Sexier High Voltage Line Towers

Architect Dietmar Koering designed a happier, fitter pylon. [via Dezeen]

1. [pelrun]

   One is creepy enough… wait till you see hundreds of them, spanning as far as the eye can see. *shudder*

2. [warmgun]

   It’s happier and fitter, but is it more productive?

3. [pmh]

   Can it be assembled easier than current designs? No.
   Would it be cheaper? No.
   Does it use fewer resources? No.
   Is it easier to maintain? No.
   Does it take up less room? No.
   Has any thought gone into how it would behave in strong winds? Almost certainly not.

   Does the design have any benefits other than “it looks cool”? No.

4. [heydemann3]

   Another question-how do the repair guys get up the dang thing to fix anything?
   It does look very atmospheric though.

5. [Anonymous]

   Architects shouldn’t be allowed to design anything that actually needs to work.

   According to this architect the height of each of these towers is to be determined by that tower’s latitude and longitude.

   Apparently adapting to uneven terrain, varying ground composition, differing rights of way, clearance needs over roads and navigable waterways, wind and ice loads, number of circuits per tower, maintenance needs and a whole host of other engineering considerations are minutiae to be ignored so that the architect can basically masturbate in public and get kudos from his fellow architects for doing so.

6. [dculberson]

   Just picture the Imperial March playing while looking at the photo and you’ll see why this is a dangerous idea.

7. [WalterBillington]

   It’s the form of a beast baying at the moon. C’mon. Let’s put em up in Pakistan, part of the “new war”.

8. [nnguyen]

   inb4youmustconstructadditionalpylons

9. [Trent Hawkins]

   ok, now do one that isn’t a bunch of wavy lines like every other piece of “art” you’ve ever done.

10. [nixiebunny]

    Wow. This is like me, an engineer, designing an evening gown. I suppose it’s all well and good for an exercise in illustration, but these things are mechanical structures, not art.

    That said, there are matronly pylons and svelte pylons. But both are designed to be mass-producible and functional.

11. [Garr]

    Hang on another 20 or so lines and it isn’t sexy at all.

12. [absolutetrust]

    ghastly.

13. [O_P]

    cylon pylons. There will be many others like it…

14. [drtwist]

    Those don’t look like they break into pieces small enough to be carried by mules.

    No joke, some of the BPA pylons you see around the Northwest were carried in by mules and assembled without cranes.

15. [spazzm]

    Does the design have any benefits other than “it looks cool”? No.

    Yes, let’s build everything out of unpainted concrete and steel girders, because that’s the most cost effective.

    That aside, if these become popular I guess I’ll be one of the old codgers being nostalgic about the old pylons we had back in the day.

16. [tuckels]

    Yes, they’re entirely impractical, (and a tad creepy) but at least they’re not horrendously boring.

17. [WalterBillington]

    Yeh, like they’re not robots in disguise. Current pylons are so unwieldy, so vast and squat, that I KNOW they’re not going to chase the citizenry around. These – too beautiful and balletic, too graceful – they’re waiting for instructions.

    See how fast they could move?

18. [strider_mt2k]

    They give off a “Dark Tower” vibe.

    Oh they’re shiny enough NOW, but they’ll take on a fiendish aspect when they’ve acquired a weather patina and the world starts to move on.

    -and the darkness comes.

19. [AndrewN]

    Form with zero function. Stick with leaky buildings.

20. [rAMPANTiDIOCY]

    happier? check.
    fitter? check. . .
    more productive?