
Proposal to build electrical pylons as statues - bootload
http://www.choishine.com/Projects/giants.html
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schiffern
I like it. We need more people asking, "why can't <functional element> also be
art?" Old-world cities have an embarrassment of riches in this area (this
starkly contrasts with American cities), to the advantage and well-being of
their citizenry. And they got that way because people asked _that_ question.

Most people never ask, or worse knee-jerk assume that any "impure" design must
have some huge hidden downside.

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vanilla-almond
These are the pylons dotted over the landscape in the UK. They were designed
in the 1920s and don't look too bad. But many people consider them a blot on
the landscape:

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/andysimspon43/10081837164/size...](https://www.flickr.com/photos/andysimspon43/10081837164/sizes/l)

They are are to be superceded by a new design from Danish architects Brystrup
who were the winners of a 2011 competition to design a new pylon for the UK.
Their winning design uses much less material than current pylons but the
appearance is a little utilitarian and bland.

Here is a small gallery of entries from the 2011 pylon design competition
including Brystrup's design:

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15293922](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15293922)

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rootedbox
Proposal to make something that is expensive; but simple in design, and easy
to fix. Into something that is super expensive, complex to fix, and some may
say.. cheeky in design.

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bdamm
Is it that expensive? In terms of raw materials it may cost more, but not
double. The use of prefabricated parts (torso, limbs) reduces each tower's
uniqueness and therefore complexity of repairs. Fabrication of unique beams is
well within the repair capability of a mobile crew. Is the actual material
cost of each tower a major component of a transmission line cost model? I am
betting no; transmission wire, ongoing maintenance, land and rights
acquisition, and monitoring probably make up the bulk of a transmission line's
cost. Finding actual data on this is proving to be difficult, however.

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alricb
There's already a "Mae West" pylon:
[http://www.hydroquebec.com/comprendre/transport/types-
pylone...](http://www.hydroquebec.com/comprendre/transport/types-pylones.html)
(top left picture)

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api
This is fairly tasteful, but in general I dislike making things look other
than what they are. It's _so_ easy to get wrong and become kitsch and tacky
like fake candles and fireplaces and those fake palm tree cell towers they
have in SoCal and Florida.

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0xffff2
The fake tree cell towers are all over (they are saguaros in AZ and pine trees
in Northern California). I don't think they're meant to be art, but rather are
meant to reduce impact on wildlife.

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qbrass
They're meant to reduce the impact on influential people who would oppose
cell-towers in certain places.

The company that invented the towers also make fake lighthouse and windmill
cell towers.

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return0
I 'm not sure i d like to see a perpetually electrocuted giant coming at me.
They should be proposing a few more, inanimate designs. De gustibus ...

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danharaj
I don't know, that's got an aesthetic of its own. At the very least it would
make a great metal album cover.

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brandonmenc
Seems neat until someone has to actually climb up one.

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lobster_johnson
I once read that the design for the first electric pylons, when they were
created in the 20s/30s, were designed by German architects from the Bauhaus
school, around the time when they were experimenting with metal (tubular
furniture, etc.). Gropius apparently liked pylons. However, I never found any
sources to this. Anybody know?

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lobster_johnson
Found it. The Milliken brothers [1], together with the architect Reginald
Blomfield, designed the first standard pylon in Britain. Also see [2].

[1]
[http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/may/22/national...](http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/may/22/national-
grid-pylons-design)

[2]
[http://www.gorge.org/pylons/structure.shtml](http://www.gorge.org/pylons/structure.shtml)

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wehadfun
Disney already did this

