about   |   mailing list   |   writing   |   archives

Art in the Community

Los Angeles: mobile phone cell tower
 

Designers are often striving for purity of form – objects stripped down to their essence. But what happens when the purest form is for a mobile phone cell tower that is both in the public space and considered (but most metrics) to be unsightly? What happens when one object in its purest form (the tower) impinges on the purity of the incumbent (nature).

As the technologies required to offer cellular technology miniaturise and otherwise evolve – think shape, height, direction, independent power supply what aspects of the the current designs will remain?

How will the design evolve differently in countries where the mobile phone cell tower is associated as a significant modernisation of what came before? Are we blind to the fact that mobile phone cell towers are in fact temples to connectivity? Or can the ‘cell tower tree’ in the middle of the picture be considered art? If you do consider it art how does it change your opinion of this in your community?

There’s a surprising number of companies offering mobile phone cell tower tree designs.