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Urban Design Observations: Bollard Problems
"I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a bollard"
These protective bollards have done their job of protecting the building. Two of them have taken direct hits. The height of the dents suggests a large truck.
Enter a caption (optional)The two "arms" welded to the plate that's then bolted into the wall, look brutish. The plate was presumably placed at that height because it would be far above the level of any bumper of any vehicle. (I.e. if the arms were at the same height of a bumper hitting it, they'd then transmit the force directly into the brick.)
Enter a caption (optional)
Enter a caption (optional)Metal tubing is a good materials choice in terms of function, because it absorbs energy and deforms. It's a bad choice aesthetically because it doesn't have any shape memory.
Enter a caption (optional)Assuming the same low budget these were presumably created with, what would you have done differently?
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To my eyes, it seems that the bent bollard broke free of the original upper support arms and what we see is a now is a new (and longer) arm welded in place. The arm is longer to accommodate the bend. Otherwise the original bollard was poorly installed in the first place because it would have been horribly out of vertical. I can almost see the remains of something behind the arm.
they should be filled with concrete.. a few years ago I bumped into one with my work van and it really screwed up the front corner of the van - dented bumper, hood, and quarter panel, broken headlight trim, yeesh. the bollard was unscathed - it was covered in a thin plastic shell which didn't even seem to have a scuff on it.
Nerf. Need I say more?
The bollard is fine, it is clearly doing its job. The bigger design problem is the portrait of a failed education system pictured behind the bollard.
The trick here is the sameish budget. So changing the material for the Bollard to something very strong and more flexible would be too expensive. I think the arms should be changed to simple, large heavy duty springs/coils and heavy duty spring loaded hinges for the bottom of each Bollard. This would make them much more impact resistant without any significant cost increase. If you wanted to get fancy, a simple pressure switch on one of the coil arms of each Bollard connected to a single LOUD alarm to alert drivers ASAP to stop. (Also to be put in the building maintenance budget, paint the bollards once a year 😁).
I notice a missing bolt on the mounting plate. I bet it sheared off or ripped when the bollard got hit.
Was it filled with concrete? Most bollards are.
Maybe they could have used a through-bolt connection, rather than welded / cast in place so the pieces could be removed and replaced in the future when they start to get too gnarly.