Low visual impact
This slender ULTra guideway forms part of ATS's Cardiff test track.
Minimization of visual intrusion was an intrinsic design goal for the ULTra system. By focusing on this from the start of the project, ATS has created a system featuring the slender guideway design - only 45cm (17in) deep (see guideway specifications) - seen in the photograph on the right.
This design ensures the guideway is providing a low impact profile in the most typical view, from the side, and it is of lightweight construction due to the low overall loading requirement; British Standard for a footpath is 5kN/m2, ULTra loading is only 2.2kN/m2.
This low loading requirement is possible because the guideway is designed to meet requirements for a PRT system, and not those set out in design codes for footbridges and similar structures. Recognition of the fact that the elevated structure does not need to meet design cases for pedestrian crush loads enables a lighter, lower cost and visually more attractive design to be offered, and also allows ULTra vehicles to run on existing building floors without significant strengthening or modification.
ATS believe that the system can provide an interesting dynamic addition to the aesthetics of many different environments, for example by drawing parallels with recent building designs which exploit the visual dynamic of the elevators.
The addition of a new transport infrastructure in any application will have some level of visual impact; the ULTra system has been designed to minimise this impact as far as possible.
Visualisation of an ULTra system in an office park environment.
Visualisation of an ULTra system running into an office building.
The two images shown above highlight how, when properly intergrated into its surrounding environment, an ULTra system can have little (or indeed a positive) visual impact. The two visualisations show an ULTra system in operation in an office park setting, both externally alongside the buildings, and even directly into them! The two images are stills from an animation giving an overview of the ULTra concept.
In 2003 ATS undertook a series of passenger trials at the company’s test site in Cardiff. An independent survey assessed their response, and concluded:
- “No respondent felt that the vehicle appearance was poor, indeed the majority thought the vehicles would look excellent. The visual appearance of the elevated structure was regarded generally as good, with 40.4% rating it excellent. It is especially noteworthy that the response to the elevated track gave a notably positive response, with no definitely negative responses and only 2.6% feeling that it could be difficult.”
The possibilities for further customizing the ULTra infrastructure has recently been explored as part of the ULTra study in Bath, where an international design competition run during the summer of 2009 allowed architects and design students from across the globe the chance to suggest alternative ideas for the ULTra system's visual appearance.
