When Joseph Bazalgette led the building of a complex robust sewer system for London in the 1860′s, the Victorian Embankment was built to cover the sewer (and a subway) and reclaim 37 acres of “festering mud flat”* (ref 1) with a grand walkway. The walkway served as a community center for people and gardens. The combination of technology and beauty added up to a winning solution for health, city growth, economic growth, and community connection.
Renewable energy solutions and smart grid implementation require new construction of high voltage transmission lines connecting our wind farms and solar cells electricity to urban and rural consumers. Imagine if the new towers looked like a correctly sized and safety compliant version of the Tiffany’s bracelet designed by Frank Gehry?
Wouldn't this form make a lovely High Vt transmission tower?
Instead of more of today’s lines.
Classic compliant transmission lines
As long as they follow the criteria, there is no reason not to have today’s top designers add form to the key function of distributing electricity.
Applying beautiful form to the utility of power transmission lines could be the key to improving our distributed grid and gaining acceptance of our communities.
* Ehrlich, Blake “London on the Thames” 1966, Little Brown & Company. p. 21
