by Joe Jeffrey
Listening booth will record conversations of UK public as it tours length and breadth of UK
The BBC has taken the wraps off a new mobile recording studio, inspired by the iconic Airstream caravan.
Designed by London-based JaK Studio, the portable booth was commissioned as part of BBC Radio 4‘s the Listening Project after a Royal Institute of British Architects-run international competition.
Styled in the shape of a speech bubble, the travelling studio will travel across the UK recording conversations with people across the country, which will then be broadcast on the BBC.
Design features incorporated include a polycarbonate skin with lights at the rear that will react in time to conversations happening within the booth.
RIBA president Stephen Hodder said: ”The Listening Project Booth is a brilliantly witty project and a great piece of product design. It was the unanimous choice of our competition judges and I’m sure will inspire those who see it on the road and share their stories within it.”
Jacob Low, partner at JaK Studio added: ”To be selected to design an environment for such a unique and special project has been a privilege and a pleasure. Beyond the practicalities, we wanted to create a booth that celebrated the power and intimacy of conversation. From the reactive light sculpture that visually captures the dynamics of speech to the home-from-home touches that make the interior space a cosy cabin in which to retreat.
”For the ensuing months that the speech bubble booth will be on the road, it will be the definitive place for people to share with us the story of their lives, and we’re thrilled that they will be doing so in an environment that represents so many heartfelt moments of our own.”
The BBC seem to have taken a liking to all things Airstream as late – let’s just hope that, when touring across the country, they don’t travel with passengers in the back.
To check out a video highlighting what to expect, see below.
