When you think of a transmission tower (also known as a pylon), a specific look comes to mind – a dull gray, A-shaped lattice steel structure reaching high into the sky. Transmission towers are ubiquitous across the landscape. The most common ones were designed in the 1920s for their utility and not their visual appeal. But what if they were treated as sculpture, creating a connection between art, the environment, and technology?

Competitions like the international Pylon for the Future contest, run by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, National Grid, and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), might just be making “transmission sculptures” a reality. Three years after the T-Pylon design won the Pylon for the Future competition, the T-Pylon is finally ready for production in the UK.

The international competition received 250 entries and 6 finalists were chosen. The purpose of Pylon for the Future was to design a visually appealing pylon that would consider the visual impact on the landscape while still providing electricity to homes and businesses. The T-Pylon, designed by Bystrup Architecture, Design, & Engineering, was chosen unanimously by the judging panel. 

Mabey Bridge was chosen by National Grid to construct six new T-Pylons, which will be tested at National Grid’s training academy in Eakring, Nottinghamshire. If the pylons are approved, the pylons could begin to show up across the UK, starting with the connection between the Hinkley Point power station and the planned nuclear station near Bridgwater.

While the silhouette-shaped T-Pylon may be a bit tame, take a look at the other entries. Design Depot, a design studio based in Moscow, has also joined the fad with their reindeer-shaped pylon.

What do you think of transmission structures as art sculpture? Would they be well received in California?  

Interested in hearing more about the T-Pylons? Click here to read more.