Architecture and Drones: Accomodating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

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Date
2019-02-11
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Virginia Tech
Abstract

Through out history, technological advancements have reshaped the built environment and its Architecture. The cities that we live in today were only made possible by the technologies of the first, second, and third industrial revolutions. Today, we are witnessing another technological revolution based on open source data and artificial intelligence.

As there is an enormous amount of prosperous innovations that would directly impact Architecture design tools, building and finishing materials, and construction methods, there are also other innovations that would require spaces, buildings, and cities to be designed to accommodate them. Among the latter mentioned innovations is the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also know as drones.

Like the automobile, drone technology will influence not only the way we live but also our design thinking and the components of our built environment. Along with drone's ability to fly, UAV's digital infrastructure is much more flexible and most importantly, invisible. Autonomous Drones' intelligent abilities allow them to provide a wide range of services in various fields such as; freight and delivery, transportation, infrastructure and buildings maintenance, survey, surveillance, policing, fire fighting, agriculture, and even construction, all of which will effectively reduce the amount of ground vehicle traffic, especially in populated cities. Today, as these possibilities are available and constantly under development, it is important for Architecture and Urban Design disciplines to address the challenge and provide comprehensive solutions to accommodate such a technology and allow its possibilities to prosper even further.

The intent of this thesis is to study UAV technology and design a mix-use complex that embraces and accommodates UAV services such as; delivery, transport, freight, and maintenance. The complex hosts a residential tower, a vertical garden tower, ground level commercial spaces, and an underground drone hub.

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Keywords
Drones, Drone aircraft, Future Services, Future Cities, Diagrid Structure
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