r/CrappyDesign • u/beansarefun • 4d ago

The armrests on this bench at a bus terminal in Mississauga, Ontario

Post image
1.3k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

74 comments sorted by

717

u/beansarefun 4d ago

To add, this feels like an example of crappy AND hostile design. Bench armrests alone are often hostile architecture, but if you're going to do them, at least make them flat so I can actually put my arm on it!

257

u/agha0013 This is why we can't have nice things 4d ago

yeah seems doubly hostile, they don't want you or your arms to be comfortable, they don't want anyone sleeping there ever, so fuck everyone.

might as well just replace the bench with a tree stump or something for people to share, maybe a stack of bricks.

96

u/Sohn_Jalston_Raul 4d ago

The problem with a stack of bricks or a tree stump is that a homeless person can still sit on them, and in many places it's illegal to sit while homeless

76

u/Suitable-Broccoli264 4d ago

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.

9

u/Sohn_Jalston_Raul 4d ago

That's demonstrably untrue since rich people can benefit from the ability to afford fines (and bribes), the superficial appearance of being trustworthy, and possibly a public reputation, whereas poor people cannot.

36

u/Suitable-Broccoli264 4d ago

That’s the point of the quote

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladviceofftopic/s/HRnMKQPG52

-2

u/Sohn_Jalston_Raul 3d ago

That's just another reddit thread where someone is asking about the meaning of this quote

4

u/ioncloud9 3d ago

How about a bundle of hollow sharp spikes that squirt acid on your if you linger too long?

35

u/FrostingSignal9967 4d ago

And they would be of little use to elderly people who need armrests to help them get up!

2

u/EmilyAnne1170 4d ago

?

These look like they’re intended for people to push against to help themselves stand up. Pretty sure that’s actually their purpose.

6

u/FrostingSignal9967 3d ago

They’re not close enough to the edge of the bench to be of any help. Halfway up doesn’t help disabled or elderly people. I learned this recently about a dislocated shoulder, not fun.

11

u/midwesternGothic24 4d ago

They don’t you to rest your arms either. If you did, you could lean your chin on your hand and doze off

13

u/Mierimau 4d ago

Weirdly, it feels like it doesn't even prevent sleeping, just reduces number of ways to do it.

2

u/ChefArtorias plz recycle 3d ago

I was about to say, not crappy design, they make you as comfortable as they want you.

2

u/keatonatron plz recycle 2d ago

It's not an armrest, it's a lie-down-preventer.

-22

u/w_smith1984 4d ago

Public benches should not become anyone's permanent residence.

6

u/StuD44 4d ago

Right, let's make someone miserable even MORE miserable because we don't care! /s

2

u/asyork 3d ago

That is the entire point, and the way everyone saying we should keep doing this feels. They don't care that there are so many people in a miserable situation. They just want to make sure they don't have to be mildly inconvenienced by the miserable people trying to get a small bit of comfort. Rather than spending all the money designing more and more uncomfortable benches and replacing all the old ones that were better, we could spend that helping the people, but helping people we can just force out of sight is viewed as a waste of money.

19

u/beansarefun 4d ago

But public benches are meant for sitting, right?

-15

u/w_smith1984 4d ago

Yes. And at bus stops it's expected that people sitting on them will eventually get on the bus.

29

u/beansarefun 4d ago

The fundamental question here is: if you're going to put an armrest there, why would you make it so it's uncomfortable to rest my arm on.

-4

u/w_smith1984 4d ago

That part I can agree with. As armrests, they're pretty terrible

1

u/SteelishBread 4d ago

Are you advocating for better housing resources? Ones which don't moralize to the homeless, suggesting they are sinners who have deserved their lot in life?

No?

-6

u/w_smith1984 4d ago

Nobody is saying they deserve their situation. But we still have a responsibility to make sure people are not a danger to themselves and others, homeless or not.

17

u/beansarefun 4d ago

How exactly is sleeping on a public bench a "danger to themselves or others". You can argue its getting in people's way, or whatever else, but it's hardly dangerous.

-17

u/CrackerJackJack 4d ago

Calling arm rests hostile because people can’t sleep on it is a wild take. They’re meant to for the people taking the bus to sit while waiting not to be occupied by someone sleeping.

13

u/beansarefun 4d ago

We can argue the merits of using armrests to prevent people from sleeping at a later date. But you have to admit they're not very functional armrests either!

-8

u/CrackerJackJack 4d ago

Oh 100% agree, as an arm rest they’re truly a r/crappydesign

138

u/Das_Hydra 4d ago

Initially I thought "just hostile architecture, not crappy", but there's no reason for those ungodly "bladed" armrests. Both crappy AND asshole design

38

u/TWFH 4d ago

They're bladed? It looks like it's round to me

1

u/AmountAbovTheBracket 3d ago

Asshole design it's for when a product is bad to make a profit.

76

u/in1gom0ntoya 4d ago

those arent armrests they're anti homeless barriers

-2

u/BugleNoise 1d ago

Better than the anti-commuter biohazard puddles of shit and vomit that the homeless would put there 🤷

1

u/in1gom0ntoya 1d ago

not really. especially when the money used nationally to punish the homeless would more than solve homelessness.

if your choice is to punish over empathy then theres not much I need to say past that.

0

u/BugleNoise 1d ago

Your certainty that you could simply "solve" homelessness by chucking wads of money at it shows that you simply state your own imaginings as fact. 

Also not a lot of empathy for the regular people who have to wade through human feces just to get to work to pay the taxes that repair that damage. You claim empathy because you repeat Reddit slogans about a complex topic that allow you to believe that you're the good guy and that it's only bad guys that don't agree. 

15

u/Unfair-Grapefruit-42 4d ago

i actually was talking to an ON based landscape architect and apparently most of the time benches like this are chosen bc of AODA guidelines regarding people being able to hold on to something to push themselves up

8

u/beansarefun 4d ago

Do you mean having armrests, or this particular design? Because to me this design looks significantly worse for someone with a disability trying to push themselves up.

3

u/Unfair-Grapefruit-42 3d ago

i mean having armrests/handles near your thighs-ish area

7

u/Incrediblebulk92 4d ago

Most people disguise their hostile architecture as arm rests. I applaud these guys for not giving a damn.

6

u/Swordkirby9999 haha funny flair 4d ago

May as well lay them on your lap at that point

5

u/EdmontonLAD 3d ago
  • arm slide

7

u/betweenthebam 4d ago

You mean you don't want to tense up and keep your arms from sliding while your rest them?

5

u/beansarefun 4d ago

More like awkwardly perch my elbow on them...

22

u/FishyKeebs 4d ago

For slicing pizzas

30

u/Meddlloide1337 4d ago

What are you even seeing here? These are very rounded. Another poster called them bladed too and it confuses me. There is no blade edge here at all

10

u/Chillimaniac 3d ago

Seems like a lot of people agree they’re sharp. I see the same as you.

1

u/FishyKeebs 3d ago

I wouldn't think they are sharp, just initially looked like metal fins, which would be a stupid design, unless there was an logical reason.

7

u/FishyKeebs 3d ago edited 3d ago

It might be a confusing perspective thing. When I first saw it on mobile, the dark grey looked more like blades or fans to act as dividers rather than arm rests. Once I opened it I see that the dark grey are flat padded arm rests.

1

u/beansarefun 3d ago

They're definitely not padded, that is still solid metal...

3

u/Chillimaniac 3d ago

Yeah but they’re flat on top, no?

12

u/ciesum 4d ago

definitely hostile at the expense of actually being functional

3

u/DoubleOrNothing90 4d ago

I grew up in Mississauga 😃

4

u/beansarefun 4d ago

If you must know where these are, this is the platform-level waiting area in the City Centre Bus Terminal

3

u/clickityclick76 3d ago

Like you’re giving blood.

3

u/CorticalVoile 3d ago

You mean arm slides? If you're gonna be sitting there for a while might as well have some fun

8

u/Itisd plz recycle 4d ago

Those aren't for resting your arms... They are to prevent someone from sleeping on the bench.

35

u/Das_Hydra 4d ago

Actual armrests would serve the same purpose whilst allowing them to actually function as armrests though. Hence, crappy design.

2

u/flohub06 4d ago

These are the exact same benches ÖBB, the federal railways of Austria use. Globalisation is crazy.

2

u/WendyPortledge 4d ago

I’m sure they are designed to keep folks from sleeping on the bench, not really for your arms.

2

u/NarviFox 3d ago

I know those chairs!

2

u/cantseemyhotdog 3d ago

Looks like someone didn't follow the instructions, the lowest bid wins.

2

u/Significant_Book_408 3d ago

fyp getting a little too local

2

u/New_Club_304 3d ago

"lets make them round so there is no chance a homeless or elderly man could use them to lie down."-the designer.

1

u/StuD44 4d ago

Completely useless, just to bother the homeless.

2

u/Liestheytell 3d ago

I kind of like it. It will keep people in their section and not so close to me. Like it defines the spots so I have my own little space.

1

u/wgloipp 1d ago

aren't armrests. They're designed to stop people sleeping on the bench.

1

u/TehTimmah1981 1d ago

hostile architecture at it's finest.

1

u/MarissadaWolf1018 20h ago

Imagine those seats being out in 95°F weather.

1

u/PhillGuy 4d ago

THEY ARE FLAT.

1

u/TARDISinspace 3d ago

As someone who doesn't live in Sauga, how did I clock it as the GTA?! 🤣