The Case for Design
One doesn’t necessarily think of “elegant design” and “public infrastructure” as going hand in hand, but in a lot of ways these are important issues. People don’t like to see really ugly things built near where they live. But infrastructure is especially needed where people live, so that it can serve actual people. Consequently, a lot of useful stuff winds up going unbuilt since people don’t want to see something ugly put in their line of sight. Which brings me to James Wimberly on building electrical transmission lines we can believe in:
The EDF is rare and possibly unique among big utilities in seriously exploring new transmission tower designs to reduce visual nuisance. The model in the photo – “Roseau”, or reed – is part of its second generation of tubular towers; the other is the asymmetric “Fougère” – heather – which is fun but might become irritating after a few years. The first generation was the workmanlike “Muguet” – lily of the valley – , which is a common sight:
EDF has formidable engineering resources and reputation, and you can take it that these designs meet high specifications, including 170 km/hour winds. But it is coy on costs. The designer Marc Mimram gives the unit cost of the complex “Roseau” pylon as €580k. The typical cost of a traditional 400kv backbone line in France was €600k/km in 2002, of which about a third went on the pylons, making €70k each. Say €100k now.
Along those same lines, I was reading an interview with some architect/urban planner guy in Dwell on a plane over the weekend and he was arguing that we ought to pay more attention to the design of our garbage cans. He points out that large cities have a ton of these, so the cost-per-unit of investing in design would be pretty low. And on top of that, good garbage cans are integral to the success of public spaces. You can’t have tons of litter everywhere in a good public space. But a public space that’s actually used by people is likely to generate a lot of litter — soda cans, food wrappers, etc. — as a consequence of its success. Hence, garbage cans. But garbage is ugly undermining your effort to build a good public space. Hence, design is needed.
For power lines, meanwhile, the point is not merely that we need these lines to power our homes but that building next-generation renewable energy facilities on a mass scale is going to require next-generation transmission lines to move electricity from where the wind and sun is to where the people live.
30 Responses to “The Case for Design”
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September 8th, 2008 at 9:24 am
good design is good business. unfortunately this is lost on many of the decision makers in corporate america. thanks for including items like this on your blog.
September 8th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I work with design on a daily basis (web sites, collateral, application interfaces, junk like that) and this is a topic I am very interested in. Now I should say I am on the project management side of things, but I still have to have some clue of what is going on and what comprises “good” design.
At least in my industry the “general” design of products, something as complex as a car or as simple as a coffee maker is talked about all the time, cause most of us feel something can be designed in a manner that is both pleasing to the eye and functional (also cost effective).
For folks that are interested in this topic I strongly suggest picking up a copy ofThe Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman.
It is a book that has literally changed the way I look at the world. If I get a fountain soda at a 7-11, pick up a remote control, or look for a new digital camera I often now pause and think, “well why the heck is that darn thing designed that way, that makes no sense.”
I really hope you keep writing on this topic ….
September 8th, 2008 at 9:46 am
In Providence my friend/city coucilmen David Segal (now a state rep) got some nice trash cans made by folks The Steel Yard, a local workspace for scultors and metal workers. Each one featured a custom design. I’m not sure what the per unit cost was, but the Eastside was definitely in need of trashcans. I’m also guessing many young artists would jump at the chance to make a custom trashcan bin just to get there work out in the community.
September 8th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t follow your argument about garbage cans, particularly the last sentence. Ok, so you have public space, and public spaces will generate trash, so you get trash cans to put the trash in. “But garbage is ugly undermining your effort to build a good public space. Hence, design is needed.” Huh? Garbage is ugly, true, but how does that militate for well designed garbage cans? Did you mean that garbage *cans* are ugly, which undermines the goal of beutification through cleaning up trash?
Personally, I just don’t care about design much. I want to get where I’m going in the most efficient, safe, and cost effective way possible. If I’m in a public space I want it to be clean and, if my use of the space requires it, comfortable. As long as the trash is off the streets I just don’t care what the trash cans look like. If investing in “design” doesn’t add a significant premium to the cost, then I suppose I’m all for it, but I don’t feel the need for pretty in my garbage can, and I’m skeptical that most opposition to having high capacity power lines near homes is due to aesthetics.
September 8th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Not that I’m opposed to aesthetically pleasing infrastructure, but France has to worry so much about aesthetics simply because it’s such a tourist magnet. Both France and Italy are essentially becoming giant museums. France is the size of Texas and drew almost 20 million more visitors than any other country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_Rankings
September 8th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Not that I’m opposed to aesthetically pleasing infrastructure, but France has to worry so much about aesthetics simply because it’s such a tourist magnet.
France and Italy are tourist magnets because they’ve been aesthetically aware. Aesthetics isn’t simply something that one gets via propinquity, as is possible with foreign policy expertise, medicine, and military genius.
September 8th, 2008 at 10:40 am
the other is the asymmetric “Fougère” – heather – which is fun but might become irritating after a few years
I don’t think this is a concern for something like a power transmission line tower. They only need to be attractive enough to reduce political opposition to building them in the first place. Once they’re up, familiarity will make them largely invisible to residents in a matter of months, and that kind of invisibility is ultimately what you’re shooting for with this kind of infrastructure.
(Here is a link to a picture of the “asymmetrical” towers we’re talking about.)
September 8th, 2008 at 11:42 am
“Fougère” is actually “fern” not “heather”, which makes more sense when you look at the design, which evokes unrolling fronds. I corrected this in the post after Matt kindly linked to me.
The photo is of a part of a new line between Amiens and Arras, across the flat sugar-beet fields of Picardy. The only tourists going there are Brits heading for the war memorials on the Somme. Cute it isn’t.
Once people realize that good designs are available, they will insist on them, in transmission lines, car parks and Matt’s garbage cans.
September 8th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I just wish we would think more about packaging in this country that produces less garbage. I hate seeing triple wrapped products with so much that needs to be thrown away.
September 8th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Reading Virginia Postrel lately are you? Remember in Iraq, the soldiers refused to wear the safety goggles because they were dorky and lame despite the risk until they redesigned them to look cool and/or badass.
September 8th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Once they’re up, familiarity will make them largely invisible…
This is the tragic flaw of how public infrastructure is designed (using the term loosely) in the U.S.: “Sure it’s ugly, but you’ll get used to it.” We live in a culture that seemingly aspires to nothing, with a built environment that’s crassly utilitarian and deteriorating. With some notable exceptions here and there. How quaint that the French and Italians — and the millions who visit both countries every year — insist on being surrounded by beauty.
September 8th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Try to imagine a properly-inserted /i tag in #11 above. Yeah, I shoulda proofread one last time — but it still would be nice to have a “preview” feature on this blog.
September 8th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I still remember the Paris garbage cans. Not really a can, but a short tube with a bungee cord. With the clear bags the sanitation workers could easily see if it needed to be replaced and then replace it in about 8 seconds. Very slick.
September 8th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
In Los Angeles, many of the cell-towers look like palm trees.
September 8th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Somebody should offer a prize for solving the 40 year old problem of finding an elegant way to line a trash can with a removable plastic bag without it just being randomly tucked over the top lip.
September 8th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
hey norm @1 says “good design is good business. unfortunately this is lost on many of the decision makers in corporate america.”
I am uncomfortable with this sort of blaming the ills of America on a few individuals high up in the system. Look at the way a certain class of people on the Internet refer to Apple’s offerings with constant mocking of how “stupid” people are to pay a little more for what they consider to be nothing but visual fluff.
There is a certain strain in the US that is actively hostile to paying more for beauty, no matter what the circumstances. It is a strain that has long been present, and is present throughout society at all levels. This is not just about a few execs deciding to do something that is against the wishes of 98% of the population.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:08 am
Here are some landscape towers of Fingrid, operator of Finnish national “highway” grid. Sadly, they only have one or few of each, located on some highly visible area.
November 30th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
A Golden Dragon Acrobat defies gravity while using one hand to balance himself atop a stack of chairs that towered within a foot of the 30-foot-tall ceiling in the Wyoming Center on Friday night during the grand opening of the Wyoming
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