Free Wi-Fi, work area coming to Greater Cincinnati
Local 12 interviews DAAP communication designers of Nodes Project
St. Lawrence Park in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Price Hill has a modern outdoor living space complete with seating and free Wi-Fi, due to a University of Cincinnati collaboration with the Cincinnati Public Library and the community group Price Hill Will.
The DAAP design team at the installation of The Nodes Project furniture cubes (left to right): D.J. Trischler, assistant professor of communications design, Anca Matyiku, assistant professor of architecture and interior design, and architecture and interior design graduate students Josh Mendenhall and Michael Rinaldi- Eichenberg. Photo provided by DAAP.
The project, called The Nodes Project — which stands for “Neighborhoods of Design Engagement" — was featured in a segment by Local 12, showcasing the outdoor living/play space with a focus on the need for digital access for everyone.
Designers at UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP), library officials and the community group embarked on the project based on reccomendations by an interdisciplinary DAAP team, including Claudia Rebola, Vikas Mehta, and Ming Tang, with the Price Hill pilot being a collaboration between designers Anca Matyiku and D.J. Trischler, both assistant professors at DAAP.
The purpose of The Nodes Project is to increase digital equity through free public Wi-Fi, access to digital public library content, and attachment to the local community.
Funding for the Wi-Fi network was a combination of crowdfunding and city dollars awarded to the community group Price Hill Will and the outdoor cube style furnishings were funded by the Center for DAAP Research and Innovation. The center is a hub for faculty, students, and industry partners to do research and innovation in the capacity areas of health and wellbeing, creative entrepreneurship, urban systems, digital culture, and sustainable living.
"We hope that this is a space that people can kind of connect in, and maybe even strangers who don't know each other would come in here and know each other because they're sitting at these," Trischler told Fox 19.
This Nodes location is one of several expected to be installed at a later date.
“The goal is to assess this version over the summer and seek ways to improve and expand into other areas of the city and county,” says Trischler.
Feature photo at top provided by DAAP.
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
These teeny spiders are social media stars
August 28, 2026
The New York Times turned to a University of Cincinnati professor to explain the appeal of jumping spiders on social media.
An internal divide among unions on AI impacts the Wisconsin gubernatorial race
August 28, 2026
Anne Lofaso, a professor in the Donald P. Klekamp College of Law at UC, spoke with Wisconsin Public Radio, about the schism among unions over AI and whether it is a plus, a negative, or somewhere in between when looking at job creation.
Campus buzz returns as UC students experience their first week
August 27, 2026
Near-perfect weather, record first-year enrollment, Thrifty Move-In and a packed Involvement Fair mark the University of Cincinnati’s first week back as thousands of Bearcats move into campus housing.