Portobello phone box turned into art gallery

The phone box will project artworks down the street

A traditional red telephone box is to be turned into a micro art gallery.

The kiosk on the corner of Bellfield Street and High Street in the Portobello area of Edinburgh was to be decommissioned by BT.

But it was bought by the local community council and architect Steven Wheatley for £1 under BT's Adopt a Kiosk scheme.

The Porty Light Box will use fluorescent tubes to beam images from local artists and schoolchildren.

Three full-length white acrylic panels fitted to the inside of the box will act as a diffuser screen.

They will allow people standing outside the box to see the artworks.

Mr Wheatley raised £1,720 to pay for the project through the Spacehive crowdfunding website for civic projects.

He said: "It is fantastic how enthusiastically people got behind this project, the community has been incredibly supportive.

"Using Spacehive really helped to spread the message about both the project and the fundraising - the pledges were rolling in, even one from Australia."

Spacehive.com went live in March 2012 and was set up with backing from Big Lottery, Deloitte and Business In The Community.