Negev Desert, Israel – Electric Pole
The Mirage, a Vitrage-Inspired High-Voltage Pylon, Negev Desert, Israel
The small community of Omer is located in the heart of the Negev, Israel’s large desert (that takes up 50% of the size of the country). Blind to aesthetics, a high-voltage power line was built across the desert, with a particular single pylon - 60m-high - creating a painful visual landscape, upsetting residents and onlookers in the community.
The local power company asked me to come up with a solution: how to keep the pylon in place but somehow to reduce its negative visual footprint.
My idea was to turn the pylon into a work of art using vitrage-like sheets of perspex (AKA plexiglass).
The limitations were endless: welding and drilling are dangerous and the high winds have to be taken into consideration, as the sail-like sheets may topple the pylon. After careful planning and engineering process the work was completed and ready for assembly, on site, using cranes.
This unique colorful pylon even got a code name from the Israeli army: The Cathedral.
An ecological project as the Electric Company of Israel asked me to find an artistic solution to beautify the pillar at the entrance of the village of Omer in the Negev desert as the Mayor demanded it.





