What is this sphere?
Could be a blast/bullet barrier so any enemy ammunition and explosions are confined to the part in front of it that is exposed to the air. I know that Britain had them in some of their invasion scare bunkers, but I’ve never seen a picture so I don’t know what they look like.
It seems odd that it would be spherical.
The sphere isn’t part of the original bunker. It’s part of an art project, ‘The Alderney Stones’. One of them is in that bunker.
A sphere is pretty easy to make.
They have much the same,in front of Target stores (just painted up prettier).
For similar reasons. Protection against terrorists ramming a vehicle into the store, or (much more common) a confused shopper hitting the gas instead of the brake and driving right into the store.
Painting them in the company colors makes them look like just decoration, but they do have another purpose.
The Target spheres are neither to stop terrorists nor little old ladies stomping the wrong pedal.
They’re to stop a modern form of smash and grab burglary where the bad guys drive a van through the flimsy glass front doors, grab a van-load of merchandise, and speed off before the cops arrive.
The term of art is anti-vehicle bollard. Many big box stores, especially those with some high /cu ft or high /lb merchandise have them.
Thanks, Corry El!
I won’t lie awake tonight wondering.
Is that a thing?
I’m not familiar with it happening to a big box store, but there’s an epidemic of it in the Cleveland area at small convenience stores with ATMs. They steal a van, ram the building, and then try to get away with the whole ATM.
Absolutely: here’s one using a stolen church van
Oh yeah. They’re common in London.