A Gem

While walking around Lausanne, I found this:

That’s a low retaining wall and parapet, separating a small plaza on the left from the sidewalk stairs wrapping around down to the street ahead. The reason I’m discussing this is the handrail mounted to the parapet, which also serves as a bench back if you sit on the top of the wall, as I did shortly after taking pictures.

The rail is technically a bit short to serve as a safety rail, but given its location on the far side of the wall from the plaza, you have to lean over to reach it – I’m a bit over 6 feet, 2 inches tall, and even with my feet near the base of the parapet, I didn’t feel like it would be easy to fall over that rail. But that’s not the interesting part. It’s the design:

Given the existence of Carpenter’s Gothic, I want to call this “Blacksmith’s Art Nouveau.” Maybe this was formally designed by an architect, but it sure looks to me like someone skilled in working with iron took some bars (or maybe some bars and some pipes) and welded, brazed, and bent their way to this beauty. It was rock-solid and, despite some very minor surface rust, in excellent condition.

I’m in favor of more beauty in minor elements in the built environment; I’m in favor of more experimentation; I’m in favor of more people bashing metal.