Title: Tyndall Air Force Base Drone Facility
Location of Proejct: Panama City, FL
Project Completion Date: May 2021
Firm Name:

Short Description: This design proposal is for a Subscale Drone Facility on the Tyndall Airforce Base, located in Panama City, FL. The base was completed destroyed by hurricane Michael in 2018. Since then, the Air Force has been putting together a strategic plan for reconstructing the base. Our challenge for this project was to choose a specific building/program from their master plan to design using primarily mass timber. We took this a step further in aiming to push the limits of mass timber design and explore innovative ways of working with Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) panels.

Architect's Statement: The site of this Subscale Drone Facility for the Tyndall Air Force is located several miles off the main base. For this reason, one of our primary goals for this project was to design a self-sustaining building: one that could fully support both the drones and staff members with minimal outsourcing. Additionally, it was important to us to design for the scale of both the drones and humans, create a building that is resistant to natural forces, and explore new ways of working with mass timber. With these goals in mind, we focused on 3 main design concepts: Richard Senate’s borders and boundaries, inputs and outputs through the building and site, and, what we are referring to as a “broken membrane” that splits the building.

The design revolves heavily around three main AIA COTE 10 measures: Change, Wellness, and Resources. Some of the big moments where we strived to showcase these measures are in the adaptability and resiliency of a fully mass timber building (Change), a thoughtfully designed staff bar that hovers above the drone bays, designed to fully promote occupant health and well-being (Wellness), and the integration of additive manufacturing not only within the drones, but in the connection points and construction of the building itself (Resources).

The building is broken down into 6 distinct zones separated by function. The drone bays make up the central portion of the building, while the ECM Pod Shop, Chute Shop, Maintenance Shop, and Admin spaces are located in the 4 quadrants surrounding the drones. As mentioned previously, the staff zone hovers above the drone bays and makes up the second level of the facility. Here, in addition to the original program components provided by the Air Force, we are also adding a fitness center, lounge, café, and rock-climbing wall – all with the intent of promoting occupant health and well-being and providing a “get-away” space for staff members. The bar itself is essentially a large glulam bridge truss system, which will be supported on either end by 9-PLY Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) walls and have a 5-PLY timber/concrete composite floor slab.

Arguably the most notable design feature of this facility – the folded CLT panels that make up the roof structure – were implemented for several reason, not least of which is to provide shear strength and lateral stiffness needed to withstand strong winds and potential hurricanes that are common in this area. These CLT panels not only connect the glulam trusses, but also support the roof. They are selectively placed only where needed to maximize the strength and durability of the structure. Aesthetically, CLT generally gives off a heavy impression, so our goal here was to attribute a more lightweight character to the material while, at the same time, maximizing its strength.

Adaptability and resiliency were important factors for us as we were working through this design. We strived to create a building flexible enough to anticipate the future, but durable enough survive the present. While the folded CLT structure aims to satisfy the later, we also put a lot of thought into the CLT panel connections and configuration. In determining the most efficient layout, we ultimately decided to design the entire building as individual modules that could be added on to in the future. As such, the entire building (with the exception of the staff bar) is comprised of one module repeated 8 times throughout. The panel configuration itself is meant to enhance resiliency, while the easily repeated modules promote adaptability and future growth.

In aligning with our original goals and COTE 10 measures, we utilized Tally, an environmental assessment tool, to study the impact that the use of timber had in our design. We compared this to steel: a much more typical building material for a project of this scope. Modeling the same building using a steel structure, we were then able to compare the results between the two. In the Tally graphs, you can see the significant differences, specifically in global warming potential and renewable/nonrenewable energy for the two materials.

Though this design is specifically placed on Tyndall Air Force Base, we wanted to emphasize the underlying idea of the prototype, which is strongly ingrained in the building’s DNA. The repeated modular design and hybrid timber structure allow for flexibility in program size that can be tailored to specific needs. This innovative way of working with mass timber leverages the strength and durability of the CLT panels, while also selectively placing them only where needed to achieve this shear strength and lateral stiffness. We could see this design being adapted to an array of climates in air force base locations around the world.