Dan Hill from the Blog, City of Sound, has written a compelling article on the sound modeling of wind turbines as well as the aesthetic affect on the urban fabric. In his recent blog post, he states:

“In urban environments, smaller vertical axis wind turbines can look like modernist sculptures and all the better for it, perhaps more universally at ease in this setting. With some of the newer wind turbines on the market, they’re not a million miles away from the Alexander Calder or Barbara Hepworth sculptures that we see at the Fundaçion Joan Miro or pinned to the side of John Lewis in Oxford Street. “

I live in San Francisco, and I really hope that the city allows these new, sculptural wind turbines a chance to be constructed locally. One thing that I’ve found is that every time San Francisco builds such radical structures the city rejects the structure and then slowly accepts the structure so endearingly as to make it an icon of the city. Examples of this are the microwave tower at the top of Twin Peaks and the Transamerica Pyramid. Both structures were originally hated and then later so loved by locals as to be plastered all over posters and T-shirts. I would love it if in the future our iconic image was a sea of these sculptural wind turbines riding up and down the city’s hills.