In order to beautify the city, we’ve seen cell phone towers disguised to look like trees, but what about those tall, unsightly electrical towers?
Massachusetts-based Jin Choi and Thomas Shine recently received the 2010 Boston Society of Architects Unbuilt Architecture Award for their “Land of Giants” project. 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.
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 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.
“Making only minor alterations to well established steel-framed tower design, we have created a series of towers that are powerful, solemn, and variable,” says Choi+Shine. “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.”
Jin Choi, Principal
Ms. Choi received her Master’s Degree in architecture from Yale University’s School of Architecture, having previously run her own successful design firm in Seoul, Korea. Ms. Choi also holds an M.F.A. in architecture and currently teaches design studio at Suffolk University in Boston to both graduate and undergraduate students.
