With phone booths basically extinct (there were only four in Manhattan in 2009), and payphones used more often as garbage bins than for making calls, the city decided to reinvent the public landline. Last night Mayor Bloomberg and Chief Digital Officer Rachel Haot announced the winning prototypes in their Reinvent Payphones Design Challenge.
The competition "engaged hundreds of urban designers, planners, technologists and policy experts to create physical and virtual prototypes that imagine the future of the City’s approximately 11,000 public pay telephones. The City received more than 125 submissions aimed at modernizing payphone infrastructure and optimizing the use of public space"—those 125 were narrowed down to 11 semi-finalists who made demo prototypes. Last night those 11 were presented to a panel of judges, and six designers were awarded for different achievements in their designs. Haot notes that future payphones could feature Wi-Fi hotspots, charging stations, and could act as alternative energy sources or community art installations.
Click through for a look at the six finalists—and you can vote for your favorite in their Popular Choice vote online through March 15th.
