Los Angeles, California, USA

 “When we think about designing the future of cities, we put human experience at the center,” states Tim Hudson, Aviation Leader, Gensler.

“The vision of aerial ridesharing is a bold one that promises to shift the way people experience cities—and one that will be a reality much sooner than most people think.” 

Led by Tim Hudson and his design team, Gensler’s CitySpace concept for the Skyport Mobility Hub is tomorrow’s mobility, today. 

The team has created two concepts that share a common kit of parts: a retrofit to existing buildings and a bespoke ground-up solution. 

CitySpace is a community destination and connection point that welcomes people at the beginning or end of their journey, while dramatically reducing parking impact on the city. 

This design solution becomes a pivotal piece of the urban fabric, binding the neighborhood together with a central place to shop, dine, and engage while reducing congestion across the city.

As traffic congestion and time lost in commute reach record highs, society is fast approaching a turning point in urban mobility. 

With the entry of autonomous vehicles, the reliance on cars will diminish rapidly. 

Aerial rideshare promises to be the catalyst that redefines how people move about and experience urban environments.

Skyport Mobility Hubs will also play a vital role in how people experience a city. 

They’ll change the way we navigate, explore, and connect to each other and the urban environment. 

Skyports will become the community center that binds diverse communities together, while also linking together diverse modes of mobility. 

These focal points will be an unprecedented orchestration of movement and modality.

CitySpace will provide an efficient, modular, and scalable solution.

 Gensler’s design establishes a kit of parts with four key components—the FATO, Elevators, Boarding Area, and Sound Baffles, that can be easily applied to retrofit a parking structure or a bespoke (ground-up) solution to fit its urban environment. 

These consistent design elements create brand focus and unity, as well as expedite the design and construction process. 

Each will facilitate a rapid rollout and minimize the effect on the local community and environment.

CitySpace will become the central access point for communities. 

The passenger can arrive on e-bikes, e-scooters, public transit, traditional ride sharing vehicles, (or later) autonomous vehicles, then dock or charge their electrical mode, and explore the Concessions Village at the station level. 

Art sourced from regional artists, health and wellness, dining, retail, and other community center offerings binds a diverse community together as the literal and metaphoric hub of a city.

When they’re ready for their aerial rideshare, passengers will ascend through a glass elevator, a manifestation of the vertical movement occurring at the Skyport Mobility Hub. 

The glass enclosure puts vertical movement on display and provides those inside the elevators a dynamic vantage point to see the eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing) vehicles as they circle the Mobility Hub.

eVTOL pathways will stream across the sky like spokes of a wheel. Arriving at their next hub in minutes, passengers will again feed into traditional ride sharing vehicles, e-bikes, e-scooters and public transit that will make up the last mile of a passenger’s journey. 

The Skyport Mobility Hub connects these modes of transportation to and from the aerial ride share, reducing the need for personal vehicles.

With the swipe of a finger and the simple navigation of an already-familiar app, the Skyport Mobility Hub will unify various lines of travel to create a truly streamlined transport experience. 

Commute times will be reduced to minutes. People won’t need private vehicles as much, which will return valuable land back to dense urban communities. 

Gensler’s Skyport Mobility Hub will go beyond making cities more accessible. 

They will make cities more livable.

People won’t need private vehicles as much, which will return valuable land back to dense urban communities. 

Gensler’s Skyport Mobility Hub will go beyond making cities more accessible. 

They will make cities more livable.

 Project: CitySpace Mobility Hub 
Architects: Gensler
Lead Architect: Tim Hudson
Client: Uber Technologies, Inc.