Assignment: Thoughtless Acts

Collaborators:

This picture is not from I-House, but a block away in front of the Adagia resturaunt. On the corner of the block, there is a large stone that is rough on the sides and the top is smooth and polished. Every time I turn this corner while I'm walking, I find myself touching the top of the stone because it's at a comfortable height just above my resting hand position and it's right next to the sidewalk. I suspect that over the years, many people have done the same, making the top portion nice and polished.

Also, as many people mentioned in their observations last year, there are a few bikes locked onto signposts in the background of the picture. This rock faces Bancroft, right across the street from campus, so there are usually many bikes in the area. Unfortunately, there aren't many designated places to lock up bikes, so people have resorted to using signposts.

The photo shows the dresser in my room. I noticed that I had hung my beanies & visor over the corners of the mirror. I've never sat down to think why I did this, but now that I do, it makes sense to hang it over the mirror because it doesn't block any significant portion of the mirror, allows me to keep track of my headwear (and easily access it), and allows me to immediately see how any particular headwear looks. Since this is all the headwear I own, I do not think it needs any improvements and works very well in this context.

I usually don't wear a watch (I forget that I have one most of the time) but keep mine next to my speakers on the shelf above my desk (for no particular reason). A couple of weeks ago, I was annoyed that I didn't have any clocks in my room (they won't let us put nails into the walls) so I decided to hang my watch up. Now I just have to glance up from my chair to see the time and get reminded that I have a watch if I want to wear one. If I had more watches, I would probably hang them all here because the space is usually empty. Again, this is an idiosyncratic thing, so I don't think any improvements are necessary. However, the top shelf's shape affords the ability to hang things easily from it.

Again, it is in my contract that I won't nail anything into the walls or use the 3M double-sided tape on the walls. Since I can't have any types of hooks on the wall, I had to come up with something else. Next to the entrance is my closet which uses the same key. When the closet door closes all the way, it automatically locks and I can't change that behavior. I found myself having to look for my keys every time I needed to open my closet. Now I just put my keys in the closet keyhole whenever I come into my room. That way, it's always there when I need to open my closet, and I know exactly where it is. This problem could be solved by allowing us to hang hooks on the walls, but I think this is a solution that turns out to work well!

This is a photo inside the men's restroom on my floor. Usually, the ironing board is either sprawled out somewhere in the main area, taking up a lot of unnecessary space, or leaning precariously against a wall with the chance that it might tip over and fall onto the (sometimes wet) floor. I recently noticed that someone came up with the brilliant idea of using the towel hooks on the side wall to secure the ironing board. These hooks were underutilized anyway, and they do a great job of keeping the ironing board stored and out of the way (and dry). Again, I think this is an elegant solution using what is available in the immediate space, but takes away some of the hooks people could otherwise use for their intended purpose. I labeled storage area for the ironing board in the bathroom would be the ideal solution to this problem.

Next to everyone's door, there is a white board that is permanently attached to the wall. Unfortunately, there is no designated are to put a marker so most people's boards go unused. Since the frame sticks out about half an inch from the wall, some people use it as a surface to hold the marker which seems to work well. Since it's not attached, people wanting to write on neighbors' boards usually "borrow" the marker that is available. However, as you can see in this photo, the text on the board is black but the marker is blue. I suspect that the black marker was stolen recently and the owner replaced it with a blue one. A solution to this problem is to have a designated space somewhere on the board to hold a (possibly tethered) marker. If there was a designated spot/slot, I suspect that more people would have makers in them and thefts would decrease.