Build the Future ALLPLAN Summit 2024

Last week, Nemetschek’s leading AEC technology brand, ALLPLAN, held a virtual event to provide an overview of its growing technology stack, which now includes the structural engineering solutions, SCIA Engineer and FRILO, in addition to its flagship BIM application, Allplan, the steel detailing and fabrication solution, SDS2, and the collaboration platform, Bimplus.

In addition to showcasing its products and their latest capabilities, the two-day event also included several examples of customer projects from around the world that have been implemented with ALLPLAN’s solutions. This article captures some of the highlights from the event, along with an overview of Nemetschek’s new dTwin solution for digital twins that was also presented.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2024/AllplanSummit2024.html

The Impact of Big Data and Other Emerging Technologies on the Construction Industry

The construction industry is on the cusp of a technological revolution, with big data and emerging technologies like blockchain, 3D printing, robotics, digital twins — and, of course, AI — poised to reshape the way buildings are designed, constructed, and operated. In this article, Don Jacob, Bluebeam co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, discusses how, by embracing these technologies and using the insights they provide, construction companies can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and deliver better outcomes for clients and communities alike.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/viewpoint/2024/issue_113.html

What’s New in Revit 2025

Revit expert Dan Stine provides a detailed overview of the new features in the just-released Revit 2025, including several toposolid enhancements for working with terrain models, improvements to work more easily with multiple materials, improved Project Browser search, a new Insights tab on the Home screen, more transparency and control over local storage, enhanced operating schedules and updated gbXML support for sustainable design, and many more.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/review/2024/Revit2025.html

DNM Architecture: Firm Profile

David Marlatt, Founder and Principal of DNM Architecture, shares his firm’s perspective on AEC technology, including how it has been shaped by his long stint at Graphisoft where he rose to become the President of Graphisoft’s US office before returning to architectural practice.

Given my background in the AEC technology industry, and specifically with ArchiCAD, there was never a moment that we did not employ AEC tools. A founding principle of the firm is that a client’s project is ‘built’ on a computer before it is built in reality. We use ArchiCAD today from initial concept development to final construction drawings. We are never not working in 3D and sharing our progress through BIMx files, renderings, and PDF.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/profile/2024/FirmProfile-DNM-Architecture.html

Sova3D Platform for City Information Modeling

This article provides an overview of the Sova3D CIM (City Information Modeling) platform, which has not only been in commercial development in Finland for several years but is also being actively implemented in several Finnish cities to support their planning and management activities. It also looks in detail at Sova3D’s implementation in the city of Järvenpää as well as how it enables online building permitting, which is one of its key use cases.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/review/2024/Sova3D.html

WA100 Live 2024 Webinar: Exploring the Impact of AI on Architecture

Similar to last year when I attended and wrote about a World Architecture 100 (WA100) Live webinar focused on technology, I attended a similar webinar this year which discussed how AI (Artificial Intelligence) was impacting the architecture sector. While it is still relatively early days for AI in design, it was very interesting and insightful to hear the perspectives of some of the leading firms in the UK on AI technology and learn about the exploratory AI work that they have started working on. This article captures the main highlights that stood out to me from the webinar, including the presentations from Foster + Partners, NAME Architecture, and Heatherwick Studio.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2024/issue_130.html

Dusty Robotics in Action

Towards the end of last year, I had the opportunity to visit a construction site that was using technology from a company called Dusty Robotics. As the name suggests, the company makes robots, not for tasks that we typically associate with robots such as manufacturing prefabricated components or even for automating tasks for onsite construction such as rebar tying, but rather, for marking up the precise layout for multiple trades on the floor of a construction site.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2024/DustyRobotics.html

Skema: Jumpstarting BIM

Skema is a new web-based conceptual design tool for architects that aims to “fast forward” the traditional design process to get to the BIM model. It does this through a lot of automation, starting with creating the massing model of a proposed design on a selected site, analyzing it for sustainability, refining the mass with blocking and stacking for schematic design, and finally, converting the schematic design to an LOD350 BIM model which can then be further developed in a full-fledged BIM application like Revit.

I was introduced to Skema at the AIA 2023 Convention last summer and provided a brief overview of it in my article on the conference. I have since had a chance to explore it in more detail, including learning about the recent enhancements that have been added to it.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/review/2024/Skema.html

SpeckleCon 2023: AEC Implementations and Speckle Add-ons

Last month, I provided an overview of the latest technology developments of the Speckle platform that were shared by the Speckle team at the recently held SpeckleCon 2023 online event. Speckle is an open-source AEC technology cloud platform that uses cutting-edge database technology — instead of a file format — to create an open central repository for AEC project data, which can then be used to exchange data in real-time between multiple AEC applications using “connectors.” With connectors to over 20 of the most common AEC applications as well as more in development, Speckle is able to facilitate synchronous collaboration between the multiple team members working on a project from a wide range of disciplines, allowing the data to be pushed and pulled easily as required.

Being open-source as well as data-driven — where the building data is not locked into proprietary file formats — there is understandably a lot of excitement among AEC firms eager to explore Speckle’s technology for their work and break out of vendor lock-ins. There are also many third-party developers building add-on tools for Speckle, both for brand-new use cases or for being able to connect and contribute to existing workflows more easily. An overview of several of these initiatives, as presented at SpeckleCon 2023, is captured in this article.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2024/issue_129.html