Using a regional quilt pattern, I designed a 9-block network of 16 outdoor public telephones arranged in a party-line (a type of network loop where all phones share the same exchange). This street-level intervention was intended to foster conviviality between strangers at a regional festival attended by 30,000 people from both rural and city settings in Sauk County, Wisconsin. The plan included wiring techniques developed for military radios to connect the stations on 16 street corners where phones would be sitting on kitchen tables printed with street maps of the quilt network applied in vinyl to the tabletops. The tables doubled as rest stops for strolling visitors who could make and receive calls while they sat at the kitchen table. However, while I validated this system in my studio, the project was unrealized because of venue cancellation due to pandemic concerns.

DATE: 2019

MATERIALS: ad hoc party-line telephone network to be deployed during a rural festival

SCALE: urban design

DIMENSIONS: 9-city blocks

SITE: Sauk County, Wisconsin

STATUS: unrealized

n/a