This year, Unitsky String Technologies, Inc. will be exhibiting at the global Expo 2020 in Dubai, where it plans to present a 1:35 scale mock-up of a linear city. The work on this model is revealed by experts at «Universal Mobility» (UNIMO). We are sharing the highlights from the story.
The work on the mock-up design began in 2019. Several companies were involved in the project. For example, the team of «SV Plant» designed and produced the track structures, transport models, electrics, lighting and assembled the mock-up on the spot. The staff from the architectural bureau «String Technologies» were also engaged.
In its turn, «Universal Mobility» was responsible for the overall visual concept and design development of the project. It was the company’s specialists who decided to place the linear city in decorative dunes, to emphasize the natural features of the UAE. Maxim Kostechko, design engineer, comments on the result:
«The base of the mock-up is a sectional aluminium frame, on which there are placed the blocks of non-flammable plywood. This material was specially commissioned, as it met the special requirements for fire resistance, durability and environmental friendliness of the structures at the Dubai World Expo. Each sheet of plywood was cut to an individual sketch, and when joined together, several hundred sheets form the silhouette of a sand dune».
A sketch of the future mock-up
Another project participant, designer Pavel Amelishko, explains that the layout is equipped with a control system based on programmable controllers, which is responsible for moving the rolling stock between the two buildings. According to Amelishko, the system is highly reliable:
«The models were subjected to round-the-clock fault tolerance tests for several months, covering a combined total of more than a hundred kilometres of track».
You can watch the operation of the mock-up’s electronic and moving elements in the video:
The base of the mock-up has another function besides being decorative. The dunes have integrated seating that visitors to the exhibition can use. Besides, the «Universal Mobility» specialists paid great attention to detailing of the mock-up. To achieve that, there were 3D-printed models of people and over 700 trees and bushes made from natural moss and juniper.
The final mock-up was quite large: 12- metre long, 2.5-metre wide and 3-metre high, and its total weight was 3 tons. That is why the specialists of «Universal Mobility» designed a collapsible exhibition object. That makes it easy to transport the model despite its size.
The mock-up disassembly scheme
It took about a year to develop the mock-up in total. Because of the postponement of the Expo to 2021, the project participants were given extra time for refinement and testing. The mock-up is now installed in the EcoHouse at the UST Centre, Inc. in Sharjah.