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Some Design Fails from My Las Vegas Hotel Bathroom

…or maybe they're execution fails, you tell me

By Rain Noe - November 15, 2016

in Object Culture | UX

I think a great example of simple-but-effective industrial design is the curved shower curtain rod. Having grown up in a household with a straight shower rod and spent countless cumulative hours fighting off a wet, clingy curtain, I think the curved ones are the bee's knees. So I was pleased to see that my hotel room in Vegas has one.

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However, in this bathroom, you can see what happens when things are designed in isolation, as opposed to within a cohesive system. First off—the shower curtain rings. You've undoubtedly seen these, with the little balls on them so that they roll smoothly:

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Well, the diameter of the curved shower rod does not jive with the curtain rings, which have an interior diameter further reduced by the balls. If you lock the rings shut, they bind on the rod and the curtain won't slide. So, Housekeeping's solution is to leave the rings open.

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Also, the thing about the curved shower rod in this bathroom is that it intrudes into the path of the door.

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Whomever does maintenance here has thus outfitted the door with a rubber stopper, which you can see in the photo above. However, the cantilevered weight of the shower rod and curtain has caused the shower rod mounts to pivot out of vertical (I can freely wiggle them with my hand).

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Thus, the shower rod sags in the middle. So when you open the door…

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…it bangs right into the rod, metal on metal, below the stopper's location. The impact makes an unpleasant noise.

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The shower rod is predictably dented...

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...and the door is marred as well.

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So why am I writing about this? Because I'm jetlagged, I've been up since 3:30am and the conference I'm covering doesn't start until 10am. Earlier, I was walking around in the casino and taking photos of design features on the slot machines and gambling tables in hopes of writing about them, but a guy from Security started looking at me a little funny, and I don't want to get my fingers smashed with a hammer like that guy in Casino.

"Don't do this—I work for Core77! I write about design! Come up to the room and look at my shower rod!"

o

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Peadar Wagon

8 years ago

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I don't think the reason the rings were left open was because of binding. It's more likely that it takes to long to unhook and hook ever time they change the curtin. As for the sagging, that's just poor instalation .

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Brian Peers

8 years ago

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Regarding the previous two commentors.
Does Core77 have a robot/spam/editorial filter in place to stop this sort of nonsensical waste of space,,, comments which are not at all helpful or polite. If people wish to comment on this intellectual site then please folks don't be silly and waste people's time reading your childish insults. Constructive criticisms and comments are best.
Yes Mr Noe, I agree with your observations and frustration with how a good design idea is poorly executed. For those of us who are tuned into this ethos of good design it is like chalk on a blackboard when shortcomings are not rectified or redesigned.

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amunta nul

8 years ago

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...when you have that existential moment wondering, am I the troll or is it the writer?

Regardles, I'm glad you're using the power of Core77 to complain about shotty craftsmanship of one thing you saw! Your writing holds as much quality as those curtain rods.

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