Architects Turn Iceland’s Boring Electricity Pylons Into Giant Human Statues
Choi and Shine want to transform how utility structures are built. Their “Land of Giants™” design, proposed in 2008, sees electrical pylons as human-shaped statues decorating the Icelandic countryside. Architects Jin Choi and Thomas Shine are the minds behind this skunkworks, experimental design studio.
“Like the statues of Easter Island,” write Choi and Shine on their website, “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.”
More info: choishine.com (h/t: demilked)
© 2008-2015 Choi+Shine Architects
© 2008-2015 Choi+Shine Architects
© 2008-2015 Choi+Shine Architects
© 2008-2015 Choi+Shine Architects
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Share on FacebookThese were never made, and are not being made. It was a proposition made in 2008, and they earned a design award in 2010, but will sadly not be reality.
It's too bad they can't do that for real. I can see people millions of years in the future being all like, "We're not sure as to what purpose these humanoid statues were built to accomplish or to whom they are modeled after, but they seem to radiate ancient and noble power that they must have been donned with when they were made." And I'd be a ghost, like, "Ha...Power... because they're... eh heh heh..."
Nothing been built, yet. We bury this in the ground today. The concept is cool tho! Regards from Iceland.
Load More Replies...It is a great idea. This may seem pedantic, but I only say it to improve the prospects of the project ever being realised. I do not mean to downplay the genius of the original project idea, merely to strengthen it. The anthropomorphic figures are nice, but artists could make them even more compelling by improving upon the aesthetic of the sculptural form. In particular the hips and legs could be more expressive and less utilitarian. Don't just improve on the traditional electricity pylon by making it a little sculpture-like - make sculptures. Make art. The functionality will be the same, and the cost need not be excessively more because the techniques exist to manufacture art in the same way that the less utilitarian versions would be manufactured. The more artistic designs would improve the value proposition of the project dramatically using the same logic that lies behind the genesis of the project. http://bit.ly/1Ovgn2N
Agreed, but burying cables in places that are geologically (be it seismically or vulcanologically) active is not always the brightest of ideas.
Load More Replies...These were never made, and are not being made. It was a proposition made in 2008, and they earned a design award in 2010, but will sadly not be reality.
It's too bad they can't do that for real. I can see people millions of years in the future being all like, "We're not sure as to what purpose these humanoid statues were built to accomplish or to whom they are modeled after, but they seem to radiate ancient and noble power that they must have been donned with when they were made." And I'd be a ghost, like, "Ha...Power... because they're... eh heh heh..."
Nothing been built, yet. We bury this in the ground today. The concept is cool tho! Regards from Iceland.
Load More Replies...It is a great idea. This may seem pedantic, but I only say it to improve the prospects of the project ever being realised. I do not mean to downplay the genius of the original project idea, merely to strengthen it. The anthropomorphic figures are nice, but artists could make them even more compelling by improving upon the aesthetic of the sculptural form. In particular the hips and legs could be more expressive and less utilitarian. Don't just improve on the traditional electricity pylon by making it a little sculpture-like - make sculptures. Make art. The functionality will be the same, and the cost need not be excessively more because the techniques exist to manufacture art in the same way that the less utilitarian versions would be manufactured. The more artistic designs would improve the value proposition of the project dramatically using the same logic that lies behind the genesis of the project. http://bit.ly/1Ovgn2N
Agreed, but burying cables in places that are geologically (be it seismically or vulcanologically) active is not always the brightest of ideas.
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