The architecture of anxiety

Home should impart a feeling of comfort and safety, shouldn't it?

So why do contemporary architects and designers persist in creating structures that present very real threats to one's physical well-being?

Like these lethal staircases.

Lawsuit in the making.

"'Night, grandma. Careful going upstairs."

180-pounds-plus not recommended.

Or this anatomically challenging seating.

The Kidney Killer™ by Starck.

Sigmoidoscopy, anyone?

Perhaps ultimately worse than their threat of physical endangerment, these designs engender fear and anxiety, corroding emotional health and deepening our collective sense of dread. Or am I just hopelessly old-fashioned?