New York City is on a mission to build a better payphone for the digital age.
A few months ago, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched a design challenge with the Reinvent Payphones initiative. The goal: Crowdsource ways to revitalize and upgrade the city's 11,000 pay phones.
Last night, the city announced the six winning prototypes. Some of the submissions imagined pay phone kiosks with air pollution sensors, solar-powered cell phone chargers, and screens controlled by hand gestures and voice commands.
The city judged the prototypes based on connectivity, creativity, visual design, functionality, and community impact.
New York City's contracts for its pay phones expire in October 2014. The winners of the Reinvent Payphone Design Challenge aren't guaranteed contracts, but the city will take those designs into consideration when determining what to do with New York's pay phones.
Already, the city has converted some payphones into Wi-Fi hotspots. And in November 2012, it replaced 10 booths in Union Square with touchscreens for maps, public service announcements, and entertainment listings.
(http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-citys-payphones-of-the-future-2013-3)
Related Stories
Multifamily Housing | Apr 20, 2022
A Frankfurt tower gives residents greenery-framed views
In Frankfurt, Germany, the 27-floor EDEN tower boasts an exterior “living wall system”: 186,000 plants that cover about 20 percent of the building’s facade.
AEC Tech | Apr 19, 2022
VDC maturity and the key to driving better, more predictable outcomes
While more stakeholders across the AEC value chain embrace the concept of virtual design and construction, what is driving the vastly different results that organizations achieve? The answer lies within an assessment of VDC maturity.
Healthcare Facilities | Apr 19, 2022
6 trends to watch in healthcare design
As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve, IMEG’s healthcare leaders from across the country are seeing several emerging trends that are poised to have wide-ranging impacts on facility design and construction. Following are six of the trends and strategies they expect to become more commonplace in 2022 and the years to come.
Energy-Efficient Design | Apr 19, 2022
A prefab second skin can make old apartments net zero
A German startup is offering a new way for old buildings to potentially reach net-zero status: adding a prefabricated second skin.
Concrete Technology | Apr 19, 2022
SGH’s Applied Science & Research Center achieves ISO 17025 accreditation for concrete testing procedures
Simpson Gumpertz & Heger’s (SGH) Applied Science & Research Center recently received ISO/IEC17025 accreditation from the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) for several concrete testing methods.
Senior Living Design | Apr 19, 2022
Affordable housing for L.A. veterans and low-income seniors built on former parking lot site
The Howard and Irene Levine Senior Community, designed by KFA Architecture for Mercy Housing of California, provides badly needed housing for Los Angeles veterans and low-income seniors
Sponsored | BD+C University Course | Apr 19, 2022
Multi-story building systems and selection criteria
This course outlines the attributes, functions, benefits, limits, and acoustic qualities of composite deck slabs. It reviews the three primary types of composite systems that represent the full range of long-span composite floor systems and examines the criteria for their selection, design, and engineering.
Building Team | Apr 18, 2022
Shive-Hattery Acquires WSM Architects
Shive-Hattery announces that it has acquired WSM Architects, Inc., a 13-person architecture firm in Tucson, Arizona.
University Buildings | Apr 18, 2022
SmithGroup to design new Univ. of Colorado Denver engineering, design, computing building
The University of Colorado Denver selected SmithGroup to design a new engineering, design, and computing building that will serve as anchor of new downtown innovation district.
Building Team | Apr 15, 2022
Frank Gehry to design his largest building yet for his hometown of Toronto
Famed architect Frank Gehry will design his largest building to date for his hometown of Toronto, Canada.
