The Atelier d’Architecture Rivat is a French architecture studio based in Saint-Etienne and Paris, specialized in the design and renovation of high-performance buildings. Since late 2017, The firm has been using a Yuneec H520 drone since late 2017, allowing them to inspect the inaccessible or dangerous parts of a building. Additionally, they can perform thermographic analyzes and topographic surveys or design promotional videos.
Julien Rivat, architect and director of the Atelier d’Architecture Rivat, is one of many professionals convinced by this versatile drone. A large part of the team uses the H520 drone. “What we really appreciate about the H520 drone is the ability to interchange cameras between conventional and thermographic optics, as simple as a change of optics on a camera,” says Julien Rivat, a project manager and the communication manager. “In addition to this feature, the architecture of this six-rotor model provides an important safety dimension (…).”
The H520’s ease of flight, stability, and excellent image quality allows the Atelier d’Architecture Rivat to control hard-to-reach areas without compromising the safety of the workers. “On a construction site,” Julien Rivat highlights, “checking the number of anchor hooks supposed to have been installed by a roofing company allowed us to see that not all of them had been laid…This verification could not have been done as easily and quickly without the use of a drone.”
Combined with the CGOET thermal camera, the drone allows the possibility of examining the insulation of roofs and inaccessible façades. Julien Rivat believes that Yuneec offers a thermal camera with a good value for money, explaining, “It allows us to control thermal insulation on our passive buildings (…) and to check, for example, the chimney-to-roof junction”. “On passive buildings, we are at the epitome of the loss of energy. All the thermal bridges are treated, and the sealing defects are checked.”
Despite needing to provide flight training to his employees, and new requirements to submit flight plans in advance, Julien Rivat says it would be impossible to work without the H520.