50 Times Architects Outdid Themselves And Came Up With Something So Thoughtful That It Could Only Be Labeled As ‘Friendly Architecture’

To hear more about the background of this friendly page, we reached out to the subreddit's creator, Honor Hingston-Cox, to hear what inspired her to launch Friendly Architecture in the first place. "I've been a fan of thoughtfully built things forever, and particularly since Design Like You Give a Damn by Architecture for Humanity came out back in 2006," Honor told Bored Panda. "In 2010, I heard the RadioLab short about a bus stop for people with dementia in Dusseldorf, and I knew that there just had to be even more good in the world of the built environment. I started seeking out designs that considered specific groups of people or animals," she explained.

"Later I was introduced to the world of Hostile Architecture. This is where the built environment is designed to change the users behavior in a negative way. Hostile architecture is designed to stop people sitting down (think spikes on walls) or lying down (arm rests on benches), or to stop birds nesting ('bird spikes'). I realized that the architecture I was into was about encouraging behaviors, instead of stopping them."

"One day, after getting overwhelmed by the negativity of Hostile Architecture, I started a subreddit to collect all of the good things," Honor says. "I posted a picture of a picnic table designed with an overhang on one side, made to accommodate a person in a wheelchair. The table encourages everyone to sit together. It doesn't stop behaviors, it starts them."

"Slowly people found the sub from my posts as a mod on Hostile Architecture. I think that other people needed a chaser after seeing some of the awful, mean design in the world. I separated the posts into categories of thought and catalogued things that are accessible, social, promote sharing and coexisting with nature, provide shelter, food/water, rest, information, sanitation, or are about saving lives. I also included architecture for Pure Fun."

"It's been amazing seeing it grow and seeing others bring in Friendly Architecture from their world into the sub," Honor told Bored Panda. "It can be hard to find Friendly Architecture, but when I do, I feel so good about the world."

Since Honor is an expert on the more positive side of architecture and design, we asked her for some of her favorite examples of friendly architecture from around the world. "What's amazing about the sub is finding that there are pockets of friendly architecture everywhere," she said said. "My favorites are hyper-local ideas (like the Dusseldorf bus stop) that could catch on elsewhere if they got the publicity and funding they need. There are the public defibrillators in Adelaide, Australia that can be operated by anyone at any time of day and canopy bridges for wildlife in Anaimalai Hills, India and Longview, Washington. Those are the posts that hope people see and think 'Wow, that could totally work in my neighborhood'."

"Others are major hits already," Honor explained. "Think Little Free Pantries and Curb Cuts, Buddy Benches and over and underpasses for animal populations. Some posts are much more site-specific like a light show in San Antonio that "repaints" the mission buildings as they appeared when painted, or the towers for Chimney Swifts that are placed along their migration routes. These are designs that I hope will inspire brand new projects. There are thoughtful, friendly designers and architects everywhere. Thank goodness!"

When it comes to the benefits that friendly architecture can reap, Honor says, "Friendly architecture makes life better for all. And it responds to the moment. Cell phone lanes for pedestrians and the social distancing park in Brooklyn show that designers and planners can work together to make life better in the face of something new. Facilitating sharing is another great benefit of Friendly Architecture. In the USA, so many of us have so much, but the infrastructure to facilitate sharing isn't robust. Enter spots to share clothes, beach toys at the beach, electricity for phone charging and even tools for bike repair."

Lastly, Honor added, "Friendly Architecture is really hard to find! It's out there, but it hasn't caught people's attention the way that Hostile Architecture has. Still, I'm super impressed by how many members we have. Being a Friendly Architecture detective is extremely rewarding."

Have you ever encountered a building with no wheelchair access or stairs that are so steep and narrow you have to focus on every single one or you’ll lose your footing? Whoever designed those spaces did not have the “friendly architecture” mindset. Maybe they should have taken a look at the Friendly Architecture subreddit before embarking on their projects because they surely would have found some inspiration there. 

This online group has nearly 16k members at the moment, and is famous for celebrating buildings or public spaces that were designed in a way that “encourages people to interact with them”. Their about section states that structures shared on the page “may also be beautiful, accessible, supportive, helpful or keep people and other living things safe from harm”. And the group only has one rule: be friendly. A quick scroll through their community shows a variety of genius designs and spaces that are just begging to be greeted and invited over for dinner.