Making spaces: The Offline Phone

In a society of steadily increasing urbanization, public spaces became a central element of every day life. By walking through Dundee and observing our own surrounding, we learned more about the various structures and functions of a public space. As a group, we tried to understand the complexity of public spaces and learned more about the way in which we interact with each other and our surroundings.

The map below shows some of Dundee’s public places we visited:

Tay Bridge Ramps

A lot of public spaces in Dundee don’t use their full potential, an example is the area under the Tay bridge. I went there several times to analyze the technical details of the area such as dimensions and the way in which people use this space. 

My observations:

Technical Details:

– materials: concrete and asphalt

– green area around the bridge

– two streets divide the space

– graffiti on the columns ( Lettering: North, South)

– pipes on the top

– high ceilings

External factors:

– protected from rain

– dark

– traffic noise

– people walk past the area

– a lot of bike riders

– graffitis are the center of attention

Developing a concept

I first tried to understand what activities people could practice on such a kind of public place and decided to focus on speaking, as I think communication would add new energy to this space. Also, I observed that most people rushed past this area and didn’t interact with each other or their surrounding at all. I tried to create a creative game experience that encourages interaction, inspired by the idea of Playful Design.

Understanding Playful Design

The Offline Phone

I had different approaches, for example, I wanted to build a labyrinth or a light installation, but the traffic made an uninterrupted use of the side impossible. Therefore I decided that it would be necessary to connect the space and I had the idea to create a kind of string phone to communicate from one to the other side of the street. I decided to use metal pipes for my concepts, similar to the already existing pipes on the ceiling of the bridge. The pipe system could use the same technology that was once used to communicate on big ships with each other.

I wanted to create a bridge between digital and face to face communication with my project. The idea is based on the principles of a telephone, however, my concept is offline and should encourage the people that walk past this area to speak with each other. I decided to call my project “The offline phone” as it creates a fun face-to-face interaction and communication experience without being connected to the world wide web.

Building a Prototype scale 1:10

I first tried to re-create the side in cardboard and used then colored straws to symbolize the pipes. While doing that I experimented with different colors and layouts to create a steady design.

The prototype showed me that I made mistakes with the ceiling hight and the scale of the pipes was wrong too.  Also, I didn’t pay enough attention to the already existing graffitis.

I reduced the ceiling height from six to five meters and used a different material for the pipes when building the model. I often referred to the prototype while I built the final design.

Building a model scale 1:10

The result and what I learned

In order to develop my concept, I researched the topic of communication and asked other people what they think about the way in which technology changes our way of speaking and interaction. One approach that inspired me a lot is the idea that communicating is not an act but a process that constructs over time meaning together. That is just one of many ideas about communication, which is for me a central topic in every public space and our today’s society.

This project showed me that researching and listening to other people’s opinions is an essential part of the design process as it leads to new creative approaches and ideas. Also, I experimented with various recycled materials while building the model and extended my knowledge about different materials and tools.