As you probably know, I’m a designer. I often look at the designed world and dissect each and every component to understand what the problem was, and how the designer who addressed that problem did just that. Here’s a little more background. I’m from Chicago, and there I rode lots of escalators. From getting onto the El trains to the office buildings and public parks I cut through daily. Escalators are just about everywhere. I’ve had long conversations with my friends, mocking tourists for standing on these modern marvels of personal transportation. I always argued this: “Did the inventor of the escalator want people to be twice as efficient, or twice as lazy?”. I argued that making stairs faster was the problem this invention was designed to solve. Obviously there are other needs such as accessibility, but I figured that most of the time, escalators were there in place of stairs, but not to replace elevators. And those who needed the break, or the added accessibility, should hang to the right while moving passengers could squeeze by on the left. They were high output efficiency machines! Or so I thought.
Then the other day I watched a little video talking about how the escalator etiquette I subscribed to is an improper use of the device. I was shocked, but after thinking about it more, I realized that what I expected to be a machine designed to solve one problem, was actually solving a completely different one. Which makes me think that there is opportunity to design a better, more efficient stair. One that let climbers ascend at the rate that they choose, with the effort they want to exert. All while supporting each other and a system that would be built to handle it.
Anyways, please watch this video. Be amazed. And don’t take for granted that the solutions we use in our everyday world are actually the best or final solution to a problem we see.
If you’d like to invest in my new “auto-stair” company, I’ll accept checks, cash, or donuts.
🖤 Geremy