Gold Winner of the International Architecture & Design Awards 2023

SUNGLIDER Smart Uberground Metro

Architecture – Transportation – Concept

Professional Category

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Architect / Designer:

Peter Kuczia (Lead Designer) & Team

Studio:

SUNGLIDER AG

Design Team:

Team Osnabrück: Dr. Dieter Otten | Uli Hartwig | Dr. Peter Kuczia | Peter Böcker | Christian Ambros | Niklas Schemmer | Heiner Gerbracht | Lea Mor | Oliver Kubut
Team Warsaw: Dr. Ewelina Gawell | Mariusz Wrona | Maria Yanczuk | Amr Waly | Agnieszka Wardzinska | Jakub Kozlik | Wiktoria Gorzelewska | Aleksa Stepniewska | Piotr Banasiak | Graphic Designer: Bartek Witkowski

Copyright:

SUNGLIDER AG

Country:

Germany

The Sunglider Smart Uberground Metro is about re-inventing public transport in the age of decarbonisation and climate resilience. Some experienced volunteer enthusiasts from universities in Osnabrück (D) and Warsaw (PL) want to make cars obsolete in their community by conquering the +1 level with identical autonomous people movers, express goods movers and small autonomous buses to serve the last mile on the ground. The metro is to be powered 100% by self-generated solar energy collected by special PV modules on the “roof” of the metro track. The Sunglider is designed to connect the city centre, towns and cities of »Greater Osnabrück«, the paradigm area, on 14 radial and two annular lines, one of them encircling the historic centre. The overhead railway system and power station is designed with tree-like pylons, treetop-like roofs and wooden stops. All made of glulam, locally recycled and manufactured. The architecture is an iconic urban construction creating completely new urban sensations. The PV capacity on the roof is 250 MW; enough to generate 117% of the electricity the Metro requires, saving 300.000t CO2 p.a.. All Metro vehicles are »offsprings« of former Local Motors Olli to avoid expensive prototyping and to save the valuable experiences of this lighthouse-project. All vehicles are 3 D-printed in local micro-factories with 100% recyclable organic composite materials. The wheel set is a roller-coaster transfer to make the vehicles fast and ultra silent. The vehicles get power through induction. The Sunglider is supposed to reduce car traffic by 60 % – if not completely. Mainly because the Metro has a wait-free service controlled by AI (a glider arrives every 5 Min, day and night just in time) and it is free of charge; the main two arguments why people will leave their cars at home. Sunglider’s economy reduces the investment drastically and cuts O&M costs of public transport. This is offset by unique opportunities: selling huge surplus power, trading CO2 certificates, leasing cargo services. Sunglider disrupts the expensive and backward Public Transport. That’s why Sunglider is free of charge, still making a profit!

The Sunglider Smart Uberground Metro is about re-inventing public transport in the age of decarbonisation and climate resilience. Some experienced volunteer enthusiasts from universities in Osnabrück (D) and Warsaw (PL) want to make cars obsolete in their community by conquering the +1 level with identical autonomous people movers, express goods movers and small autonomous buses to serve the last mile on the ground. The metro is to be powered 100% by self-generated solar energy collected by special PV modules on the “roof” of the metro track. The Sunglider is designed to connect the city centre, towns and cities of »Greater Osnabrück«, the paradigm area, on 14 radial and two annular lines, one of them encircling the historic centre. The overhead railway system and power station is designed with tree-like pylons, treetop-like roofs and wooden stops. All made of glulam, locally recycled and manufactured. The architecture is an iconic urban construction creating completely new urban sensations. The PV capacity on the roof is 250 MW; enough to generate 117% of the electricity the Metro requires, saving 300.000t CO2 p.a.. All Metro vehicles are »offsprings« of former Local Motors Olli to avoid expensive prototyping and to save the valuable experiences of this lighthouse-project. All vehicles are 3 D-printed in local micro-factories with 100% recyclable organic composite materials. The wheel set is a roller-coaster transfer to make the vehicles fast and ultra silent. The vehicles get power through induction. The Sunglider is supposed to reduce car traffic by 60 % – if not completely. Mainly because the Metro has a wait-free service controlled by AI (a glider arrives every 5 Min, day and night just in time) and it is free of charge; the main two arguments why people will leave their cars at home. Sunglider’s economy reduces the investment drastically and cuts O&M costs of public transport. This is offset by unique opportunities: selling huge surplus power, trading CO2 certificates, leasing cargo services. Sunglider disrupts the expensive and backward Public Transport. That’s why Sunglider is free of charge, still making a profit!

SUNGLIDER AG

SUN GLIDER AG is a startup founded in August 2018, consisting of an international team of enthusiasts. It intends to develop a forward-looking and disruptive technical and entrepreneurial concept to implement the highly innovative Sunglider idea of a Smart Uberground Metro.