Iceland: Hot plumes and cool towers

There may be more erupting in Iceland than Eyjafjallajökull.




From the land of trolls come these conceptual images submitted for a 2008 competition held by local transmission company Landsnet and the Association of Icelandic Architects. The winning entry, called Land of Giants, re-imagines electric transmission pylons as galumphing giants.





The designers were the American firm Choi + Shine Architects.





Thanks to the excellent De Zeen design magazine blog for the heads up.

But wait. There's more:





Also from the competition were these images from the mind of Architect Dietmar Koering of Arphenotype.





Call it the de-industrialization of industrial design. We expect the trolls will be delighted.

For more on the work including pics, ethos, and design manifesto-ing go here.