Uber CONNECT | EVOLVED

Imagine soaring above traffic—arriving to your office or airport in a matter of minutes. The future of urban air mobility is closer than you think. CONNECT | EVOLVED is Corgan’s new concept for an Uber Air Skyport that creates the infrastructure to enable speed to market with a scalable, connected, and sustainable design that changes how we travel so we can focus on why we travel.

STEP INTO CONNECT | EVOLVED

“In prioritizing feasibility, Corgan saw that mass adoption of this emerging modality would require evolving traditional notions of connectivity,” said John Trupiano. “A scalable design that seamlessly integrates with existing infrastructure and considers its environmental impact, CONNECT | EVOLVED is comprised of a kit of parts that can be customized for a variety of budgets and locations—adding popular amenities and creating a lifestyle of aerial mobility and connectivity.”

A gateway and meeting point for the community, the Connection Plaza contains amenities including retail and restaurants, hosts cultural and art events, connects to last mile transportation services with bike and scooter charging stations, and has parks and fountains to provide an asset to the surrounding neighborhood. Meanwhile, the Uber Lobby is the first touchpoint between the passenger and UberAir. There, reception services help passengers customize their experience while biometric ticket and security validation clear passengers in under one minute before they ascend to the Quick Queue Lounge on the elevated Flight Deck.

Above, on the elevated Flight Deck, eVTOLs are in constant, fluid motion during peak hours with the potential for 25 takeoffs and 25 landings every hour—totaling over 200 passengers per hour.

Scalable and Operationally Feasible

CONNECT | EVOLVED is a practical system of modular, customizable components to be built according to the demands for urban air mobility, needs of the site, and development budget. As demand grows, the modular design can be expanded with additional landing and parking pads or amenities with minimal additional development. The flexible Flight Deck is compatible with several eVTOLs on the market and can adapt to advancements in the evolution of eVTOL flight. The kit of parts design also provides elements for customized integration into the community—a mix of restaurants, grocery, sport courts, and facilities for local entrepreneurship and sustainable features including a solar skin, flooring to harness kinetic energy, and heliostats that harvest and redirect sunlight under highways and Flight Deck.

Convenient

Uber has mastered an intuitive user experience as an on-demand transportation service. Located within walking distance from nearby light rail, bus, and planned high speed rail station, Corgan’s design extends that intuitive user experience to the air for passengers, pedestrians, and drivers alike. Dedicated vehicular and pedestrian networks increase safety and ease of navigation while parking and charging stations are located below grade, in Quick Charge Lobbies, or on higher levels adding convenience for daily commuters and visitors as well as the facilities needed to support Uber’s autonomous ground vehicle fleet and UberEats delivery services. For those making connections via Uber’s electric on-demand JUMP bikes and scooters, playful landscape forms keep these popular amenities upright and conveniently located while an onsite bike operations facility charges and repairs the bikes and scooters to consistently offer a fully-charged fleet ready for use. On the second level, The Greenlight Hub supports drivers and future pilots while also serving as a resource for one-on-one in-person support for help with the Uber app.

Connected

Designed to integrate into existing highway networks, Corgan’s concept not only mitigates noise by taking advantage of existing noise corridors, but also repurposes these familiar, underutilized frameworks as community serving assets. Activating the areas around and underneath highways, the design connects communities with a light-filled amenity-rich landmark with last mile ground connections, bike/scooter stations, restaurants, retail, coworking and entrepreneurial makerspaces, and Greenlight Hubs to support Uber employees. Where highways and railroads have previously divided communities, CONNECT | EVOLVED stitches together the urban fabric with a lasting community asset throughout the day and for multiple lifestyles.

Sustainable

The design utilizes innovative water management systems, air purification methods and on-site energy generation. Energy-use technologies include a “solar skin” and technology in the floors to harness kinetic energy of visitors. Publicly accessible greenspaces including parks, playgrounds and urban farms also reduce the heat island effect in cities. Injecting light under highways and Flight Deck, an array of heliostat solar collectors reflect light below during the day and harvest sunlight to create soft, ambient illumination during the evening.

DFW Location/Site Selection

Corgan selected sites for their design in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, a primary launch market for Uber Air. As with many metropolitan areas, Dallas and its surrounding suburbs experience daily population fluctuations due to commuters and visitors moving between downtown and the suburbs. Downtown Dallas, bound by a series of highway barriers, has an opportunity to not only connect tourists but also neighbors and residents that were formerly separated by dividing, intrusive infrastructure.

Navigating the multi-layered third dimension of urban air mobility changes the function and expectations of our daily commutes, requiring the Skyport and emerging typology to support a cohesive relationship between the human, the eVTOL, and the urban fabric. Most importantly, it addresses the greater needs of the surrounding communities, striking a balance between benefits and disturbances to become a true neighborhood amenity—adding a new value perspective to our existing infrastructure and reconnecting our communities.

For a closer look, take a look at Corgan’s 360 tour and the 2019 Uber Elevate Publication that Corgan's John Trupiano presented at the Uber Elevate Summit on June 12, 2019 in Washington, DC.

Special thanks to our partners in designing the future of urban air mobility by 2030: Austin Commercial, Kimley-Horn, and WSP Global.