Archinect - News

Marlon Blackwell reveals design for new Columbus, Indiana, air traffic control tower

2024-06-27T15:34:00-04:00

Marlon Blackwell Architects has shared an update to their planned air traffic control tower project in Columbus, Indiana, following its initial announcement in December 2023. Renderings of the design revealed this week detail the firm’s pledge to create “more than a piece of infrastructure” but rather “a beacon of Columbus’s architectural and design heritage” standing as a “key gateway into the city."

Rendering by Conica/courtesy of Marlon Blackwell Architects

As such, the 129-foot stainless steel and aluminum creation is set to include a multi-purpose space for education and community events. Thornton Tomasetti is included as a partner for the tower’s facade design.

Rendering by Conica/courtesy of Marlon Blackwell Architects render courtesy of Conica

Construction will progress along a two-year timeline to the early spring of 2027 following the $11.5 million project’s groundbreaking in early 2025.

Rendering by Conica/courtesy of Marlon Blackwell Architects

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Marlon Blackwell to design new air traffic control tower for Columbus Municipal Airport in Indiana

2023-12-19T14:09:00-05:00

Marlon Blackwell Architects has announced it will be designing a new air traffic control tower at the Columbus Municipal Airport in Columbus, Indiana. The $11.5 million project helps the airport modernize its facilities in line with current Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Control Tower design and safety standards.

Plans call for a 100-foot design to replace an aged-out 80-foot tower with help from a team that includes Woolpert (aviation design), Guy Nordenson (structural design), Thornton Tomasetti (façade design), and Threshold Acoustics (acoustic consulting). The project is being supported, in part, by a grant from the Cummins Architecture Foundation.

Marlon Blackwell was selected over other shortlisted finalists from Snow Kreilich Architects, SO – IL, and Höweler + Yoon.

“We are so honored to have been selected to contribute to the architectural legacy of Columbus,” Blackwell sa...

FAA selects PAU to deliver new air-traffic control tower prototypes

2023-04-20T17:42:00-04:00

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced its selection of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) for a new sustainable air-traffic control tower prototype that will initially deliver 31 highly-adaptable facilities at small regional and municipal airports throughout the United States.

The projects, funded in part through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, were selected against the agency’s strict requirements to minimize environmental impact while reducing operational costs and the price of construction.

Image courtesy PAU

Construction will vary in height between 63 and 119 feet and include elements such as all-electric building systems, thermal efficient facades, mass timber, and recycled steel and metal products. The new generation of towers will replace I.M. Pei’s iconic mid-century variation on the typology and will include interior spaces tailored to the well-being of air traffic control workers.

Image courtesy PAU

Geothermal heating and cooling techniques a...

Foster + Partners-designed Tulip tower may impact London's air traffic control systems

2018-12-03T13:44:00-05:00

Gondalas designed to move up and down the top of the Tulip tower are at risk of confusing air traffic control systems, according to technical experts at London City airport. Construction on the 305-metre (1,000ft) tower must not go ahead until an assessment has been carried out into its potential impact on radar systems at the airport six miles to the east, officials told the authority considering whether to grant planning permission.

After its big reveal in November, planning for the 1,000-foot-tall The Tulip observation tower by Foster + Partners has been halted by officials to study the impact the attraction's moving glass spheres high up in the sky will have on radar systems at the nearby London City airport, pointing out that "the gondalas will be moving and therefore may have a slightly different effect than a static element of the building."

Credit: DBOX for Foster + Partners

Nasa and Verizon to partner to monitor drones in the US

2015-06-03T13:43:00-04:00

Verizon, the US’s largest wireless telecom company, is developing technology with Nasa to direct and monitor America’s growing fleet of civilian and commercial drones from its network of phone towers. According to documents obtained by the Guardian, Verizon signed an agreement last year with Nasa “to jointly explore whether cell towers … could support communications and surveillance of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) at low altitudes”.

Currently, the Federal Aviation Authority doesn't have recourse to adequate resources or personnel to monitor rapidly-increasing drone traffic. Nasa's new unmanned aircraft traffic management system hopes to be able to enable "safe low-altitude drone flights" soon. By partnering with Verizon, they would be able to take advantage of the nation's largest provider of cellphone service. As Missy Cummings, professor of aeronautics at Duke University states, "We can already track phones like crazy...[so the plan is] a nice alternative to saturating an already broken air traffic control system.”

Sadar+Vuga’s Air Traffic Control Center (ATCC) in Slovenia continues to gain recognition

2013-12-16T14:11:00-05:00

Things have been looking up for Sadar+Vuga's Air Traffic Control Center at Airport Ljubljana in Slovenia. Since the ATCC officially opened in May 2013, it has picked up some awards throughout the year including: the Iconic Award 2013 from the German Design Coucil and the Golden Pencil 2013, which acknowledges excellent realization in the architecture field. Most recently, the ATCC was nominated for the Piranesi Award 2013.

See more of the project on Bustler.