Design of the drop-off-pick-up zones in buildings: the case of private transportation at the female university of Riyadh

Abstract

The design of the building that is going to hold the operations to pick-up the female students by private vehicles when classes are finished is presented for an Arabian university. The premises have been designed to maximize the capacity of the parking arrangement and maintain a constant and quick flow of vehicles within complex sociological constraints. Architects, traffic engineers and simulation specialists have concurrently designed a building that has to give service to 4500 vehicles within 1 h. The solution is based on three pillars: just-in-time, to simplify the tasks and laminate the demand so the flow rates are evenly distributed; information technologies, to maximize the probability of the students being ready when the corresponding vehicle arrives; and discrete-event simulation to abstract the complex procedures in a realistic, dynamic way and to visualize the movement so as to transmit credibility on the selected design to all the parties involved.

Keywords:

• simulation
• logistics
• architecture
• traffic