Cell Phone Retreats

You may soon be specifying phone booths for your commercial projects, but they won't contain phones, just a private space for cell phone users.

A number of cell phone booths have already been installed in or near restaurants and public libraries to give cell phone callers privacy and the public a break from hearing incessant mobile phone chatter. Some of the booths are the red, cast-iron British iconic phone boxes, other establishments are getting them custom made.

The trend is clear: more and more telephone booths disappearing, more cell phone booths popping up.

In Europe, a number of manufacturers hope to reap the benefits. One Finish furniture design company, Antti Evavaara, has been selling mobile-phone boxes (just c-shaped chairs with clear paneling) since 2002. The company now plans to mass produce them in a variety of bright colors.