CC3001

CASEstudy
runs of the first driverless smart vehicle
that can accommodate up to 10
passengers. This is part and parcel of
the Dubai Government's aim to provide
innovative services using other emerging
technologies, such as 3D printing,
driverless cars and robotics, and to
enhance the status of Dubai as a
pioneer in providing futuristic solutions
for all sectors.
Hyperloop One is the premier sponsor
of the Build Earth Live contest for the
Dubai Future Foundation, alongside
global design software developer,
Vectorworks Inc. The organisation's
Founding Board Member, Peter H.
Diamandis, who is also the CEO of XPrize
Foundation said "Dubai has been a
leader in working to shape the future of
transportation and this event presents an
incredible opportunity to work with the
best and brightest minds to come up with
solutions that will benefit not only the
region, but the entire world."
The fact that there is a real chance that it
will be built in the near future is quite
exciting - and, should it prove successful,
the Dubai project will just be the first of a
rapid global expansion of the technology.
Hence the interest in designing and
building the infrastructure to support it. A
high-level design brief was released to all
potential participants, together with
details of the event and the introduction of
the final projects, and the contest will be
judged by a committee of global experts.
ABOUT BUILD EARTH LIVE
The Station design for a super-speed
Hyperloop terminal was the latest event
challenge in the annual Build Earth Live
series. Design teams from around the
world where given just 48 hours to
collaborate using BIM and to come up
with a design to meet the brief: to design
a Hyperloop station terminal within the
context of the two great global cities;
Dubai and Fujairah.
This was the eighth collaborative BIM
competition hosted by Build Earth Live to
raise awareness of cloud-based working,
international developments in
interoperability and enhance public
access to the design process. The teambased
competition, like earlier Build Live
Earth events, was developed to bring
together architects, engineers and other
collaborators from around the world
during and after working hours. Teams
were free to exploit any interoperable
technology and to update a public
collaboration site where visitors could
observe and comment on the
collaborative process.
The event concluded with presentations
to the press and awards announced by
an expert panel. Award winners gained
recognition as leaders in their field and
masters of collaborative technologies.
MOBIUS TRIP
Build Earth Live Hyperloop attracted 250
registrations from 29 different countries,
over 1 miliion views on its hashtag and
130,000 interactions on Twitter. The
registrations were narrowed down to just
7 finalists, with Team Mobius from France
crowned overall winners for their elegant,
innovative design.
It was not just the design that earned
Mobius the prize - the team was ranked
first after the panel evaluated the projects
from technical and economic
perspectives, as well as their ability to
reinvent transportation for passengers
and cargo alike. The panel also evaluated
safety and security, efficiency and
sustainability.
We are approaching a new era of
profound transport change - potentially
as significant as the transition from
horses to the horseless carriage - and the
ramifications that it will have for the
design of cities and their infrastructure is
awe-inspiring. But we must always keep
in mind the 'soft centres' of modes of
transport like the Hyperloop - namely the
passengers.
Will the passengers in the Hyperloop
Pods of the future demand a toilet in each
capsule and window seats and
refreshments on longer trips? A fine
balance will also have to be struck
between point-to-point journeys and
intermediate stops, taking into account
the extensive acceleration and braking
that each stop will incur.
Another point. The technology is not
exactly new. Vacuum and capsule
technology is over a hundred years old,
and is still in use today. Department
stores used them to flash money and
invoices up to the accounts department,
to return in a few minutes with the change
and the invoice, and hospitals still use
them to send blood tests, for example,
from the Coronary Care Unit to the path
lab for an equally rapid turnaround. The
design has not changed one iota.
You could argue that vacuum and
capsule technology has proved its value
as a simple, reliable and thoroughly
tested transportation system for over a
century. Now we just need to incorporate
the human element!
www.asite.com
January/February 2017 27