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10 sats \ 8 replies \ @petertodd 20h \ parent \ on: Street Lights Don’t Have To Be Ugly Design
There's also two steel bands on the imitation antique in the background. None of which appear to be actually doing anything.
I think those steel bands look ridiculous on that imitation antique. While on the concrete pole, they look appropriate.
Also, imagine how silly that antique would look if you attached the modern "WATCH FOR CHILDREN" sign to it.
Yes. There's an appropriate amount of infrastructure to show off in the right circumstances, and overall I think we show off too little.
There's also two steel bands on the imitation antique in the background. None of which appear to be actually doing anything.
yeah they should be removed, they detract from the beauty of the lantern
I think those steel bands look ridiculous on that imitation antique. While on the concrete pole, they look appropriate.
This wood pole further down the same street uses the same modern lamp design, without any bands.
Do you still think they’re honest and elegant?
Also, imagine how silly that antique would look if you attached the modern "WATCH FOR CHILDREN" sign to it.
i also agree here, the sign is ugly and wouldn’t fit in.
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Do you still think they’re honest and elegant?
Yes! The steel bands are used on the concrete pole because drilling into concrete is more difficult than using a steel band. For the wooden pole, you can easily use screws, which that light almost certainly does.
That's actually a great example of the design being true to what the materials are.
i also agree here, the sign is ugly and wouldn’t fit in.
But these days signs are required, and they have standardized designs. You can't avoid them. What you can do is have a design where they fit in. And faux-antique doesn't work that well for that.
Same thing with the steel bands on the faux-antique pole. They got added for a reason...
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Yes! The steel bands are used on the concrete pole because drilling into concrete is more difficult than using a steel band.
Look closely.
The concrete pole from my original post has holes drilled in it too.
Is it still honest and elegant to drill holes all over the pole and then apply a patchwork of metal bands to the same pole?
For the wooden pole, you can easily use screws, which that light almost certainly does. That's actually a great example of the design being true to what the materials are.
Look closely again.
The wooden pole’s screws go through the entire pole and are fastened with metal on the opposite side.
If the wood pole were “being true to what the materials are”, why pass the screw through the entire thing and fasten it externally on the opposite side?
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Is it still honest and elegant to drill holes all over the pole and then apply a patchwork of metal bands to the same pole?
The holes in concrete poles are cast in place; concrete poles are a mass produced item.They usually aren't drilled after the fact.
If the wood pole were “being true to what the materials are”, why pass the screw through the entire thing and fasten it externally on the opposite side?
...because that's a quick and easy thing to do in wood. Takes just a minute or two. And guarantees a solid connection for many years to come. That's also a very common way to fasten things into wooden poles.
Have you done any construction?
This feels like one of those things where your sense of aesthetics is influenced by your lack of experience actually building stuff. And vice-versa in my case.
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concrete poles are cast in place; concrete poles are a mass produced item.
The lanterns in my second photo are also cast and mass-produced.
That's also a very common way to fasten things into wooden poles.
No, it's not.
That's literally the opposite of "being true to what the materials are".
Please show me "very common" examples of furniture, buildings, or other wood structures where screws go in one side, out the other, and are secured with external metal fasteners.
Metal fasteners used in wood projects rely on screws that bite into the wood grain itself.
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The lanterns in my second photo are also cast and mass-produced.
Yes. Which is why their intricate decoration comes across as fake! They're a simulacrum of 1800's to 1900's era lighting (which itself was cast and mass produced, but at the time that was something special). The context is different now, which comes across as cheap and inauthentic.
Please show me "very common" examples of furniture, buildings, or other wood structures where screws go in one side, out the other, and are secured with external metal fasteners.
Have you looked at telephone poles before? The most common way to attach things to them is a bolt right through to the other side. The that's the typical way crossbeams at attached at the top, for example.
There's probably billions of examples of this in the US alone.
Seriously, if you want an example, go outside and find one yourself.