Infrastructure as ART

Not that long ago I told an architect that I was working with we were never going to be able to "integrate" the 2ML water tank the engineers were proposing into the landscape and that perhaps we can convince the client to let the The Graffiti Project people turn in into an artwork instead. Today... while flickering for interesting water features, I came across the Valence Water Towers in France designed by Philolaos Tloupas in 1969 and I was ashamed as a designer that I have failed to see the possibility in the form of water towers and tanks. Australian designers can be so quick to label the French conservative and yet we are so far behind them...