Archinect - Features

Drones for Architects: New Capabilities for the Construction Sector, How to Get Started and How to Navigate the Law

2018-04-04T12:01:00-04:00

According to a 2016 Goldman Sachs report, the largest commercial buyer of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS’s, more commonly known as drones) in the next five years will be the construction sector, valued at $11.2bn worldwide. What new roles will drones adopt both in the architectural design process and outcomes? If your firm is intending to mobilize a drone, what should you be aware of in terms of its operation and the law? To look closer at these eyes in the sky, I speak to interdisciplinary design office Noumena who are experimenting with cutting-edge drone technology within their integrated design process. I will also check in with Florida-based certified civil trial lawyer and pilot Michael J. Corso esq., a specialist in drone litigation for architecture and design professionals. For an alternate angle, I get some tips from architect and respected architectural photographer Fernando Guerra, who has collaborated with and captured the buildings of many well-known architects, includi...

Air Rights: an exhibit by Drone Research Lab

2013-10-18T15:17:00-04:00

The printed catalog for “Air Rights” – an exhibition by the Drone Research Lab (DRL) at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning – begins with a Bartlett's-worthy quote from R. Buckminster Fuller: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” It is often observed, on the contrary, that unmanned aerial vehicles, unlike the billion-dollar state-of-the-art fighter jets they are replacing in some military applications, are a cobbling together of existing technologies. None of their components (aside from advanced optical sensing) is inaccessible to everyday consumers, and the mechanics would likely be familiar to Fuller himself.

No Such Thing As Nowhere: Discussion with Matthew Coolidge, author of "Around the Bay"

2013-09-23T07:50:00-04:00

Around the Bay: Man-Made Sites of Interest in the San Francisco Bay Region, a new photobook from the Center for Land Use Interpretation, catalogues portraits of the Bay Area's complex and historied landscapes.