Space pod cabins. Screenshot from MReporter.
About three weeks ago, a few “portal towers” were spotted in Moscow’s VDNKh amusement park. Today, it appears that a number of futuristic “space pod” cabins have now been mounted on the park’s ropeway as it prepares for testing and commissioning this Fall.
We’re not sure where the designers got their inspiration from, but the spherical cabins reminded us of the rotund BB-8 droid from Star Wars or perhaps even the helmet of a cosmonaut.
Cabins mounted to station. The system is being constructed by Doppelmayr. Screenshot from MReporter.
Pod cabins will help transport the estimated 2 million visitors to VDNKh park. Screenshot from MReporter.
From our experiences, an increasing number of cities and their decision-makers are becoming more demanding when it comes to unique ropeway designs. While standardized, off-the-shelf cable car components reduce implementation costs and time, some projects in aesthetically sensitive areas will inevitably require customized designs.
For instance to highlight the importance of form, Portland’s City Commissioner was once quoted as saying that the Portland Aerial Tram did not consider standard parts since it would result in “a cheap ski lift at a bad ski resort” — which in turn, would leave the City with “an ugly postcard” lasting a hundred years.
UFO style “space” cabin were already in existence Post-WII as it was built by Carlevaro-Savio out of Turin, Italy . Image Chairlift.org.
With the increasing number of attractive and non-utilitarian cabin and tower designs , this will likely help inspire other project proponents to develop and add their own creative touches to their ropeways.
For the time being however, the Russian capital’s VDNKh park may very well have built one of the world’s most eye-catching aerial gondolas in recent memory.
A big thank you (again) to Irakli Z for forwarding us the link!