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visit cube

that which makes possible visiting a major site which is not (yet) a museum
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one of my regrets/frustrations while visiting a big city is that, although I see a lot of important and impressive-design buildings, visiting them from the inside is not possible, with few exceptions, ofcourse.

manytimes I had the chance to enter nice european sites, like old mayor's houses, cathedrals, towers, whatever.. but these were very old sites, and with little importance to the current social evolution. if I were to ask my entering a television-tower, a present mayor-house, or any other present-day facility, with the simple purpose of visiting, I think I would be ridiculised..

what I have in mind is a isolating glass cube that permits somone's visiting the building on the inside - offices, conference rooms, diners - without the interference with the persons that actually work there.

the glass is isolating (noise reduction and mirror glass, for the visitor not to be seen), all cubes are single, and communication is only possible with other cube-visitors, through radio devices inside every cube. the movement of the cube inside the building is realised with a sensor-system which establishes the person's position inside the cube, and a motor-wheel system, which takes data from the sensor-system and moves the cube in order for the person to be in the center.. so the visitor just walks without even touching the cube. for elevators there's a special set of buttons that act somehow like a remote control.

rules (mainly set by building administrators, but these are to be kept:) given a room, in that room there can not be a number of cubes larger than a tenth of the number of persons normally present in that room; one can not leave his cube while visiting.

visitors pay entrance-fee, visit-cube rental fee; money go to the people working in that building.

sweet, Mar 01 2004

one weekend in the year, many London buildings are open to the public. http://www.londonop...se.org/OHEvent.html
[po, Oct 04 2004]

[hippo]'s reference http://www.ananova....mages/web/68576.jpg
Would employees be free to throw fruit and eggs at your cube? [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004]

"Don’t Miss A Sec" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4326340/
Solves toilet problem, but will need wheels or leg-holes. Leg-holes, I think. [Monkfish, Oct 04 2004]

[link]






       Perhaps we could adapt hampster ball cages ?
normzone, Mar 01 2004
  

       Would you have to fast and piss into a tube?
hippo, Mar 01 2004
  

       [hippo], What's the problem? People take bus tours all the time, with extended periods with no potty breaks. How would this be different?
oxen crossing, Mar 01 2004
  

       It was a clever David Blaine reference
hippo, Mar 01 2004
  

       OK, got it, thanks. I kind of like this idea though. You could turn anything into a museum. Just hop in your box (I'd prefer clear, so we could watch the tourists like animals in a zoo) for a fresh perspective on anything. A mechanism for being ignored.   

       (see Kobo Abe, _The Box Man_, totally different, but explores living in a box and observing w/o being observed, taken to surreal extremes).
oxen crossing, Mar 01 2004
  

       [hippo] no, I'm afraid an included toilet won't be available.. EVER!! while visiting a museum you don't see a toilet on every corner, now.. so it's not much different.   

       well.. except of Duchamp's pisoir. Evrika!
sweet, Mar 01 2004
  

       I just see people gathering around a glass cube on the street, laughing, pointing, and throwing shoes at it while the tourist cowers in fear. I vote for this one, just baecause I like to make fun of tourists and shiny glass boxes would make them easier to spot in a crowd.
echo, Mar 01 2004
  

       [po], thank you for the link, but, the idea was to see the respective site fully functional. with people running around agitated, to see their work, the expressions on their faces and such.. that weekend would make that building like an ordinary museum. even less, since some museums have wax figures
sweet, Mar 01 2004
  

       [echo] you see people gathering around a glass cube on the street and throwing shoes at it ?? how often does that happen?   

       I failed to mention that the cubes are located inside the building and actually are property of the employees.. :p
sweet, Mar 01 2004
  

       Interesting idea. Wouldn't a moving cube of one-way glass be several thousand times more unsettling than ordinary tourists, though?   

       What about buying up old dalek costumes from the BBC instead?
Monkfish, Mar 01 2004
  
      
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