Design
The Community Television
Seeing a public amenity in a street-facing TV in Ann Arbor.
There's a bar in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan, where, instead of a window, there's a huge flat screen television. And instead of pointing in toward the barstools and indoor patrons, the screen faces out onto the street toward the bar's sidewalk patio seating and, by default, everyone else who happens to be nearby.
It's created a kind of community television where, it seems, the only thing that's worth tuning into is Detroit Tigers baseball games. Despite the unshakable Big Brother-ness of this huge TV screen, it's actually a nice addition to the public realm on this corner, offering a central connector where bar patrons – and non-patrons outside the official patio space – can gather in public to jointly support their local team.