The Land of Giants™ : Proposal for Landsnet, Iceland

THE LAND OF GIANTS™

This design transforms mundane electrical pylons into statues on the Icelandic landscape.

Making only minor alterations to well established steel-framed tower design, we have created a series of towers that are powerful, solemn and variable. These iconic pylon-figures will become monuments in the landscape. Seeing the pylon-figures will become an unforgettable experience, elevating the towers to something more than merely a functional design of necessity.

Early Sketches©Jin Choi

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The pylon-figures can be configured to respond to their environment with appropriate gestures. As the carried electrical lines ascend a hill, the pylon-figures change posture, imitating a climbing person. Over long spans, the pylon-figure stretches to gain increased height, crouches for increased strength or strains under the weight of the wires.

The pylon-figures can also be arranged to create a sense of place through deliberate expression. Subtle alterations in the hands and head combined with repositioning of the main body parts in the x, y and z-axis, allow for a rich variety of expressions. The pylon-figures can be placed in pairs, walking in the same direction or opposite directions, glancing at each other as they pass by or kneeling respectively, head bowed at a town.

Like the statues of Easter Island, 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.

The Land of Giants™ : Proposal for Landsnet, Iceland

FORM

Despite the large number of possible forms, each pylon-figure is made from the same major assembled parts (torso, forearm, upper leg, hand) and uses a library of pre-assembled joints to create the pylon-figures’ appearance. This design allows for many variations in form and height, and the cost is kept inexpensive through identical production and simple construction.

STRUCTURE

The pylon-figures can be achieved from the modification of existing lattice towers.

The pylon-figures are designed to provide supports for the conductors, ground wires and other cables all within required clearances. These clearances are maintained in the various shown positions. The towers are largely self-supporting, sitting on concrete footings, perhaps with the addition of guy wires, depending on requirements of the loading wires.

CONSTRUCTION

Each pylon-figure is composed of standard selection of parts with adjustable inter-connectors.

A pylon-figure couple with a 30-meter line height and a 3-phase 220KV line.

The pylon-figures are assembled in large sections from the ground up, in the same manner as the existing lattice towers.

HISTORY

The Land of Giants won ‘Recognition Award’ at ‘Icelandic High-Voltage Electrical Pylon International Design Competition’ in 2008 and received ‘Unbuilt Design Award’ by ‘Boston Society of Architects’ in 2010.

Upon receiving awards, the Giants has been widely published in internet and main international media such as ‘The Telegraph’, ‘Le Figaro’, ‘Zeit’, ‘Corriere della Sera’, ‘Aftenporten‘ & ‘Dagbladet’ and ‘Boston Globe’. Furthermore, the design was introduced by British radio news, ‘PRI The World News’ and ‘CRI Beijing’ in China and appeared in British TV news programs such as ‘Sky News’, ‘Channel 4 TV News’, ‘BBC News’, Norwegian TV, ‘ABC News’, American ‘CNN TV News’, German TV, ‘Bayerisches Fernsehen’ and French ‘Interieurs TV’. The Giants have been published in numerous international fashion, design, art, technology and science related magazines and books since 2010.

The Giants were selected as symbolic structures for ‘Tollwood: Winter festival 2012’ in Munich and also selected for ‘European Capital of Culture Metamorphoses, Marseille-Provence 2013’ in France. The design was shown as a part of exhibition on new pylon designs in Victoria & Albert Museum in London and presently, a model of the Giants is displayed as a permanent collection in Musée des sciences et de la technologie du Canada in Ottawa.

RECOGNITION AWARD

2008 Icelandic High-Voltage Electrical Pylon International Design Competition

AWARD WINNER

2010 Boston Society of Architects Unbuilt Architecture

PERMANENT COLLECTION

Musée Des Science Et De La Technologie Du Canada, Ottawa, Canada

TEMPORARY EXHIBITION

2011 The 'Pylon for the Future', Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK

SELECTED PROJECT

2012 Yale School of Architecture, Woman in Architecture Exhibition

SELECTED PROJECT

2011 Seoul Architecture Festival Global Young Architects, Seoul, Korea

FINALIST

2010 The 36th Annual Ken Roberts Memorial Delineation Competition

SELECTED PROJECT

2013 European Capitol of Culture - Metamorphosis, Marseille, France

The Land of Giants™ : Proposal for Landsnet, Iceland

The Land of Giants™ Scaled Model

Right: The Land of Giants™ was selected by Lieux Publics, a national center for creation in public space, to be exhibited in the Marseille - Provence, European Capital of Culture 2013 Exhibition.

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QUOTES

"The 'Land of Giants' is a poem for the eyes."

Elmar Burchia, Corriere Della Sera, Aug 17, 2010

"One of the “...beautiful ideas by the world’s best creative brains".

Dezeen Book of Ideas

"Miraculous steel giants who tread on the Icelandic fjords... Would not that be something for Germany? Filigree steel giants, strutting through the Ruhr’s Emsland direction?"

Von Marlies Uken, Zeit, Germany

"The most extraordinary power poles in the world".

"One of the coolest ideas... the high-voltage monsters suddenly transformed into a major tourist attraction."

Dagsavien, Norway

"...we (the curators) were like kids on Christmas morning delicately opening out presents."

Sean Tudor, Canada Science and Technology Museum

"If power lines have to be above ground, then why not create works of art in the transfer of energy. Fantastic imagination, instead of dreading the dreaded pylons, folks will take trips to see what different works are in place."

"I’ve often pondered the ugliness of pylons. Could they ever be beautiful? Thanks to this concept the answer is yes. Not just beautiful, but poetic. Never mind practicality - imaginative concepts lead the way to the future. If extra-terrestrials ever visited us and saw this was the way we handled our power lines, they would know that we were truly civilized."

"These are SO beautiful and exactly what good design is all about - not just making something inherently ugly a bit less ugly and noticeable, but turning it right round and making it completely beautiful."

Die Welt, Austria

Dezeen

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