Human-shaped pylons carry electricity across Iceland

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-08/16/human-pylons

by bensummers • 16 years ago

155 70 16 years ago

wired.co.uk

c1sc0• 16 years ago

I love this idea. Most of the time I prefer function over form, but this is just awesome. Choi+Shine added: "Like the statues of Easter Island, it is envisioned that these one hundred and fifty foot tall, modern caryatids will take on a quiet authority, belonging to their landscape yet serving the people, silently transporting electricity across all terrain, day and night, sunshine or snow."

pendragon• 16 years ago

It is an absolutely wonderful idea. I think it's definitely desirable to add form if function is not sacrificed. It looks like whoever designed these figured it out.

PidGin128• 16 years ago

The choice doesn't have to be form over function, or the reverse.

I think we can agree both tasks are handled nicely.

Also amusing, a story on electricity delivery, in "Wired".

asmithmd1• 16 years ago

I agree, don't dismiss design lightly.

I learned from industrial designers at Black & Decker that form can enhance and suggest function.

Just changing the shape of a cordless vacuum cleaner changed peoples impression from "This is a shitty, low-powered vacuum cleaner" to "This is a terrific powered dustpan"

http://www.blackanddecker.com/dustbuster/dustbuster_innovati...

Just changing the outside shape - with no change in product specs. - made the DustBuster into one of the highest selling Black & Decker products ever.

Devilboy• 16 years ago

I hope they go ahead and build these, they look awesome.

seltzered• 16 years ago

Very cool, but can Iceland afford it? Last time I checked their currency nearly collapsed.

kolektiv• 16 years ago

Good lord don't do it again then! More seriously, yes Iceland does still have enough money and borrowing capability to keep the infrastructure going. They're not all on the streets.

greyman• 16 years ago

The title should be "to carry", it's just a design proposal not yet implemented.

Maskawanian• 16 years ago

I agree, we do need to construct more pylons... like this.

stcredzero4• 16 years ago

Need to construct more cylons... like this:

http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/maxim-bat...

nhebb• 16 years ago

Prediction: Icelandic children will have recurring nightmares about robot invasions.

I do like the idea of artistic designs of mundane structures. In Portland they decided to combat graffiti and vandalism on bus stops by sandblasting motifs into the glass: http://trimet.org/publicart/busshelters.htm

w00pla4• 16 years ago

> graffiti and vandalism on bus stops by sandblasting motifs into the glass: http://trimet.org/publicart/busshelters.htm

That addresses the consequences of a problem and not the root causes. It is important to stop the cause of petty vandalism.

I can take a bet that if most countries had corporal punishment and applied it readily and liberally to vandalism cases, both vandalism and other offenses would be stopped.

In the west people continue to do crimes (and let off) until they do a major crime (when it is too late to change entrenched behaviour).

b-man2• 16 years ago

I can take a bet that if most countries had corporal punishment and applied it readily and liberally to vandalism cases, both vandalism and other offenses would be stopped. [citation needed]

abraham• 16 years ago

Corporal punishment addresses the consequences of problems instead of the causes as well.

stcredzero4• 16 years ago

These strike me as delicate and not threatening. They are like Brokkr's ice figurines.

bmelton• 16 years ago

I like the idea, but as a cost-savings measure, wouldn't it have been cheaper to just sandblast the glass and forego the artistic motifs?

ratsbane• 16 years ago

I do like the idea. They've taken something ordinary and thought beyond the conventional interpretation. Looking at those images, though, I did have the strange anthropomorphic concern that their arms would get tired. Couldn't they hold the cables on their shoulders?

gaius3• 16 years ago

Frost Giants do not get tired, puny mortal! Bring on Ragnarok!

mkr-hn2• 16 years ago

They might melt from all the heat those lines put off though.

brk2• 16 years ago

It's a neat idea, but I wonder how practical this is from a build/serviceability perspective. They say they are only "minor alterations" from standard designs, but each one of the towers looks unique (I'd guess they have 6 or 8 total "poses"). But I'd also think there is a lot of value when all the towers have the same design in terms of service and maintenance. These must undergo regular inspections to ensure that no load-bearing components have been compromised.

gaius3• 16 years ago

All the components, e.g. struts and joints, can be interchangeable, just arranged differently in each one. You would never need to keep complete pylons in stock for each design.

brk2• 16 years ago

Sorry, I wasn't commenting about the inventory, I was thinking more along the the lines of creating simple maintenance plans for each arrangement. Keep in mind that the average utility field service worker is often kept most efficient by minimizing the number of variations of any given task.

crististm• 16 years ago

Well said. The maintenance costs will be large enough over the lifetime of the pylons so that different/complex designs will be a net loss.

russell• 16 years ago

If you follow a long transmission line you will see several pylon designs depending on terrain, river crossings, highways, and the like. Pylon design is a well understood engineering problem with lots of software to over-engineer the designs. And yes they will need a reasonable inspection schedule as do all transmission lines.

jcl• 16 years ago

I also wonder if they will be painted white, as in the illustrations. Most pylons I've seen are unpainted, presumably to minimize maintenance costs.

tomwalker• 16 years ago

Will it include a YMCA combo?

bitwize3• 16 years ago

With a design like this -- Iceland, you must construct additional pylons.

mkr-hn2• 16 years ago

Unfortunately, they have insufficient resources after the bankruptcy.

bitwize3• 16 years ago

So, they've not enough minerals?

stcredzero4• 16 years ago

How is it you actually have the non-gaming free time to make the reference?

Since they are variable, they should make ones modeled after Tricia Helfer and Grace Park. Cylon Pylons!

bitwize3• 16 years ago

I don't play a lot of SC now. Got it out of my system in college.

chrisbaglieri2• 16 years ago

I never quite understood our culture's instinctual response to cover up or mask the infrastructure that surrounds us. There's something serene about a wind farm. It's function over form, not function or form. Compare this design proposal to the phone towers that litter the landscape (pathetically) disguised to look like trees.

mcantor• 16 years ago

I must disagree; these designs do not appear to be pathetic disguises in the least. They are instead celebrations of the existing design, enhanced to resemble a powerful symbol in a meaningful way.

chrisbaglieri2• 16 years ago

Just to clarify, I thought the manner in which phone towers were masked as trees was pathetic (or at least in the manner in which it was implemented), not the pylons proposal. I thought the design team hit a home run on the later. I have yet to see any phone tower made to look like a tree inspiring.

Groxx• 16 years ago

Important bit:

>An architecture and design firm called Choi+Shine has submitted a design for the Icelandic High-Voltage Electrical Pylon International Design Competition which proposes giant human-shaped pylons carrying electricity cables across the country's landscape.

Meaning the title should be closer to "Human-shaped pylons could carry electricity across Iceland". Though given all the press lately, and how much I like the idea, I really hope they do build them. It's something unique that'll last for a long time; there should be more of that in the world.

bruceboughton• 16 years ago

Isn't Iceland broke?

sasvari2• 16 years ago

Having liabilities doesn't mean that there isn't going to be any kind of investment in the country. And thanks to Iceland's unique geothermal situation, especially with hydroelectricity the power industry is thriving there ... (attracting i.e. energy intensive aluminium plants)

siculars• 16 years ago

Iceland is a net energy producer. That means they will never be broke. They just happen to owe certain countries a few billion bucks which they may or may not pay back.

Marticus• 16 years ago

What is awesome to me is how, presumably surviving the millenia, these will look to generations hundreds or thousands of years later. Will this be our own "Stonehenge?" How long will people someday puzzle over the purpose of these things?

Pretty awesome stuff.

sasvari2• 16 years ago

I doubt these pylons will last longer than society's memory ...

thenduks2• 16 years ago

'When' the bombs fall they likely wont be targeted at remote areas of Iceland, some could pretty easily survive. After that they could probably survive at least long enough for some kids to gossip - "I heard those things blew it all up!"

ja27• 16 years ago

I immediately thought of this pole near Disney World:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/32142193

xutopia• 16 years ago

This is a really bad idea. All it takes is one ice storm and those things will fall: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_ice_storm_of_199...

thenduks2• 16 years ago

There's a picture right at the top of the page of a crappy wooden one still standing...

Luc• 16 years ago

Here's a competing design from a different firm: http://www.dezeen.com/2009/03/30/high-voltage-transmisison-l...

At least, I assume it's for the same competition, as it's over a year old.

hackermom2• 16 years ago

About one year ago the country of Sweden began digging down the country's entire electrical infrastructure underground, completely ridding the country of the archaic terrestrial power pylon model. The country was done with digging down all urban cabling more than 40 years ago, and free-hanging power cabling has since only been seen outside urban areas across rural stretches, connecting smaller communities to the grid. What called for the decision was the problem of power outtages caused by storms wreaking havoc on the pylons and the wires, causing civil dismay in the affected areas, as well as the tremendous civilian and commercial costs that follow up. However cool that humanoid design is, I think Iceland should've gone with Sweden's model instead of reinventing the pylon :)

Vulture• 16 years ago

In Montreal there are a lot of buried cables. I worked in a research facility for the only power company around and they pointed out several problems for this method. It costs a fortune so its not really applicable for very long distances. Also, whenever there is a failure you have to reel a few kilometers of cables, fix them and rewire everything in a tube full of mud, water and who knows what. During autumn the water in the tube freezes and expands causing stress and fissures.

It was discussed extensively since we had a massive power outage in 1998 caused by icing rain that affected about 3 millions for 3 weeks.

So burying cables might work well in a city for a while but I really don't think its any silver bullet.

hackermom2• 16 years ago

It has worked great inside their cities for almost 50 years - as my post clearly stated, the urban electrical infrastructure of Sweden has been entirely underground since the 60s. The ongoing change is replacing the pylons spanning the country with underground cabling. I'm pretty confident they know what they're doing. Not all underground solutions have to be the same, but by nature, the pylon model is always vulnerable, and it always suffers the same risks.

afterburner• 16 years ago

If they do this, I would go back to Iceland to see this. So from the tourist point of view... success!

mattmcknight• 16 years ago

It reminds one of that odd chapter on pylons from de Botton in "The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work" where he mentions the "coquettish sexuality" of Finnish pylons.

http://books.google.com/books?id=SslgkiNvZ9wC&lpg=PA199&...

Human-shaped pylons carry electricity across Iceland

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