crime?

while refilling my coffee at work this morning and gazing out the window wishing i was outside and not here at work, i noticed these concrete benches that line the walkways. yes, i have noticed them before and i've also noticed the little brackets that have been glued and screwed along the edges every three feet or so. i am sure that you have noticed them too. they weren't part of the original design but are an afterthought in response to one activity.


now, these modifications don't really prohibit anyone from using the bench as originally intended, but they are there, and serve as a reminder that this activity is no longer encouraged, and as much as is possible, prohibited.
don't get me wrong, i do understand what is going on here and i get the practical defense of this kind of action. as a business you maintain a certain level of liability for not taking such actions. and you certainly don't want to be seen as encouraging such behavior as would incur liability. so although the designers of your surrounding architecture never saw this coming, for you the business to take no action to modify the original design sends the wrong message.
funny thing is it may not prohibit people from trying, and in the process actually cause more damage then if nothing had been done to stop it in the first place.


and so there is a conversation going on here that i find interesting. the architects and designers set out to make a statement and the guerilla psychogeographers set out to exploit them. and in the middle of this back and forth it looks like the original design got shelved along the way and has since been redressed. something tells me though that the conversation will continue.