Designs revealed for pylons of the future
The pylon design of the future shortlist has been unveiled by competition organisers Royal Institute of British Architects, the National Grid and the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
The competition, with launched in May this year, called for architects, designers and engineers to submit a new pylon design that ‘has the potential to deliver for future generations, while balancing the needs of local communities and preserving the beauty of the countryside’, according to organisers.
Entries include Ian Ritchie Architects’ Silhouette; Bystrup’s T-Pylon, which arranges the conductors in a triangular configuration; Gustafson Porter’s Flower Tower, which it says ‘reads like a bouquet of flowers or leaves’; AL_A’s Plexus, an arced form that can adapt to conditions by expanding or contracting; Knight Architects’ ‘y’ shaped pylon and Newtown Studio’s lattice pylon-inspired design.
The shortlist of six entries is shown on the RIBA website and at the V&A Museum, and the public are asked to submit their comments which will then be taken into consideration by the panel during their considerations for the overall competition winner.
The public has until October 5 to register their views, after which the panel will meet to decide on the winner.
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The biggest question is are any of these going to be built, and if so what timescale are we looking
at?
Do any have a secondary function…?
I was delighted to be informed by RIBA that my Rebel-Relic Pylosaur pylon was the runner up to the six finalists. I was also at the presentation at the V&A. My vote goes to the T pylon, it is as minimal as can be, practical, half the price of a regular pylon and is the only pylon created by specialist pylon designers. They are Danish and great fun guys, they deserve to win. I was commissioned to design a clock for Lego so I love Denmark. The worst you can say is it’s dull but who cares, it’s a pylon not a diamond ring. However the T Pylon does lack maintenance gantries so I guess any maintenance has to be done by crane or helicopter.
I don’t think any of the others stand a chance of going into production on costs alone, in my view all are style over content and most seem to me to be incapable of mass-production, unless you want to risk going bankrupt trying. I think all except T pylon are totally impractical. If you want a quick idea of what the brief was all about go to my site, it’s all there, easily explained and it is a fascinating brief.
I’m not an architect but a product designer who has worked extensively with Disney, Warners, Hasbro and Mattel character merchandise and I hope it shows. Whatever else they are, Pylosaurs are the only killer pylons in the contest – check them out.
Who knows what will actually be produced but pray that Pylosaurs aren’t unleashed to roam the Earth, they are far too dangerous and despite what you may think they actually encourage alien invasion. However they are as cheap as chips, assemble faster than an Ikea wardrobe without the need for a telescopic crane and are portable. You can’t buy them in B&Q yet but be warned, pet Pilosaurs are not just for Christmas.
http://www.pylosaur.com/
I was delighted to be informed by RIBA that my Rebel-Relic Pylosaur pylon was the runner up to the six finalists. I was also at the presentation at the V&A. My vote goes to the T pylon, it is as minimal as can be, practical, half the price of a regular pylon and is the only pylon created by specialist pylon designers. They are Danish and great fun guys, they deserve to win. I was commissioned to design a clock for Lego so I love Denmark. The worst you can say is it’s dull but who cares, it’s a pylon not a diamond ring. However the T Pylon does lack maintenance gantries so I guess any maintenance has to be done by crane or helicopter.
I don’t think any of the others stand a chance of going into production on costs alone, in my view all are style over content and most seem to me to be incapable of mass-production, unless you want to risk going bankrupt trying. I think all except T pylon are totally impractical. If you want a quick idea of what the brief was all about go to my site, it’s all there, easily explained and it is a fascinating brief.
I’m not an architect but a product designer who has worked extensively with Disney, Warners, Hasbro and Mattel character merchandise and I hope it shows. Whatever else they are, Pylosaurs are the only killer pylons in the contest – check them out.
Who knows what will actually be produced but pray that Pylosaurs aren’t unleashed to roam the Earth, they are far too dangerous and despite what you may think they actually encourage alien invasion. However they are as cheap as chips, assemble faster than an Ikea wardrobe without the need for a telescopic crane and are portable. You can’t buy them in B&Q yet but be warned, pet Pilosaurs are not just for Christmas.
http://www.pylosaur.com/
As a pylon is something we have all got used to and people say they are an eye sore however they were here to stay so my idea was to keep the function that we already have .but because of the future strain on our planet why don t we add to every existing pylon not only to carry the existing power we need but by adding a wind turbine which will generate power on its own thus adding to the national grid a design could easily be incorporated within the pylon or light weight turbines could be mounted on either two parts of the structure these ear type stuctures would not look out of place as we have already got used to what we have today this would save money as they are already a structured item thus cost would be kept to a minimum providing we find a strong yet cheap material to form this construction