At the grey spiral staircase on level 3, I asked one of the police officers to open the door - and was already looking forward to the surprise when they saw the pink spiral staircase. BUT this time everything was different. The policemen looked briefly, then laughed out loud and began to mock: "So this is where you calm down the aggressive students!" They then explained that for some years now, cells in various prisons have been painted pink to calm down unruly prisoners.
The calming effect of pink has apparently been scientifically proven. The so-called cool down pink is considered a miracle weapon that, according to the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper, "can even calm down tough guys". Even a short stay in a pink room is said to lower blood pressure. According to 20 Minuten, a spokeswoman for the Zug cantonal police said: "It is assumed that aggression is reduced after about 15 minutes in the cell. The maximum length of stay is two hours." The colour pink therefore has a therapeutic effect and is used in schools for hyperactive children and in psychiatric clinics as well as in prisons.
I wonder what the architects at EM2N were thinking when they had this spiral staircase in the Toni area painted pink? For us Toni inmates, it's definitely good to know that pink calms the mind, because we now know the therapy when our boss, bossess, ZHdK, Toni or anyone else annoys us: walking up the pink spiral staircase.
But beware: there are also people who become even more aggressive at the sight of pink!