200 Chu Ming Silveira’s 76th Birthday

• Chu Ming Silveira’s 76th Birthday

• “Hello? Can you hear me?” In Brazil’s phone booths before 1971, the answer was usually, “No.” Chu Ming Silveira, an architect, answered her country’s call to design a better payphone booth. Durable yet lightweight, and inexpensive to manufacture, install, and maintain, her Orelhão has become one of the country’s most recognizable and beloved pieces of “street furniture.”
  Orelhão, which is Portuguese for “big ear,” shelter callers from Brazil’s baking sun and torrential downpours, as well as a wide range of temperatures. Best of all? Callers can actually hear the person on the other end of the line. Chu Ming drew her inspiration from the shape of an egg, which provides excellent acoustics and has a pleasing natural form.
  There are more than 52,000 Orelhão in Brazil today, and adaptations of Chu Ming’s design can be found in Peru, Colombia, Angola, Mozambique, and China.
  Today’s Doodle pays tribute to Chu Ming’s creativity and innovation on what would have been her 76th birthday.
  Doodle by Pedro Vergani