VoloPort, the world's first Vertiport prototype for electrically powered air taxis, has been awarded Gold in the 2020 German Innovation Award. VoloPort was conceived and designed by Brandlab for Volocopter and Skyports.
"Electrically operated air taxis are considered a very promising solution when it comes to reducing the burden on urban traffic flows," German Innovation Award jury stated. "The design of the VoloPort looks futuristically modern, pleasantly open and underscores the progressive aspiration of the topic. At the same time, the design suggests a high degree of quality and security with an exclusive lounge style. The VoloPort is an essential component of the revolutionary air taxi system as a landing, starting, and maintenance station and was designed with impressive form and function."
A flexible landing infrastructure of so-called vertiports is of critical importance for the success of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) in general, and particularly for the operation of air taxis in congested cities. "The teams of Brandlab, Volocopter and Skyports have made history with the VoloPort," commented Linda Stannieder, Project Lead Brandlab. "The realization of the world's first vertiport in a megacity describes the first important step for the future of new inner-city transport systems. With the first prototype, a customer journey was tested for the first time to enable passengers in cities worldwide to fly in air taxis."
After Brandlab won the international pitch for infrastructure design in collaboration with GRAFT Architects and Arup, the first prototype of a vertiport for eVTOLs, electrically powered air taxis, was presented at 2019 ITS World Congress in Singapore. Based on the actual building, processes, interfaces and user scenarios were tested and optimized to prepare the start of a worldwide rollout.
Photography: Nikolay Kazakov