Flavor/Art comments: Hostile Architecture is the practice of making deliberately uncomfortable (either psychologically or physically) and aggressive constructions in public spaces in order to deter unwanted behavior or to stake a claim about who is in charge of a specific location and who is/isn't welcome to use that space and in what ways they are/are not welcome to use it. All architecture necessitates aesthetic messaging and guides the people who see and use it to see and use it in a particular way, but Hostile Architecture in particular uses the brute force of reality to attempt to prevent certain activities from occurring. In the art, the benches near the gate are an example of real-world hostile architecture. While benches are ostensibly a place to sit and wait in a space, these benches are are deliberately uncomfortable, ugly, cold, and made of hard metal or concrete, all features intended to dissuade their use, especially for any length of time. More subtly, however, are the large, solid armrests between the seats, a common real-world example of Hostile Architecture intended to physically prevent people (especially the homeless) from sleeping there. This art by Dimik displays both sides of Hostile Architecture, the grandiose statement sent by the building, and the more subtle "guidance" to the flavor text's "unwanted citizens" provided out front.
Remember kids, it's illegal to remove armrests from public seating, but there aren't any rules about distributing appropriately sized Allen wrenches.
