Each week, we bring you the latest building technology and materials news from around the Internet. To close out 2015, we’ve culled our previous roundups to spotlight some of the key architectural technology and materials trends of the year.
Drones Fly into the
Spotlight
In May, ARCHITECT brought
you up to speed on the rules and regulations (then largely unenforceable) around
the use of small unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, for commercial purposes in the U.S. Much has
happened since then, most significantly last week’s launch of a federal registry
for individuals and companies to record their drones weighing between 0.55
pounds and 55 pounds. Manned by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the
drone census comes out of a set of recommendations released in
November by an FAA committee to help the administration manage the burgeoning
market for aerial devices while leaving room for innovation. As ARCHITECT reported
back in May, the AEC sector is taking up drones for everything from site
surveying to project photography, but formal regulations are making some firms unsure
of the long-term viability of integrating the still-nascent technology into their workflow. The FAA is
expected to hand down formal rules for the commercial use of small drones by 2017.
The Science of Saving
Heritage Sites
The intentional destruction this year of world heritage
sites in Syria—most notably the ancient city of Palmyra—by the self-declared
Islamic State (ISIS) drew attention to the myriad structures and archaeological
sites currently caught
in the crossfire of foreign invasions and internal conflict in the Middle
East. It has also drawn attention to the work of groups that aim to save the
sites and structures, if not in their physical form, then digitally. In March,
ARCHITECT spoke
with CyArk, an Oakland, Calif.–based nonprofit that uses laser-scanning
technology to record and remaster some of the world’s most prominent—and often
at-risk—cultural heritage sites, and makes its models available to conservationists
for restoration. Work includes the ancient city of Babylon in modern-day Iraq
and Carthage in Tunisia. CyArk is not alone. In October, a global group of open-access-Internet
advocates launched an online archive and data repository to gather photos and other documentation to help digitally reconstruct Palmyra; the project also seeks to
draw attention to the plight of fellow advocate Bassel Khartabil who was
arrested by Syria’s Assad regime in 2012. And in November, archaeologist Sarah
Parcak, a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, received
a $1 million grant from the nonprofit TED Foundation for a
yet-to-be-announced project that deals with her work in “space archaeology,” or the use of satellite images and scanning technology to monitor activity around cultural
heritage sites in order to track the age-old practice of stealing antiquities,
particularly in countries such as Egypt and Syria, where political strife makes
the sites particularly vulnerable. Parcak’s TED project will be announced in
February.
Keeping Up with the
Supertalls
Building tall is about more than bravado these days. The
continual drive for energy efficiency parallels the push by clients for more
floors, forcing project teams to contend with issues such as heating and
cooling these veritable vertical cities, which journalist Clay Risen detailed
for ARCHITECT in November; for example, the forthcoming Kingdom Tower (shown above) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, is expected to be complete as the world's tallest building in 2019 and is shaped by wings running to the northeast and northwest that reduce solar-heat gain inside. Other challenges include accessing such buildings' upper reaches for cleaning, repairs, or in the event of a fire or other
disaster—for the 555-meter-tall (1,821 feet) Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, the local
government is experimenting
with jet-packs—as well as designing
elevators for longer runs while maintaining user comfort and reducing the
amount of space needed for the related machinery. Closing out 2014, the Council
on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat recorded
97 buildings at or greater than 200 meters (656 feet) in height completed that
year, and calling it the “tallest year ever,” including a record of 11 “supertall”
buildings constructed, which measure at or greater than 300 meters (984 feet) tall. In its report,
the council estimated that between 105 and 130 buildings of at least 200 meters will be completed in 2015.
Learning Technology Brings New Dimensions to the Jobsite
We’d be remiss if we didn’t address the burgeoning market
for augmented (AR) and virtual reality technology that continued to make
headlines in 2015. Terri Peters, our architect–reporter on the ground at the annual
Autodesk University conference held in Las Vegas in early December, detailed
the software developer’s play in what it's calling the “augmented age.” Following
the development and use of passive and generative design tools, the company
predicts, has come “a turn toward what it calls empathic computing,” Peters writes. “The
next generation of digital tools will learn from the user and from user
behavior.” And that's not necessarily a bad thing, explains ARCHITECT's materials science columnist Blaine Brownell, AIA, in his recent post on the rise of automation and learning technology in architecture. This follows Autodesk’s announcement
in April that 3D models created in programs such as Maya and Fusion 360
will be compatible with Microsoft’s new HoloLens AR technology. Of course,
Autodesk isn’t the only company looking to make a break in this new frontier of
visualization technology. In August, ARCHITECT reported
on three similar technologies, including Augment (shown above), that are putting immersive experiences into the hands of project teams and clients alike via mobile
phones, tablets, and headsets.
