I was traveling recently and came across this object. At first, it looks like an artistic sculpture, but on closer examination, it’s also a bike rack!

Click to enlarge. Photos by the author.

For bonus points, do you know where this is or can you recognize the location?

Here’s a part of the instructional sign on the rack. The full sign gives away the location, as do these two other signs.

The sign says this is more compact than other bike racks. That’s largely true, though in this configuration, the rack also requires a lot of empty space around in every direction. In an institutional setting with big open spaces (and where it can also function as art), that makes sense. In many tighter urban spaces, arranging these curved, vertical racks side by side instead of in a circle would allow storing bikes even more compactly, though less artistically.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.