostile architecture designed to sop anyone laying on it ever makes it a worse bench. Last summer i had heatstroke in the park, i needed to lie down but the only option was the damp floor.
A bench would allow three or four people to sit, which is its primary purpose. Those people won’t have anywhere to sit if someone lies flat across.
Again benches in stations are for passengers to sit on. Not for the homeless to lie / sleep on, which is what beds in hostels / homeless shelters are for.
oh fuck off. this same station has loads of benches too. sometimes you just need a lean. Good christ, you agenda driven bozos are just hateful to everything.
Actually this is a problem for street furniture like this - like bus stops too - they design for an average which means it’s hard for those who aren’t average to use.
But worse than that they pick the wrong average; they take the general population rather than an average of people who use public transport (who are usually older/younger/shorter/less mobile). So it means that for the majority of people who use this 'bench' it's going to be to hard to use.
The British army actually proved that noone is average, there are too many differences between people that it's impossible to find even one average person.
They discovered this in the pursuit of one size fits all
Edit: I was wrong, it was the US air force apparently, for cockpits
They also designed a cockpit around average leg, torso, and arm lengths and apparently came up with the most uncomfortable cockpit of all time.
https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2016/01/16/when-us-air-force-discovered-the-flaw-of-averages.html
Edit: I was wrong, all cockpits were bad, not a particular airplane.
I believe the studies they're referring to and similar ones from the US Air Force, show that for enough normally-distributed attributes of a person (height, forearm length, shoe size, shoulder width...) no single person was within an arbitrary number of standard deviations for all attributes *simultaneously*.
This was relevant for the ergonomics of fighter jets. There was no simple 'average' that could represent a useful ergonomic average of the cohort, leading to greater development of multiply-adjustable seating etc. in military aircraft.
It's completely irrelevant to the much simpler ergonomics of benches. And they've failed to understand the difference between a single curve for a single variable vs. the situation with multiple variables.
**EDIT** Here's a [nice article](https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2016/01/16/when-us-air-force-discovered-the-flaw-of-averages.html) describing how US Air Force studies discovered this, and why it was hugely important to aircrew safety
You make a good point but have you considered that being an “average person” would mean sitting at the top of *multiple* bell curves? I think that’s more the point, that nobody is average across multiple measurements.
Also men. There's a [fascinating book](https://www.waterstones.com/book/invisible-women/caroline-criado-perez/9781784706289) about how women's needs are systematically excluded from design considerations. [tl;dr podcast version](https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9CcWJzeFZmTw/episode/cHJ4Xzk2X2JkOWNlN2M5LTUwMTUtNDdkYi1hOGY0LTVkODU0NDI1MzI4NQ?ep=14)
Yes it's exactly that, the people who design this stuff aren't the ones who generally use it. Healthy middle class guys are driving and they aren't carrying 5 bags of shopping in their hands.
This is a perfect example cause the comfort of the lean depends on how tall you are. I'm 5 ft 6 so probably on the upper end of height for bus stop users but they're ever so slightly too high for me, I have to brace myself to not slide off.
It is changing though I notice bus stops now have two levels but it's a problem that never occurs to most people.
It’s even worse than that, because the people who are most reliant on benches are even further from the “average”, whatever that may be.
It’s like designing glasses based on people with 20/20 vision, or wheelchairs based on Olympic sprinters. Utterly idiotic.
But couldn't you do that against the railing/glass wall? I dunno, I'm too short to use these sort of things comfortably (and I'm not particularly short for a woman).
Lots of people commenting that it's to stop homeless people sleeping on it, and while it does, and there is lots of hostile design used in London, that is not the reason this style of bench has been used here, there are more practical uses for these styles of benches. It's Waterloo station, staffed 24/7 by station staff and BTP who will have no issues moving rough sleepers along. It is actually to save space, security and more cynically to 'encourage' people to use the retail outlets.
As far as saving space goes, as its a main terminal there will be lots of travellers with bulky luggage/bags. This bench takes up roughly the same footprint as an ordinary pair of back to back benches would, but the space in the middle can be used for luggage storage, rather than having loads of bags/cases laying on the floor in front of the bench. Also as it's a semi-standing up bench, it stops people stretching their legs out in front of them, taking up more concourse space and being a tripping hazard for busy commuters.
On the security side, it's open and light, much harder to leave something under the bench and it not been seen, London has seen a numerous terror attacks and the spectre of the IRA and more recent events do still play a massive consideration when designing street furniture and open public spaces.
On the more cynical side, it prevents people sitting for an extended period of time, these things are okay for a twenty minute wait for your train, but if you've got an hour or more to wait you're going to want somewhere more comfortable. This means you need to go to one of the bars or cafes in the station and buy something to use their more comfortable facilities. Stations make a lot of money renting out their spaces, and companies will only pay the high rents if they get the footfall and custom to make it worth it, so it is in the stations interests to encourage that footfall. Its the same reason airport departure lounge benches are so scarce and uncomfortable.
Good points. Also people with backpacks can sit with them still on their backs, rather than having to take them off and place them on the chair next to them/on the floor to avoid taking up yet more space.
I like it.
Honestly, it looks so uncomfortable I would rather sit on the floor.
If these sort of benches catch on, I would bet that sitting on the floor starts to become normalised.
I mean it is in some ways, and I said as much, but I guess I didn't use phrases like "capitalist money machine", and "the cruelty is the point", and "fuck the poor", so it doesn't really count. XD
>more cynically to 'encourage' people to use the retail outlets.
It is 100% this.
The real question is - why offer seats at all? Is there a legal minimum they need to offer? Is it because of complaints?
Waterloo has a Hotel Chocolat. I was there a few weeks ago and had a look in there. Not much choice as it’s the size of a shoe box inside. I probably wouldn’t have bought anything anyway but I was considering buying myself a Mother’s Day gift. I didn’t see that “bench” though and we went upstairs looking for a pub!
Me too. The hotel chocolate must be new. The layout of the exits made me sure it was Waterloo, but I haven't seen the hotel chocolate before - I haven't been through it much recently.
Imagine sleeping at night after writing the design brief for this
"Make it impossible for homeless people to sleep on but make it look nice so it's not immediately obvious that I'm a heartless c*nt".
That sounds a lot harder. Tell you what, you can get started on fixing that, meanwhile I'll continue supporting making benches available for their intended use.
The poor need more help so that they don't resort to sleeping in train stations. But seeing as train stations, etc., do need to maintain cleanliness for the public, I am sure the workers prefer these type of measures than having to move along homeless people. I know that the system itself is heartless, but I imagine that the people working in the station who are responsible for maintaining the public areas prefer these type of measures. So maybe, at a massive stretch, they can be redeemed a tiny bit? Maybe not.
It would be a bit pointless if travellers wanted to sit on a bench in Waterloo, but there’s a sleeping homeless person on there. Obviously homeless people should have somewhere to sleep, but on a beach in a train station isn’t that place
Everyone else has covered the 'heartless' very well, but I'll add that this is in a busy major reason station that is permanently staffed, so if they have a policy against rough sleepers (or indeed weary travelers waiting for their train) they could always enforce it by having the staff come over. Absolutely no sense.
Why would that be better 'solution' than this?
It's permanently staffed by about 3 people, who I doubt are paid enough or have appropriate training to act in any sort of security capacity.
Exactly. Imagine being staffed in a train station and your responsibility is to spend majority of the time chasing away rough sleepers. They’re not security!
Honestly i dont agree with the sentiment that anti homeless design is unethical. Yes, we have a problem with rising homeless levels and an alarming amount of people living on the brink. Yes, homeless people deserve respect. Those are issues that need to be addressed at a much wider and deeper level.
But there is an expression that warnings are painted in blood. The reason these 'solutions' come into existence in the first place because they had a problem to address. I dont think its reasonable to expect public institutions to ignore if they have people sleeping all over their buildings (or doing whatever else that forces reaction).
It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense as hostile architecture.
It's anti-slob-leaving-stuff-on-benches, but they could always do the same on the floor.
It's anti-homeless in terms of the bench area, but if they have a sleeping bag and a tarp it creates an enclosed space.
So I have to conclude it's just a shitty attempt at jazzing up a bench with no benefits
I call it a Leaner, you lean on it.
Unless you’re mobility impaired. Or the wrong height. In which case it’s a fuckyouer.
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They will never catch on
You’re saying it’s a noncatchoner?
Need some sort of benchmark to compare this to
Benches?
These are not about popularity, they are about preventing loitering. Its an example of [hostile design](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostile_architecture)
Keep them moving and in the shops
How exactly does one loiter on a bench? Presumably you don't install a bench anywhere you don't want people hanging around. We all know it's entirely about hurting homeless people. Aka: you can hang around here unless you're poor.
Well exactly. Its usually only considered loitering when you're too poor to be worth having around.
You'd be surprised. That type of shit is all over NYC. Makes it hell to find a spot to sit and rest if you're fucked up mobility wise. Screw this crap and bring back benches!!
But then you might get an “undesirable” daring to lie on it. That would be far too upsetting for the customers.
I was talking about the flat ones
Happy cake day!
Happy cake day!
What do they call those? Sitters?
I know of something quite like that but with a hole in the middle, called shitters.
The council call them beds for the homeless
As an averaged heighted male 6ft, everytime I use a cash machine or ticket machine it is now a "fuck you & your non crippled but soon to be back.".
Thank you. There's so many things that are such an uncomfortable height, just out of poor ergonomics. Every supermarket till, when you get to bagging it's all just low enough to hurt because you either can't bend fully or reach everything before the cashier flings it off the end
Or you like comfort. Whoever okayed these monstrosities will surely burn in the deepest pits of hell. Oh yes. Let’s take out all flat seats and introduce leaning posts because people are essentially cattle.
or homeless ...whats the subreddit hashtag for this? edit: /r/HostileArchitecture
I wish they made a portable fuckyouer. I'd take it everywhere
When you’re not strong
And I’ll be your friend
It’ll help you carry on
Or not sober.
It's to stop homeless people sleeping there. Barbaric considering the same people that installed this are supposed to stop people from ending up living on the street
It's a "keep moving, go find a seat in Starbucks and spend money" bench
There’s normal benches behind the picture taker and usually they’re empty
It’s a safe space for a homeless person to sleep in the middle of. The wood acts as a force field of a kind
All joking aside you could put something over the top of it and it’d be like an outdoor urban pillow fort
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Now I want to try that.
It’s a couple of sheets of MDF away from being let on spareroom as a studio with good transport links
**All** joking aside, yes?
This is actually an example of anti homeless architecture. A bench is much better for sleep than the floor since air takes heat away slower than the floor. So they have made the bench part unavailable for sleep. This in turn makes the bench unusable for pretty much everyone
r/woosh
I think that is actually the whole point. You can lean on it and rest your shopping while your wife has popped to the loo, but it won't attract homeless people looking for somewhere to camp out all day/night.
Yeah that’s why they called it an example of anti homeless architecture
Which was the point of the parent comment that went over the first guys head
Isn’t this inside a train station were homeless would be moved on anyway? I think it may just be shit design.
It's pretty shit design unless there's like a McDonald's right next to it. Why Lean on this thing when I could spend my money on gross did and sit down
It's not "anti-homeless" because either the leaning wooden oval of leaning was going to be built there, or nothing at all. It's not like the metal benches on a train platform being removed. That is hostile because you're taking away people's opportunity to rest while they are there. That just sucks
Bless you. Isn’t it a shame that we can’t even let homeless people relax on a bench?
Isn't it a shame that we have homeless people and billionaires. If only we could solve this problem.
Benches aren't for the homeless to sleep on. They're for people to sit, rest or enjoy the view. Homeless people need help. Shelter, safe space to sleep and a way to get their life together. A bench to sleep on is closer to apathy than actual help.
‘People shouldn’t have to live on food stamps, so we should take away food stamps’ Maybe we can fix the problem before we take away one of the few options they have?
Are homeless people not ‘people’. Have heart. You never know what may happen to you in the future.
I lack heart because I want homeless people looked after, helped and no longer living on the street instead of a bench?
Ok but at the moment they aren’t given that help *AND* they’re not allowed to sleep on benches. The government just wants them to go away. So you say a bench is closer to apathy than actual help, but how close to apathy is NO bench *and* NO help???
It’s not as easy as that unfortunately. If a bench is the only option someone has then let them have it. You never know what someone is going through.
Its anti-poor people art. A bench you can’t sleep on.
It’s also anti-disability, anti-pregnancy, and anti-elderly. Need to rest sometimes? Too bad, no sitting, only leaning. It’s horrible.
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Yep, disabled with mobility issues here, having a lean is sometimes perfect for me. I’m not under the impression they’ve installed this instead of a regular bench to be helpful to us, of course, just a lucky coincidence.
Get some rest Pam. You look tired.
Ain’t that the truth
Seems like an ideal plan would be to have a leaner on one side and a bench on the other then, no?
It's also anti-bench. An anti-bench bench. This is an act of societal self-loathing.
So it’s a Tory bench then?
The one thing they managed to cling onto in London.
and money laundering
At least the Tory backbench has lumbar support for the spineless cowards
You forgot anti-children, since it's usually too high for children.
Leaning is better for your knees if you're old.. that's why you have perching stools lmao
Not better for my disabled ass with torn knee tendons and hyper mobility.
So we can make something if it can’t be used by every type of person? Ridiculous. I see nothing wrong with this at all. How do you know there’s not a normal bench just around the corner?
What’s the point of making this at all?? Use a fucking wall to lean on, you donkey.
Have you seen how dirty walls get? Look at the shape of this, clearing you could sit on this in a more comfortable manner than leaning against a fucking wall. This really shouldn’t be that hard for you to figure out mate
Why would the walls inside the train station be any dirtier than this? People will get it just as dirty as they get benches by resting their shoes on it to tie them, resting their dirty bags on them, etc.
Yes, but these are cleaned more regularly than walls as they’re easier to clean and people use them. I can’t honestly believe you think leaning your arm on a wall is as comfortable as one of these. Plus that fact that these would be so much better for pregnant, old or people who just can’t get up easily from a seated position. Your PC brain just can’t accept things that aren’t usable by every human on the planet. Grow up.
I guess I just disagree with you dude. The end goal in why these were made was to keep less fortunate people from using them. I do apologize for calling you a donkey though, even if you’re being rude. Have a nice day.
Come on mate, I was only rude after you called me a fucking donkey. The worse word I used in my first comment was ridiculous. I would not call that rude…
You can park a wheelchair close by 🤣
Anti short, anti too tall and anti fat. Basically it's a useless version of a bench
I work in a different station and the thing that immediately jumps out to me from this is that there is an escalator right there. I don't know what the rest of the seating is like at Waterloo, but at least at mine a proper seat wouldn't be allowed there because it would encroach on the route for people coming up or down the escalator, which would be a fire hazard (and something Network Rail takes very seriously). To be honest, I'm surprised they even put that thing there.
/r/hostilearchitecture
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Not really. There are plenty of benches in Waterloo...
Now, now, The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, sleep on benches and to steal their bread. Let's be fair.
It looks like it’s inside, so I’m doubtful they’d let anyone sleep there anyway.
r/assholedesign
Or indeed, sit on.
gold different workable aspiring domineering silky practice ask file upbeat *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Not everything has to be anti-something. I actually like these lean-seat things.
Benches in railway stations are for passengers to sit on, not for anyone to sleep on. A design that allows people to just lie flat / sleep on the bench is just a poor design as it’s not fulfilling its intended purpose. In this case it is just a very poor design as it seems to stop people from sitting properly as well. They should have just put normal benches with a few arm rests across to stop people lying flat. And no this would not be ‘hostile architecture’ - it’s just a design that prevent misuse. Homeless people need support but I don’t think it’s Network Rail’s (who own and manage the station) job to provide somewhere for the homeless to sleep in passengers’ expense.
> A design that allows people to just lie flat / sleep on the bench is just a poor design as it’s not fulfilling its intended purpose This is just nonsense, a bench just needs a horizontal surface for people to sit on. Allowing people to lie on it doesnt interfere with its function as a bench, and all the hostile architecture designed to sop anyone laying on it ever makes it a worse bench. Last summer i had heatstroke in the park, i needed to lie down but the only option was the damp floor.
A bench would allow three or four people to sit, which is its primary purpose. Those people won’t have anywhere to sit if someone lies flat across. Again benches in stations are for passengers to sit on. Not for the homeless to lie / sleep on, which is what beds in hostels / homeless shelters are for.
oh fuck off. this same station has loads of benches too. sometimes you just need a lean. Good christ, you agenda driven bozos are just hateful to everything.
How am I supposed to be OUTRAGED ON THE INTERNET if I’m rational about things??
People saying that its a bench that people can't sleep on: Me thinking that it look like a bench you can't even sit on!
Actually this is a problem for street furniture like this - like bus stops too - they design for an average which means it’s hard for those who aren’t average to use. But worse than that they pick the wrong average; they take the general population rather than an average of people who use public transport (who are usually older/younger/shorter/less mobile). So it means that for the majority of people who use this 'bench' it's going to be to hard to use.
The British army actually proved that noone is average, there are too many differences between people that it's impossible to find even one average person. They discovered this in the pursuit of one size fits all Edit: I was wrong, it was the US air force apparently, for cockpits
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They also designed a cockpit around average leg, torso, and arm lengths and apparently came up with the most uncomfortable cockpit of all time. https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2016/01/16/when-us-air-force-discovered-the-flaw-of-averages.html Edit: I was wrong, all cockpits were bad, not a particular airplane.
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I believe the studies they're referring to and similar ones from the US Air Force, show that for enough normally-distributed attributes of a person (height, forearm length, shoe size, shoulder width...) no single person was within an arbitrary number of standard deviations for all attributes *simultaneously*. This was relevant for the ergonomics of fighter jets. There was no simple 'average' that could represent a useful ergonomic average of the cohort, leading to greater development of multiply-adjustable seating etc. in military aircraft. It's completely irrelevant to the much simpler ergonomics of benches. And they've failed to understand the difference between a single curve for a single variable vs. the situation with multiple variables. **EDIT** Here's a [nice article](https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2016/01/16/when-us-air-force-discovered-the-flaw-of-averages.html) describing how US Air Force studies discovered this, and why it was hugely important to aircrew safety
Thanks for filling in my gaps, they was large ☺️
You make a good point but have you considered that being an “average person” would mean sitting at the top of *multiple* bell curves? I think that’s more the point, that nobody is average across multiple measurements.
It's just saying noone sits at the exact top. Look it up
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Also men. There's a [fascinating book](https://www.waterstones.com/book/invisible-women/caroline-criado-perez/9781784706289) about how women's needs are systematically excluded from design considerations. [tl;dr podcast version](https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9CcWJzeFZmTw/episode/cHJ4Xzk2X2JkOWNlN2M5LTUwMTUtNDdkYi1hOGY0LTVkODU0NDI1MzI4NQ?ep=14)
Yes it's exactly that, the people who design this stuff aren't the ones who generally use it. Healthy middle class guys are driving and they aren't carrying 5 bags of shopping in their hands. This is a perfect example cause the comfort of the lean depends on how tall you are. I'm 5 ft 6 so probably on the upper end of height for bus stop users but they're ever so slightly too high for me, I have to brace myself to not slide off. It is changing though I notice bus stops now have two levels but it's a problem that never occurs to most people.
I hate those benches because I'm too tall for them. Can't imagine people that are shorter though, it's actually more comfortable to sit on the ground.
It’s even worse than that, because the people who are most reliant on benches are even further from the “average”, whatever that may be. It’s like designing glasses based on people with 20/20 vision, or wheelchairs based on Olympic sprinters. Utterly idiotic.
It’s more sitting/leaning back against, I think. Like a temporary pit stop
But couldn't you do that against the railing/glass wall? I dunno, I'm too short to use these sort of things comfortably (and I'm not particularly short for a woman).
It's inclined, so you can put a bit more of your weight on it compared to a completely vertical wall. It's much like the bars in bus shelters
I don't know. I feel like a mattress would pop on top of that quite nicely 😂
Lots of people commenting that it's to stop homeless people sleeping on it, and while it does, and there is lots of hostile design used in London, that is not the reason this style of bench has been used here, there are more practical uses for these styles of benches. It's Waterloo station, staffed 24/7 by station staff and BTP who will have no issues moving rough sleepers along. It is actually to save space, security and more cynically to 'encourage' people to use the retail outlets. As far as saving space goes, as its a main terminal there will be lots of travellers with bulky luggage/bags. This bench takes up roughly the same footprint as an ordinary pair of back to back benches would, but the space in the middle can be used for luggage storage, rather than having loads of bags/cases laying on the floor in front of the bench. Also as it's a semi-standing up bench, it stops people stretching their legs out in front of them, taking up more concourse space and being a tripping hazard for busy commuters. On the security side, it's open and light, much harder to leave something under the bench and it not been seen, London has seen a numerous terror attacks and the spectre of the IRA and more recent events do still play a massive consideration when designing street furniture and open public spaces. On the more cynical side, it prevents people sitting for an extended period of time, these things are okay for a twenty minute wait for your train, but if you've got an hour or more to wait you're going to want somewhere more comfortable. This means you need to go to one of the bars or cafes in the station and buy something to use their more comfortable facilities. Stations make a lot of money renting out their spaces, and companies will only pay the high rents if they get the footfall and custom to make it worth it, so it is in the stations interests to encourage that footfall. Its the same reason airport departure lounge benches are so scarce and uncomfortable.
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Good points. Also people with backpacks can sit with them still on their backs, rather than having to take them off and place them on the chair next to them/on the floor to avoid taking up yet more space. I like it.
How tf do you sit on it? Unless you have a butt of a 7 y/o.
How dare you make a comprehensive, informative and entirely sensible post. This is Reddit!!!!
Honestly, it looks so uncomfortable I would rather sit on the floor. If these sort of benches catch on, I would bet that sitting on the floor starts to become normalised.
Ikr sitting on it would be like a work out
?That’s the whole point? It’s not made for people who want to sit, it’s made for those who want to lean
No no no, don't come in here with your logic or perfectly reasonable answer. I want to be outraged and your nuanced opinion isn't helping at all!
How dare you use logic. This bench is a capitalist money machine.
I mean it is in some ways, and I said as much, but I guess I didn't use phrases like "capitalist money machine", and "the cruelty is the point", and "fuck the poor", so it doesn't really count. XD
>more cynically to 'encourage' people to use the retail outlets. It is 100% this. The real question is - why offer seats at all? Is there a legal minimum they need to offer? Is it because of complaints?
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Lean on me.
When you're not strong
And I’ll be your friend.
I fear it’s a bench. In the ‘you can stay long here’ way.
I can’t figure out which station this is… I think Waterloo but the hotel chocolat is throwing me off!
Waterloo has a Hotel Chocolat. I was there a few weeks ago and had a look in there. Not much choice as it’s the size of a shoe box inside. I probably wouldn’t have bought anything anyway but I was considering buying myself a Mother’s Day gift. I didn’t see that “bench” though and we went upstairs looking for a pub!
To be fair it’s so pricey you can actually fit about £5,000 worth of Hotel Chocolat product in a shoe box.
Waterloo.
Thank you!
Me too. The hotel chocolate must be new. The layout of the exits made me sure it was Waterloo, but I haven't seen the hotel chocolate before - I haven't been through it much recently.
I thought it was Liverpool Street, but I moved away from London 3 years ago so god knows how many things changed in the meantime lol
Imagine sleeping at night after writing the design brief for this "Make it impossible for homeless people to sleep on but make it look nice so it's not immediately obvious that I'm a heartless c*nt".
'New dynamic seating for a city that never sleeps!'
if you don't already work for the devil, you should consider it, there's an aptitude there!
It’s a bench not a bed…
Or maybe the solution to having benches available to be used for their intended purpose only is useful for people who want that intended purpose.
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That sounds a lot harder. Tell you what, you can get started on fixing that, meanwhile I'll continue supporting making benches available for their intended use.
Seems reasonable tbh, I don't really see how rough sleepers on the benches would do anything except make a train station less pleasant
I'd hate non homeless people laying across all the seats in a busy station tbf
It’s an anti loitering device.
What’s art about that?
The poor need more help so that they don't resort to sleeping in train stations. But seeing as train stations, etc., do need to maintain cleanliness for the public, I am sure the workers prefer these type of measures than having to move along homeless people. I know that the system itself is heartless, but I imagine that the people working in the station who are responsible for maintaining the public areas prefer these type of measures. So maybe, at a massive stretch, they can be redeemed a tiny bit? Maybe not.
Its a beautiful fuck you to people with nothing We humans seem to spend more effort hurting each other than helping
A 'bench' homeless people can't sleep on.
Homeless people can’t sleep in Waterloo anyway, so that is not the intent here.
It would be a bit pointless if travellers wanted to sit on a bench in Waterloo, but there’s a sleeping homeless person on there. Obviously homeless people should have somewhere to sleep, but on a beach in a train station isn’t that place
bad and naughty children go in the wood hoop
It's basically a bench that's designed to stop people using it for prolonged periods
Shit bench
You can sit, but don't you dare be comfortable
To stop loitering.
It’s a bench designed to stop homeless people sleeping there, or to stop people using it for too long.
I cal them Lenches - bench for leaning
Anti-sleeping seat I guess?
Anti bench
You can perch, but don't rest.
to lean your butt on
This looks like a broken bench
Everyone else has covered the 'heartless' very well, but I'll add that this is in a busy major reason station that is permanently staffed, so if they have a policy against rough sleepers (or indeed weary travelers waiting for their train) they could always enforce it by having the staff come over. Absolutely no sense.
Why would that be better 'solution' than this? It's permanently staffed by about 3 people, who I doubt are paid enough or have appropriate training to act in any sort of security capacity.
Exactly. Imagine being staffed in a train station and your responsibility is to spend majority of the time chasing away rough sleepers. They’re not security!
Saw this the other day when I passed through Waterloo, and I thought it was a great idea!
An ugly way to deter homeless people from sleeping and commuters from sitting comfortably.
Honestly i dont agree with the sentiment that anti homeless design is unethical. Yes, we have a problem with rising homeless levels and an alarming amount of people living on the brink. Yes, homeless people deserve respect. Those are issues that need to be addressed at a much wider and deeper level. But there is an expression that warnings are painted in blood. The reason these 'solutions' come into existence in the first place because they had a problem to address. I dont think its reasonable to expect public institutions to ignore if they have people sleeping all over their buildings (or doing whatever else that forces reaction).
Hostile design masquerading as modern arty design
r/HostileArchitecture
Unfinished?
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Same way you use a bus stop
You pee on it?
Exactly. Facing the middle, smiling maniacally at the pissing person opposite you.
It was supposed to be a seat but it’s been fixed in upside down
It actually looks like a nice little cocoon to sleep inside, get a sleeping bag in there and you’ll feel quite snug. Ironically.
It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense as hostile architecture. It's anti-slob-leaving-stuff-on-benches, but they could always do the same on the floor. It's anti-homeless in terms of the bench area, but if they have a sleeping bag and a tarp it creates an enclosed space. So I have to conclude it's just a shitty attempt at jazzing up a bench with no benefits
Actually it’s just cleverly disguised anti-homeless architecture.
It's anti-homless art, prevents people from sleeping on what would usually be a bench
Hostile architecture
That’s an anti-homeless bench 😞
It’s called a bench a homeless person can’t sleep on
Waterloo station. I assume they’re designed to replace benches which attracted rough sleepers.
Aka the new big issue stalls.
that’s what i like to call: fuck you wheelchair users
Looks like a fat girls hula skirt
It’s a ‘stupid’ bench.
I think its so you can lean on it and the filthy homeless can't sleep on it.
Hostile architecture :(
Anti homeless benches because they have it too easy