Thoughtless Acts

The thoughtless act I observed was shoppers placing their shopping carts in small enclosed spaces within the parking lot that were actually not the designated cart areas. This is especially a problem in larger parking lots where people do not want to take the time to bring their shopping cart to the appropriate place.  Stores have created more designated cart docking stations in parking lots but other design solutions might include:

I found some thoughtless acts in the architecture studio space.

1. Glue bottle in a roll of paper towel

Description

Document a thoughtless act and propose design solutions.

What

Thoughtless acts are the way we humans react to or co-opt our environments in unconscious ways.  The thoughtless act I have chosen to document is one of my favorites.

Thoughtless Act Item 1:

• Thoughtless Act: Unused door handles

Pictures are taken from Etcheverry Hall, where mechanical engineering labs are. (They are all different doors although they look almost the same!)  It appears that people in this building tend to open the door by pulling the door edge instead of using the door knob/handle, especially when the door is already (slightly) open. When the door is slightly open, people don't have to turn the door handle to open the door, but just need to pull the door somehow.

1. Using a green waste bin to post a "no parking" sign and block the space in front of a driveway.

I noticed that in my apartment, I'd been using the doorknobs of the closets near the entryway to hang my tennis racket and umbrella. It was just a convenient place to put these items that I usually grab as I go out the door, without having to leave them on the floor. I also often hang my purse on the door of a bathroom if there is no hook. This weekend I went to the beach with a large group of people, and in the house there were far fewer bathroom towel racks than people. I noticed that tons of closet and room doorknobs had towels and swimsuits hanging on them to dry.