VTOL Airdeck

Airlander - Charing Cross Station - London

  • Exhibited at the Imagination designed Ford Journey Zone, Millennium Dome, London 2000
  • Engineer: Jane Wernick

Description:

Airlander 1999 is a 400 metre experimental mixed use tower. Dense urban fabric is absorbed vertically to form a modularised systematic vertical urbanism. At the buildings mid-drift, a 200 metre radius  detached ‘Saturn Ring’ provides the notion of city overlaying with integrated skygardens. This concept is repeated at the top in the form of a VTOL (Vertical Take Off & Landing) airdeck that extends further into urban territory and expels air links to other destinations and air tourism.
A unique distinctive tapering profile which is now almost commonplace, reduces building mass, base footprint and emulates the sensual idea of a sail leaning towards the river.

 

Technology:

  • Modified fibre-optic aircraft ‘Fly-by-light’ system for integral sensory and nervous system.
  • Active self-diagnostic and fault diagnostic technology for health and structural monitoring.
  • Hydrogen Fuel Cells
  • Contratherm syntactic phenolic foam fire protection.
  • Anti-sway tuned mass damper
  • Future ‘memory recall’ and ‘artificial intelligence’ integration - Building becomes ‘instinctive’ and ‘vocally communicative’.