Jim said:
Problems
1) Ugly boxes that were invited in with no real understanding how big or how many.
-----> Yes, but the cat seems to be out of the proverbial bag on that one. There would not be much chance of them going away, correct? So realistically, you may want lemonade from lemons.
2) A city that is filled with lost people and more arriving everyday.
-----> I hear the frustration with this and the wayfinding thing seems to have it's own solar system and orbiting bodies. Again, not sure if that genie goes back in the bottle at this point.
3) Graffiti is a problem, as is clutter.
-----> It can be a very big problem and cheapens property. Obviously I know your post was facetious, but that is the exact look that would be worst case.
4) The very real need of not just the city but everyone to get info out.
------> Not sure if these boxes are the vehicle for bulletin boarding. Hmm, I think the LO would be waayyy better:)
5) Versatility and easy of maintenance
------> Adhesive printed Vinyl would probably fit this bill the best.
6) Something different that sets us apart
------> Covering them in a way to make them less industrial looking is definitely better than if they are plain grey. It would get publicity for both the City and for AT&T (for underwriting the expense of doing it -see below)
7) The need for public art
------> Again this may be a separate issue, or there may be instances when both public art and re-purposing the look are solved with a mash-up approach of doing a little of both.
$$$$$$$$$$$$ Cost is the biggest issue.
------> Last time I checked, AT&T was doing pretty well for themselves. If cost is the biggest issue, I would think they would embrace the publicity of solving a community problem about blight, created in part by not being able to cost justify the incredibly expensive engineering of burying all of these things.
By generously underwriting the transformation of industrial boxes into integrated pieces of modern architecture, they could share in the positive public relations of solving the problem and look like heroes instead of heels.
By any conservative estimate, to create fully water sealed units, that elevate, retract and lock - and the time and material it would take to install or retrofit them all, it could go to $20,000 a piece very easily.
In contrast, the cost to create, install and maintain the creative covering of them, might average only 500 hundred dollars each. Clearly a wise business decision would be the latter, considering the city most likely already let the first choice slip right by.
DL said: ...maybe vintage photos.... Could work. Here's a quickie of what that might look like...
- memory-box.jpg (81 KiB) Viewed 3526 times
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