T E C H N O L O G Y D R O N E
Above: The Alton Great Streets project, located in the St. Louis region, employed drone technology during the pandemic to build 3-D models and quickly iterate and visualize alternative plans for virtual public workshops (image courtesy of Design Workshop).
A NEW WAY TO MEASURE:
Bringing Drone Technology to Landscape Architecture B y M i ria m A nte lis
W
ith the help of NC State’s Institute for Transportation, Research and Education (ITRE), Emily McCoy, associate professor of practice in landscape architecture and environmental planning, has been flying drones across campus for the past five years. But she’s capturing more than the beauty of the landscape. 4
| N C State Universit y College of Design
| design.ncsu.edu
McCoy and the students in her landscape performance class have been using tools such as drones with thermal cameras to evaluate how different landscapes across campus perform from a sustainability standpoint. McCoy’s resources were much more limited when she started teaching the class in 2015, with she and her students measuring the temperatures of