Beautiful Pylon Designs

High voltage electrical towers exist all around the world in a standard A-shape frame construction. Some say the towers and their overhead power lines are a form of visual pollution, but to clever designers, they’re an untapped beacon of creative possibilities. Let’s take a look at some of the leading designs in the field, plus some very special projects that can be seen in the real world today

The deer-shaped electrical tower is a concept from Moscow-based design studio Design Depot. Their aim is to have the pylons blend into the environment as naturally as possible by using animal figures that would normally be seen on the landscape

                                                                                                                                    Image: ojmm.net

Imagine the scale of the Christmas light display with a line of these strung up in festive lights and pulling Santa’s sleigh

                                                                                                          Image: ojmm.net

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, a 45-metre (148-foot) tall robot pylon called Colossus has been constructed by a creative art collective called DOMA

                                                                                                                           Image: weburbanist.com

At night, the robot’s glowing face, heart, hands and shoulder spikes light up the landscape with an animated neon display

And by the M5 motorway in Újhartyán, Hungary, what looks a bit like a court jester is actually a clown, installed by MAVIR, the Hungarian electricity transmission system operator. Because nothing is scarier than clowns carrying thousands of volts of electricit

The Land of Giants concept by American firm Choi + Shine Architects is getting a lot of attention in Japan due to the way their 30-metre (98-foot) human-shaped pylons look similar to the people-eating giants in popular anime Attack on Titan.

The Land of Giants project was submitted for a 2008 competition held by Icelandic transmission company Landsnet and the Association of Icelandic Architects. Their images show the giants as they appear to “walk” through Iceland. but we think they would look equally at home in Japan.

The concept is also able to support renewable energy projects quite literally, with these innovative wind turbine designs

With Japan’s continuing dependence on power and electricity, the nation’s huge transmission towers won’t be disappearing anytime soon. We can only hope they’ll pick up some of these design ideas to help spread cuteness around the landscape—wouldn’t that be a sight for sore eyes!