Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2019 June 25

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June 25

industrial design

is it hard or easy to tell what makes something industrial design? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_design — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.151.16.135 (talk) 09:31, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

Very easy. If it is designed first and then put into mass production, it is industrial design. The complication comes in when someone misuses the term. As an example, I saw a bit of one of those house design shows and they had exposed aluminum beams in the house. The lady commented on the "industrial design." Metal is not automatically industrial design. What she probably meant was, "It looks like something you would see on in an industrial factory." 12.207.168.3 (talk) 11:25, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

There is though an overlap from "put into mass production" to "made using the techniques of mass production". There have been notable examples of one-offs, made by these techniques and having all the appearance of being one of a multitude, except that the true "mass" production never happened. There was a lot of this in the 1930s, from major designers such as Raymond Loewy and Buckminster Fuller.

This led (as you're rightly opposing to industrial design), through the 1960s and '70s, through beatnik and boho chic and beyond Brutalism into "the design of industry" becoming fashionable, from its association with post-war artists in cities living and working in abandoned industrial spaces, rather than the traditional Parisian garret. Andy Dingley (talk) 12:27, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

Unusual road feature

On the M1 motorway in Northamptonshire, UK, just south of the village of Hartwell, there is an unusual junction featuring a tunnel under the road that allows for emergency vehicles to change from the northbound to the southbound carriageway, or vice-versa. It can be clearly seen using the satellite picture on Google maps.

I'm guessing it is there because it's near the middle of an 11-mile stretch of road with no other junctions, and would allow emergency vehicles from Northampton or Milton Keynes to reach incidents more quickly.

I drive down this section of road most days on my commute and it took me a while to notice it, but now I have, I have a couple of questions I can't find the answers to: Firstly, is there a name for this feature? And secondly, does anyone know of any others anywhere else in the UK?

Thanks! Turner Street (talk) 15:58, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

Not exactly the same (not entirely isolated), but it's fairly common for a bridge across the motorway, even an accommodation bridge to be used as emergency access to both sides, or as a U-turn point. There's no public access to the slip roads, but they're there for service use. The old toll plaza on the new Severn Bridge [1] has a large one. Nearby the A449 has a very large intersection which is of unclear and intermittent public access, but likewise acts as a U turn point when there isn't a junction otherwise for some distance. [2]. Up on the M6 in Lancashire there's another using a public road for the tunnel, but with isolated slip roads.[3]

One of the best known secret motorway slips would be the one on the M4 at Greenham Common, with the circular quadrant countdown markers to it, back in the 1980s. Andy Dingley (talk) 18:40, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

A discussion about the feature can be found here https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26480 and for a wider discussion about "secret" slip roads see https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7225 --TrogWoolley (talk) 12:17, 26 June 2019 (UTC)

As to the name for it, Wikipedia calls this a type of turnaround. --76.69.117.113 (talk) 22:08, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

Turnaround! I knew there would be a name for it. Thanks all. Turner Street (talk) 14:25, 26 June 2019 (UTC)

I notice that our article on Hartwell, Northamptonshire says that it lies close to the border with Bedfordshire. These two counties have entirely separate emergency services, so there might be the need to avoid vehicles going too far out of their area. Alansplodge (talk) 16:31, 26 June 2019 (UTC)

I hadn't thought of that! Actually, it's just on the Northants side of the county border with Buckinghamshire, but Beds isn't far away either. Turner Street (talk) 13:29, 27 June 2019 (UTC)

Beds uses East of England Ambulance Service, Bucks uses South Central Ambulance Service and Northants uses East Midlands Ambulance Service. Fire and police services still seem to be separate for each county. Alansplodge (talk) 16:45, 27 June 2019 (UTC)