by dTal on 11/22/23, 12:04 AM
>The designers say the issue isn't necessarily one of cost, pointing out that their pylons are made out of the same material as a regular pylon, simply put together in a different way.
I feel compelled to point out that any "artistic" deviation from structural optimality will necessarily use more material to achieve the same sturdiness, and hence cost more. And when you have to put one every few hundred meters across a whole country, that's kind of a big deal.
by perchard on 11/21/23, 11:14 PM
“Ian pointed out that whereas our culture openly invites us to be aware of birds and historic churches, it places no comparable emphasis on pylons, despite the fact that that they often rival, for ingenuity and beauty, many of the more established objects of our curiosity. He cited as an example Loch Awe in Scotland, a famously picturesque and romantic tourist destination dominated by the ruins of the fourteenth-century Kilchurn Castle, whose grounds are nevertheless crossed by a run of 400-kilowatt pylons linking the hydroelectric power station at Ben Cruachan with the Glasgow suburbs. On postcards of the loch and its castle, however, the electricity lines are almost invariably airbrushed out, so that the scenery pretends to a fictitious innocence, the bare hills and unsullied lake being symptomatic of what Ian (having grown increasingly garrulous under the influence of brandy) condemned as the garden-gnome mentality of sentimental Luddites.”
— The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work: t/c (Vintage International) by Alain De Botton
https://a.co/1CjMq1u
by Prickle on 11/21/23, 10:48 PM
I was fully expecting cost or safety being an issue, but I did not expect this: (Specifically for the "Land of Giants" project.)
> A proposal in Norway faltered after a local mayor - spotting the visitor attraction potential of the structures - agreed they could be built in his town, as long as they weren't built anywhere else in the country.
Quite sad that alternative shaped (?) Pylons do exist, and some of them are really neat; yet are hampered by politics.
by exabrial on 11/21/23, 10:51 PM
I think the harder you try, the more it becomes an eyesore. My favorite are Corten steel (a self protecting steel that rusts a nice natural red color) pylons personally... They just look "right" in a landscape, or at least as much as you can for humans planting wind turbines everywhere.
by mchanson on 11/21/23, 10:41 PM
I kinda like all of them. My kid, when they were little, starting calling them robots. e.g. “Dad, look at that robot!”
by CharlesW on 11/21/23, 10:42 PM
As a kid, I was awed by these stick-figure mechs. I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
by nyanpasu64 on 11/22/23, 12:25 AM
by twobitshifter on 11/21/23, 10:49 PM
I love this idea. Look at The Sejourne Viaduct for a strong case of beauty in infrastructure.
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/K6YGA0/france-pyrenees-orientales-...People decry the loss of views in suburbs when a train might run next to the freeway. They hear train tracks and think ugly. But we can build sightly infrastructure that does not detract from the world’s most beautiful places.
by the_mitsuhiko on 11/21/23, 11:18 PM
by crazygringo on 11/21/23, 10:55 PM
A++ for creativity! (But still no.)
It makes me wonder: all underground power lines are still laid by digging up the ground, laying them down, and then filling the dirt back in. Which is super-expensive. Right?
Are we trying to develop any technology for "microboring" in tunnels through dirt and clay, and maybe bedrock when occasionally necessary? E.g. just a two-inch diameter tube or something, that's even able to go underneath rivers and things? Solely for laying underground wires?
I dream of a world without electricity pylons...
by orbital-decay on 11/21/23, 11:27 PM
When used in moderation outside of cities, power lines look great on the landscape. I guess I'd prefer the pylons simply painted to complement the landscape in a tasteful manner, while still clearly standing out as artificial. The examples in the article aren't good at hiding their nature either. Maybe I'm too used to the sight of the pyramidal trusses but I'm finding most of these designs either kitsch or more ugly than the existing ones.
by Clamchop on 11/21/23, 10:53 PM
I just kind of generally like the aesthetics of infrastructure, but I can see why others would think utility pylons are ugly.
by amelius on 11/22/23, 12:00 AM
At least they don't look like giant ads.
by tempestn on 11/21/23, 11:20 PM
Surprised the comments here are mostly negative. I think the land of the giants ones are very cool. It'd be too much if they were like that everywhere, but I definitely appreciate the concept, and could see the argument for calling them "beautiful".
by drannex on 11/21/23, 11:38 PM
You obviously haven't been on Tumblr lately where there is a giant objectum culture and love all things electric. Pylons are the rulers of dreams over there, entire blogs devoted to their beauty. The inherent eroticism of the machine and the like.
by enavari on 11/21/23, 11:54 PM
Must construct additional pylons
by emmelaich on 11/22/23, 1:45 AM
by kazinator on 11/21/23, 10:48 PM
I took a look; Betteridge's Law holds up here.
The most important thing is to make them all the same as much as possible so that people who have to maintain them don't have to deal with annoying variations.
by tamaharbor on 11/22/23, 12:51 AM
I have always thought of the standard distribution electric or ‘telephone’ pole as a religious cross. Electric companies can start an ‘Adopt a Cross’ program for additional revenue.
by 7952 on 11/21/23, 11:53 PM
Sure they can be beautiful but they shouldn't need to be. The aversion people feel about new pylons is not based on asthetics but irrational fear.
by scythe on 11/21/23, 11:10 PM
As a physicist, I am often in danger of doing this:
https://xkcd.com/793/
So: it seems like one of the more obvious faults of pylons is that they are the wrong color. Usually, they are white or grey (etc) which does not really gel with the existing natural landscape. It seems like the first step in fixing the problem would simply be to paint them brown, tan, green or blue, depending on the location -- possibly with a few brightly colored details so that they aren't too subtle. Bonus points for a paint that has inherent color variations, because flat colors are too visually distracting. (Why does pylon design even need a journal, anyway?)
by smegsicle on 11/21/23, 10:42 PM
that law of headlines is safe if those images are anything to go by
though the one with the color panels would look fine if they removed the color panels
by reportgunner on 11/22/23, 11:44 AM
They can definitely be beautiful but making them look like persons holding up the wire is not very creative.
by a_gnostic on 11/22/23, 3:21 PM
Allowing me to run a coil under them, for running them over my land, seems fair and calming.
by annoyingnoob on 11/21/23, 11:00 PM
Bury the wires and plant trees. I know, crazy idea.
by fnord77 on 11/21/23, 10:36 PM
"No."
by freitzkriesler2 on 11/21/23, 10:58 PM
Yes but you must construct additional pylons.
by throwaway5959 on 11/21/23, 11:53 PM
One thing is for sure, to ensure a bright future we must construct additional pylons.
by wheelerof4te on 11/22/23, 12:37 AM
Pylons are indeed beautiful when they power my buildings in Starcraft with their blue psi-glow.
