99% Invisible: Reflections From Minneapolis

Seeing all that is meant to be unseen

BY DANIELLE CROOM WITH ART BY MEGAN BORMANN

As city dwellers, every aspect of the environment we interact with has been altered or designed in some way. That which is visible to our layman eyes only skims the surface. This is the guiding principle behind “99% Invisible”, a podcast and now book, created and narrated by Roman Mars. The name itself refers to the idea that we only see 1% of the built world, while the rest remains hidden unless actively uncovered, which is what the podcast aims to do. As a student of architecture, I am being taught to identify the aspects of design that go unnoticed but are integral and emulate both beauty and function. “99% Invisible” was already on my radar as someone with a great interest in design and podcasts, but taking a deeper dive into some of its anecdotes as well as its concepts has reinvigorated my passion for the weirdly mundane. Once you’ve been clued in on the mysteries of the designed environment, they cannot go unnoticed. Just in my walks around campus and Minneapolis, I have noticed several of these mysteries, some of them explainable, and some that remain unsolved.

The first mystery I noticed, and one that I have yet to solve, is a hexagonal manhole cover outside of Rarig Center. Never before had I seen a manhole cover in any shape other than circular, and I assumed they did not even exist because all other shapes of covers are capable of falling into the hole of the same shape. My cursory research turned up exactly one thing: there is a similar manhole cover in London near the Thames River. I also discovered that there are many shapes of manhole covers, including rectangular, triangular, and elliptical. Yet nothing told me about when it may have been manufactured, or what it means for the workings beneath it. It invigorates me, this gap in internet knowledge. I am filled with the need to know why, why was this manhole made? If anyone knows, or has contacts with Big Manhole, share your knowledge with the world. Please!

One of my favorite concepts from the “99% Invisible” book that I now carry with me is the idea of desire paths. A desire path is a footpath treaded off any paved walkway. People want to go a certain way and have the free will to ignore the intended program and follow their desire. Over time, as more people use the path, it becomes more visible and therefore more used. Sometimes, these paths are legitimized and paved. One example of this is right outside Rapson Hall’s main entrance. If you exit the building and turn to the right, there is a diagonal path through the landscaping paved with small rectangular stones. Even before learning about the concept of desire paths, I could tell that this was a designer either foreseeing or reacting to the human tendency to take the most efficient path. Yet mere steps away, the landscaping of Northrop Mall clearly intends to block the creation of desire paths. Just look at the northwest corner of Tate Hall; the deliberate line of bushes bisecting the angle of the corner blocks any attempts at cutting across. Understandably, there is a desire to protect the grass, but it also begs to interrogate the difference between nature which is meant to be looked at and meant to be experienced. Is there really any value in the former?

These are just a few, tiny examples of the design intricacies that I noticed when I observed the environment; and now it’s your turn. Go out in the world and ask questions so obscure and annoying that it makes your friends and loved ones roll their eyes. Create your own desire paths both physically and metaphorically. You don’t need any particular experience to start looking, just an open mind and genuine curiosity. Get inside the mind of the person who designed your hellish apartment complex, or your favorite park. Research HVAC systems and point out the vents to every first date for the rest of your life. Our world is vastly more complicated than it seems at a glance, and it is already so incredibly complex. If you are content to live in ignorance of the hidden machinations within every wall and sidewalk, by all means, go on your merry way. But if you look just a bit deeper, you may begin to understand just how much we are at the mercy of design. 

Wake Mag