This research explores how architectural design can support the integration of vertiports—key nodes in the emerging Innovative Air Mobility (IAM) network—within the existing urban environment. Addressing the spatial complexity and vertical layering introduced by this new infrastructure, the study develops and tests three design strategies: ecological interplay, adaptive reuse, and hybridization.
The architectural design is used as a method of inquiry. Through acts as addition, subtraction, and the insertion of new volumes and boundaries, the study works on the definition of spatial prototypes that inquire how vertiports can be integrated in different urban contexts. Three sites in Milan—a former slaughterhouse, an underutilized regional airport, and a multimodal transportation hub—serve as test grounds. Each location presents specific physical and programmatic constraints, which are explored through layered temporal scenarios (short, medium, and long term). The purpose is to test how architectural interventions can adapt to different configurations, scales, and programs.
This design experimentation allows a critical evaluation of the multi-scalar impacts of vertiport integration. At the architectural scale, it explores how vertiports articulate new spatial thresholds. At the urban scale, it examines how they repurpose obsolete or residual space. At the territorial and ecological scales, it assesses their interaction with mobility flows and environmental systems.
Rather than treating vertiports as isolated technological artifacts, the research frames them as infrastructures with relations to the layered structure of the city. The project moves away from predefined solutions toward a design process that responds to specific urban conditions and evolving needs. In doing so, it contributes to a broader discourse on how aerial mobility can reshape architecture’s urban role.
Bibliography
- Holden, J., & Goel, N. (2016). Fast-Forwarding to a Future of On-Demand Urban Air Transportation [White paper]. Uber Elevate.
- Khosravi, H., Kuzniecow Bacchin, T., & LaFleur F. (Eds.). (2019). Aesthetics and Politics of Logistics. Humboldt Books.
- Vöckler, K., & Eckart, P. (2023). Mobility Design: Shaping Future Mobility. Volume 1: Practice. JOVIS.
