Pylons - Reaching for the Clouds - Update

The results of the RIBA/National Grid pylon competition were announced on 12^th October 2011. The winner is the T-Pylon by Danish design team Bystrup, Copenhagen. In keeping with its nationality, the T-Pylon is a very simple looking design, intended to be 30% shorter and less weighty than existing pylons and less intrusive on the landscape.

Being neither an engineer nor a geographer, I’m not certain how that would work in difficult terrain; presumably a shorter pylon would require a larger number, and they would be much harder for maintenance engineers to climb than the lattice work of existing pylons which lends itself to the activity.

                                       Artist's impression of the winning T-Pylon (photo:PA) 

The artist’s impression shows T-Pylons in white. Would they remain so pristine, with birds and pollution in many locations?  It is not clear to me, as a lay commentator, what they are constructed of, but it would be nice to think they could be painted to fit into individual landscapes. Perhaps there could be another competition, for the best decorated pylon..?



The National Grid are looking forward to working with the new pylon, executive director Nick Winser said they are very pleased with the T-Pylon’s simplicity and also that ; “the design of the electrical components is genuinely innovative and exciting.” However despite declaring the T-Pylon as the winner, it appears the Grid are still hedging their bets. They are also planning to work with the designers of two of the other short-listed pylons, the shard like ‘Silhouette’ by Ian Ritchie Associates & engineers Jane Wernick Associates, also New Town Studio’s latticed ‘Totem’.  

Taking a three solution approach actually makes a certain amount of sense; some designs probably would work better than others in different locations. The Silhouette is my personal favorite of the designs; it is a very sculptural solution using a reflective sided stiletto to pierce the sky. These would look magnificent placed across barren landscapes like Pennines or Rannoch Moor, reflecting the ever changing skies.

The Totem would have been my second choice, it is a metal lattice tower but, unlike existing pylons, in the form of a cylinder. However, don’t think of a roll of chicken wire, Totem is a stylish, sophisticated design. The metal forming the lattice decreases in thickness as the tower rises, while the diameter of the cylinder remains constant, this gives the effect that the tower is disappearing into the sky.

Passionate pylon aficionados would probably prefer the Totem to all the other designs. Photographer Flash Bristow, founder of the Pylon Appreciation Society commented; "The winning design is OK, but it's a pole and not a pylon. Pylons are latticed structures. They frame views of the landscape. They're special, but a pole is just a pole." I understand what she means and certainly the T-Pylon has something of the look of an old fashioned telegraph pole, albeit a very swish Danish version.

The Telegraph's website has views of all the shortlisted designs, plus a number of otherw which gfailed to make the shortlist. Some are dull, some quirky, some impractical and a few plain barmy! The most surreal is a huge lattice praying mantis holding up the electrical cables.

Currently there are more than 88,000 existing pylons in the UK and, love them or loathe them, they are here to stay. The sheer expense of the enterprise means most will not be replaced by the new designs any time soon.