Ljubljana has joined a growing number of cities around the globe that have been rediscovering the K67 kiosk, the iconic polyfiber, steel and glass module designed by Slovenian architect and designer Saša Mächtig in the 1960s.

The newspaper publisher Delo has now installed a refurbished red K67 kiosk outside its office tower in Ljubljana. The kiosk is to stay there permanently to serve as a meeting point for Delo readers, locals and business partners.

Announcing the 13 January opening of the kiosk, Delo said it wanted to help boost reading culture by gathering people around the kiosk for events such as meetings and debates with its journalists and special guests.

The kiosk will also sell Delo editions and complementary merchandise. It will be a venue for workshops such as to develop readers' digital skills so they can read the publisher's digital editions.

A red K67 kiosk placed outside Delo headquarters in Ljubljana. Photo: Delo

"By reintroducing the kiosk, Delo follows the example of New York and Vienna, which already have Mächtig's legendary kiosk," Delo said. In this way the company also wants to pay tribute to the finest Slovenian industrial design.

Mächtig, who is now 81, designed the K67 in 1966 as a flexible multi-purpose module that can be used in many variations and configurations and can be expanded almost endlessly.

It was ready for serial production in Ljutomer two years later and by the time production stopped in the early 1990s, some 7,500 units had been manufactured. Coming mostly in bright primary colours, the kiosks popped up all over Yugoslavia, Eastern and Central Europe, and even in places as far off as Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and Japan.

They would be used as newsstands, snack bars, ticket booths, air quality monitoring stations and reception buildings. Mostly they came as single modules, but sometimes in twos or threes, or even several put together.

The K67 kiosk in New York's Times Square. Photo: STA

In April 1970 the K67 was featured in the UK Design magazine in an article headlined Low Life from the Streets. The same year the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) included it in its 20th century design collection.

The kiosk was put on display in New York's Times Square in 1919. This was after it was spotted by designer Victoria Milne in the MoMA's exhibition on architecture in Yugoslavia. Milne said the kiosk, beautifully inspired by Italy's New Wave of the 1960s, was not only stunning, but proportional, friendly, visible and attractive.

Refurbished K67 kiosks can also be found in Berlin and Vienna. Recently a turquoise one has opened in the centre of Maribor to serve as an official info point for the European Youth Olympic Festival, to be held in Slovenia's second largest city from 23 to 29 July.