This weekend my husband and I visited a new restaurant in our town. We were excited to have breakfast there; the restaurant had been under construction for at least six months.
But when we walked through the double door entrance, I immediately had a negative impression about the restaurant.
Why?
The architect had chosen to use gray and black colors for their design. And it quickly put me in a depressed mood.
I had just walked in from a brilliant, February sunny day to be greeted by gray walls, gray floor, and black chairs with harsh overhead lighting.
Not exactly the environment I envision when I want to enjoy my breakfast meal.
Even the menu followed the same color scheme: black menu with gray text.
The color contrast for the menu was so poor it made it hard for me to read the different menu choices in the harsh light.
We ordered and finished our breakfast. But as we left, I told my husband that the space really made me feel depressed. I didn’t plan to return unless they made some changes to their design.
So when I watched architect and writer John Cary’s 13-minute TED talk this morning, it didn’t take long for me to start nodding my head as he shared story after story of poorly designed spaces.
It reminded me of our neighborhood restaurant.
As Cary said,
None of us is immune from bad design
How Can Spaces Be Better Designed?
Architecture can make people feel respected and dignified.
But as Cary points out, lack of diversity in design has led to spaces that are created for a privileged few.
Think of neighborhoods built with no sidewalks, which makes it impossible for someone using a wheelchair to go to the nearby stores.
Or the long lines women have to endure at events because the architect designed bathrooms with only a few stalls.
Good design is not only about aesthetics. We need to commit to design and architecture that benefits the health and safety of the public.
Source: TED
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
