When form fails to location

Many of you may have noticed the aesthetically pleasing cellular towers that have been multiplying throughout the landscape of this country, maybe causing a double take in some cases in disbelief. For the last few years, depending on there location, cell phone signal towers have been incognito as nature. 

In California many take the shape of palm or sequoia trees attempting to blend into their surroundings. Others in the southern more desert dominant states have towers pretending to be saguaro cacti and the list of artificial nature continues. One reason for this decision in the change of tower appearance was due to commercial and upper class neighborhood influence. Both groups wanting their cell phone provider coverage but not wishing for hideous structures to invade their neighborhoods and mall type businesses the following sculptural solution was enforced.

The interesting thing I observed was that sometimes one aesthetic which replaces another can be defeated due to its location. In the above image, a lonely palm tree dots the landscape. The odd thing about this tree is not that it is an artificial palm but a tree in an area with less then .1 percent vegetation. The picture is taken at one of the Los Angeles Harbor ports on terminal island. If you are unfamiliar with the dockscape of the LA ports it is a waterfront cargo container terminal setting of concrete, asphalt and steel. The usual and only greenery present is in the form of a potted plant in one of the very few buildings on the site. This is the visual oxymoron that exists for this particular lonely waterfront palm and creates the question: was aesthetic form defeated due to its location? Was this a misplaced decision where the older, often considered uglier, towers would be more welcome to fit into its surroundings? It is a site that is easily overlooked but once witnessed there is an effect that something is out of place.