Faculty from the College of Architecture and Planning, along with Union board staff members, announced the winners of the kiosk competition on Friday.
Six designs were chosen from the 25 entered in the contest, which challenged architecture students to design a kiosk better suited for information relay than the old wooden kiosk behind the Union.
Among the winning designs were five mini kiosks similar to domino slabs equipped with digital screens and screen panels resembling Japanese folding screens.
Because the Union has budgeted $50,000-$70,000 for each kiosk, it has yet to be determined which one of the final designs will be built. Depending on cost, several kiosks of the same design or a combination of kiosks with different designs will be built.
Locations for the 10 to 15 kiosks also have yet to be determined.
The kiosk prototype project began when members of the Union board decided the 20-year-old kiosk was not fulfilling its job of communicating information, said Whit Hollis, Union director.
“For us, this is a real solution for solving the communication problem here in our commuter campus,” Hollis said. “Hopefully, this will revive campus life.”
Senior architecture major John Patrick Rooney’s solution to this problem was creating a Upod kiosk: a kiosk where students can download information directly by plugging iPods into each kiosk.
The kiosk designed by Rooney’s team, which was one of the finalists, would also fit with its environment.
“For example, if there’s one next to the biology building, it might be green with plants as decoration,” said Rooney.
Alina Kowalczyk, a senior in architecture, integrated the environment in her team’s winning design as well.
“Campus is too white,” she said, contrasting it with her design: a 12-foot tainted glass sculpture fitted with digital screens and resembling the red rocks of Utah canyons.
“Our inspiration was color because it attracts attention and helps people get engaged,” Kowalczyk said.
Besides having the chance to turn their plans into a real-life structure, each of the six winning teams received a check for $1,000 to be split among its members.
As to what he’s going to do with the money, Rooney said he will use it to pay rent.
The other winning designs include a metal de-coup-aged rectangle dubbed “a tribune to the paper flyer” and curved metal kiosks with screen and flier capability.
All designs and scale models of the kiosks are on display in the Union corridor. The winning designs are marked with colored stickers.
One of six winning student-made kiosk designs sits on display in the Union Ballroom. Finalists were given space in the Union to complete prototypes for kiosks to be placed on campus.