Friday the 13th and friggatriskaidekaphobia

If the number 13 scares you, you’re not alone. Fear of Friday the 13th, or friggatriskaidekaphobia, brings together “Frigg,” a Norse goddess and Friday’s namesake, and “triskaidekaphobia,” fear of the number 13. 

Every year, millions of dollars are lost on Friday the 13th because people won’t conduct business as usual. There are also implications in real estate.  Almost 80% of high-rise buildings skip the 13th floor in case an occupant happens to be superstitious.

A common way to avoid naming a floor “13” is to skip over the number, or to renumber the floor 12A or 14A. Sometimes, the floor is put to some other use, such as M for mechanical, or M for Mezzanine, or simply “M,’” the 13th letter of the alphabet—which brings us back to triskaidekaphobia. 

As you can see, architecture is very much tied in with socioeconomics. If you’re aware of any other phobia that we as architects must be aware of, please feel free to drop us a line at https://beamgroup.net/contact/