The Delivery City

Related Staff : Andrea Pinochet, Joshua Bolchover

Student: Mak Chi Hong

Thesis Abstract

The thesis seeks to explore the value of airspace through architectural interventions based on the future drone delivery system in an urban context.

The development of e-commerce causes heavy load on the delivery system, which mainly relies on lorry and manpower to fulfill the online shopping orders. In the coming decades, pilotless technology could take over the delivery works and become the urban infrastructure to connect households in a timeless way. To facilitate the drone navigation, the design of architecture should respond to the technological advancement by creating a relationship between architecture and airspace. The project is going to design an Air Delivery Centre in Kwun Tong that provides functions such as sorting, packing and storage of goods and droneport. Different from the traditional warehouses, the Air Delivery Centre would focus on vertical footprint to provide sufficient airspace for the drone circulation. The design is going to define the airspace as internal and external which would be shaped by architecture to enable the logistics of air delivery. Subsequently, the design makes use of the unmanned aerial vehicle to explore the new architectural typologies.