Buildings Glaswegians would love to see ‘rebuilt’ with drone light technology

Last night Paul J Sweeney, Labour & Co-op MSP for Glasgow, tweeted an image of a drone light show which - asking Glaswegians which buildings they would like to see reconstructed using light and the power of modern technology.

Paul J Sweeney MSP (@PaulJSweeney) posed the question by retweeting an image of Whitby Abbey posted by Chris Dancy (@Chris Dancy) - a seventh century monastery which lies in a state of ruin, but had been restored using the power of drone light shows.

How do drone light shows work?

While the legitimacy of the picture has been called into question, it is possible that this could be done. Drone light shows are often used for just that - hundreds of synchronized and choreographed drones coming together in aerial formations to illustrate images, people, and concepts.

Almost any image can be recreated in the sky by a computer program that turns graphics into flight commands and communicates them to the drones.

Drone light shows were innovated by the Head of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. Vijay Kumar was one of the first to demonstrate such a concept was possible on a much larger and more public scale than previous experiments with drones.

In the last ten years, drone techonology has continued to advance and become more popular - with flying drone shows at massive events like the Super Bowl halftime show and the Winter Olympics.

The process for orchestrating hundreds of drones is surprisingly straightforward - first, the design team creates a storyboard timeline showing the desired images and effects.

These looks are then animated in a specialized piece of software that translates them into synchronized flight paths for each drone - for building reconstructions they would need to hover stationary, greatly simplifying the process.

Here’s the buildings Glaswegians want to see rebuilt with drone tech:

Dino’s

@McAvoyMick on Twitter said he’d love to see Dino’s make a comeback through the power of drones.

Dino’s on Sauchiehall Street was an institution in Glasgow, having been serving Italian food in the city centre for nearly 50 years.

It offered many Glaswegian’s their first taste of authentic Italian food and is missed sorely even now, nearly a decade later. That being said, the site is now operated by a Halifax branch so we’re not too sure how the drone lights would work in this case!

Queens Park UP Church

@GovanhillGo said he’d Queens Park UP Church restored to its former glory using drone lights.

Queen’s Park United Presbyterian Church on Langside Avenue was built by Alexander “Greek” Thomson in 1869 - it enjoyed a relatively short life before being destroyed by a German bomb dropped in March 1943.

The ruins were demolished - but we’d still love to see what this amazing building could have looked like in person.

Tait Tower

Former Glasgow Labour MSP @DrewSm1th wrote that he’d like to see an illustration of the Tait Tower.

The art deco Tower of Empire, also named Tait Tower after its architect, Thomas S. Tait, was Scotland’s tallest building when it was built for the 1938 Empire Exhibition held at Bellahouston Park. The tower had three observation decks and could be seen from more than 100 miles away. A temporary structure, it was demolished within a year.

We’d love to see the short-term tower make a temporary return in the form of a drone light show at Bellahouston Park.

Glasgow School of Art

Another twitter user, @morenorse, replied saying the Art School.

Glasgow School of Art has had a tough run of it over the last decade, facing two devastating fires. Designed by Glasgow’s own Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the iconic building has been left a husk following the last fire in 2018, and remains in the process of being fully rebuilt and refurbished.

Hopefully it won’t be much longer until refurbishment is complete - but in the meantime drone lights might just do the trick.

The Grand Hotel

One Twitter user @BotfieldColin said the Grand Hotel.

The Grand Hotel was an iconic feature of Charing Cross prior to its demolition to allow for the construction of the M8.

While a light show commemorating the building might be a little distracting to motorists - it’s certainly a building worth recreating in lights.