Readers of this blog and those that have been in my bollard design symposiums know that I believe there is a place for plain bollards, but that a bollard that incorporates elegant or whimsical design holds a special place in my heart. This is even more true if the bollards has additional functionality or dynamic features. The bollards we view today are found at the East End Building in Midland, Michigan. They are, at their core, stalwart blockers of automotive traffic, but are enhanced by these brushed aluminum covers:
Which not only match them with the other fixtures of the building (the lights, above, and the bike racks, below)…
But also, due to the nature of their mounting (that is: loosely at the base, not at all at the top) allow them some flexibility, so that a traveler on foot or on wheels who runs into one accidentally will not meet an immovable object, but rather a forgiving cover that will save them damage, yet still provide enough of a clang to cause the social embarrassment that serves to teach them to be more careful (see “The Positive, No, Necessary Aspect of Public Humiliation Due To Clumsiness” from Stanford University doctors E. Gontrop and W. Feezoon).
Note the careful orientation here: a full-on display of the hard reality of bollards for drivers, and the other view for the gentle pedestrian, couched in the thematically-appropriate softening of the buttery metal.
