Sunday, April 11, 2010

Amsterdammers vote for Charlie in fierce Rack debate

Who says bike racks have to always be a U or M shaped piece of metal frame? Former Talking Heads music group co-founder and New York City based artist David Byrne has created some awesome bike rack installations in shapes including the dollar sign, a car and a guitar among other things. And in a stroke of genius, the racks are contextually installed. That means the steel dollar design is at Wall Street, the guitar design named ‘Hipster’ is in Williamsburg, while a stiletto shaped shoe rack found itself outside Bergdorf Goodman. The car shaped silhouette finds its home at the entrance to Lincoln Tunnel. Read on here. Charlie Sorrel writes: Call me a Luddite, but there are a few things in the world that probably don’t need to be redesigned. One of those is the bike-rack: The current inverted-U works just fine. It takes up minimal space, is instantly recognizable and yet blends in to the street, it is secure and easy to use. And perhaps even more importantly, it is familiar. Those of you who have been faced with a fancy new rack design know what I mean: your usual streamlined, practiced and almost unconscious locking routine is interrupted and you need to spend quite a while changing it. Read more here.