Newtecnic design engineers.
cess — with high-resolution images — than is available using cradles because it allows rapid and detailed inspection from the comfort of an office rather than an exposed, frightening, and potentially hazardous top-slung cradle. The KAFD Metro Hub has been designed so that inspection, moni- toring, and precise measurement of normally concealed areas behind panels and within the completed building’s fabric are executed by small flying LiDAR- and camera-equipped drones and robots. High- resolution building and system performance data collected this way can be shared with, and coupled to, onsite construction labs equipped with 3D printers that fabricate components that perfectly fit the struc- ture. Other projects around the world that the company is engineering are planned to deploy construction labs from the earliest stages of construction. In this way, mid-20th century methods and devices of mass-production are being replaced by new automated, flexible, highly controllable and adaptable sets of tools efficiently operated at a local level. Economic boost This way of working is a boost to the economy of the country or region where the building stands. It reduces imports, generates local employ- ment and up-skilling, and cuts the environmental and financial costs of transportation. Also, rather than building a single-purpose DfMA
Work station KAFD Metro Hub’s 200-meter footprint is located in an increasingly busy, densely occupied, and prestige urban area. Because it is at the heart of a citywide transport system comprising six new metro lines, 85 stations, and more than 100 miles of track, future maintenance of, and changes to, the structure that necessitate interruption to rail ser- vices are undesirable. Since the building’s envelope is wide and low, crane access after completion will prove inconvenient, disruptive, and expensive. Also, because the building is a centerpiece of the city and it has been designed for a life of at least 60 years, the issues of automated cleaning, maintaining, and updating the building during this period have been central considerations since the project’s outset. The Metro Hub’s envelope comprises a modular cassette system that uses adjustable steel “spider” fixings to support high-performance concrete panels over a waterproof membrane. The system has been engineered to make it suitable for future robot access, movement, and operation. This means that robots referencing the building’s 3D cloud- hosted digital-twin, in conjunction with GPS, can calculate routes and locations on the building façade. While robots will literally do the heavy lifting, replacing and carrying away damaged components, airborne drones can be used for inspection and cleaning. This provides significantly better and safer close-up ac-
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july 2018
csengineermag.com
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