Someone should have made a Doctor Who episode wrapped around the concept of sentient pylons. Maybe they did. I'm struck by the idea of pylons as electricity bridges, or at least the pylons that hold those bridges aloft. Also, I'm struck by how different people interpreted the same set of images.
I could definitely see this being a Dr Who episode, in fact the original ad I reference in the piece had a slightly handmade old Dr Who vibe to it, now I think about it. And yea, it’s amazing how what is enchanting to one child is horrifying to another!
Later we designed wifi towers to look like trees, and I'm not sure that's an improvement to design that shows the bare engineering. I wonder what the pylons would have looked like if more intentionally designed by the sorts of people who talk about intentional design. Again, that's not to say it'd be better or worse, but why we've decided to stop designing them is an interesting question.
A note that street rigging for construction sheds in NYC has been redesigned and though more expensive, is actually successfully more lovely and 'architectural', you feel like you're moving through a public space rather than a condemned alley.
Not to turn this into a Tragedies or Modernity post but it is strange to see how much of the urban environment could be transformed with a bit more thought in the design. Surely it can’t be that much more expensive or time consuming? And surely the resulting uplift in the collective psyche is worth it?
Someone should have made a Doctor Who episode wrapped around the concept of sentient pylons. Maybe they did. I'm struck by the idea of pylons as electricity bridges, or at least the pylons that hold those bridges aloft. Also, I'm struck by how different people interpreted the same set of images.
I could definitely see this being a Dr Who episode, in fact the original ad I reference in the piece had a slightly handmade old Dr Who vibe to it, now I think about it. And yea, it’s amazing how what is enchanting to one child is horrifying to another!
Later we designed wifi towers to look like trees, and I'm not sure that's an improvement to design that shows the bare engineering. I wonder what the pylons would have looked like if more intentionally designed by the sorts of people who talk about intentional design. Again, that's not to say it'd be better or worse, but why we've decided to stop designing them is an interesting question.
A note that street rigging for construction sheds in NYC has been redesigned and though more expensive, is actually successfully more lovely and 'architectural', you feel like you're moving through a public space rather than a condemned alley.
Not to turn this into a Tragedies or Modernity post but it is strange to see how much of the urban environment could be transformed with a bit more thought in the design. Surely it can’t be that much more expensive or time consuming? And surely the resulting uplift in the collective psyche is worth it?