The Porty Light Box
Date uploaded: December 17, 2012
The kiosk on the corner of Bellfield Street and High Street in the Portobello area of Edinburgh was to be decommissioned by BT.
However, this iconic piece of British design has been bought by Portobello Community Council and architect Steven Wheatley for £1 under BT's 'Adopt a Kiosk' scheme and named the Porty Light Box. It is currently being re-painted and re-glazed and will be renovated to become a light box to display local artwork and images. Three, full length, opaque white acrylic panels will be fitted on the inside to act as a diffuser screen. With extra fluorescent tubes installed inside, a large light box will be created from which to display images by local artists, schoolchildren or other groups. These images will change on a regular basis and low-energy LEDs will be installed to create a simple, colourful light display whilst other artwork is being prepared. They will allow people standing outside the box to see the artworks.
Steven Wheatley has raised £1,720 to pay for the project through the Spacehive crowdfunding website for civic projects. He said: "It is fantastic how enthusiastically people got behind this project, the community has been incredibly supportive. Using Spacehive really helped to spread the message about both the project and the fundraising - the pledges were rolling in, even one from Australia." Click here for more information.
Spacehive.com went live in March 2012 and was set up with backing from Big Lottery, Deloitte and Business In The Community.
