This article captures the highlights of the customer presentations from Graphisoft’s recent Building Together Learn event that focused on three critical areas of AEC technology: data-driven design, design collaboration, and the use of VR for design and visualization. The firms sharing their stories came from different parts of the world and were therefore able to provide a fascinating glimpse at what was being designed and built across the globe.  The three firms are Enzyme from Hong Kong, 3LHD from Croatia, and Maber from the UK.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2023/GraphisoftLearn2023.html

This article provides an overview of the 2023 SpeckleCon conference held last month, which showcased the latest technology developments of the Speckle platform, including a brand-new Automate tool for automating repetitive tasks in AEC.

Speckle is a radically different approach to AEC technology — it stores project data in an open database rather than a traditional file, providing not only an alternative to proprietary file formats from vendors but also the IFC file format for interoperability in the AEC industry.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2023/issue_128.html

In the demanding world of healthcare, precision and efficiency are paramount. Designing specialised spaces like a Breast Cancer Institute within a hospital in Sydney, Australia, requires meticulous planning and unwavering attention to detail. This case study delves into how the integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) design through the 4M FineHVAC software, revolutionised the design process for the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) system within the Breast Cancer Institute, yielding significant time savings and a marked improvement in quality.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2023/FineHVAC-Healthcare-Study.html

Graphisoft had the 2023 launch of its product portfolio at its “Building Together” Connect event earlier this month where it demonstrated the new releases of all its applications, including Archicad, its flagship BIM application; BIMcloud, its cloud collaboration platform; BIMx, its presentation and communication mobile app; and DDScad, the full-fledged MEP design application that it brought into its fold last year.

This article provides an overview of the main updates that were shared, including design options and distance guides in Archicad, issue management and interactive labels in BIMx, enhanced security options in BIMcloud, and several MEP design enhancements in DDScad. There was also an exciting sneak peek at an upcoming AI-assisted inspiration capability.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2023/issue_127.html

In my article on the AIA 2023 conference that was held earlier this summer, I concluded that:

“… given how rapidly AI is taking over the technology airwaves in society as a whole, it was hardly surprising to see it also emerging in AEC technology solutions. In fact, I found the excitement — and potential game-changing capability — of generative AI to be almost identical to how it was with BIM when it was first introduced over twenty years ago. Rather than the mostly incremental upgrades we have seen since then, we should start seeing radically new solutions and capabilities in AEC technology powered by AI.”

Imagine a BIM application to which we feed a 2D napkin sketch of a floor plan and ask it to design a detailed 3D BIM model from it!

It’s really not that far out. At least, that’s the sense I got from watching NVIDIA’s keynote at the SIGGRAPH 2023 conference that was held earlier this month. SIGGRAPH is the leading computer graphics conference held annually that showcases both academic research and industry developments in the field, and it was the perfect venue for NVIDIA — being the leading vendor in computer graphics — to showcase its latest developments. These were mostly in the area of generative AI and its integration with NVIDIA’s own Omniverse technology, which is relevant to all industries using 3D graphics, including AEC.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2023/issue_126.html

The leading GIS software company, Esri, held its annual user conference last month, and I was able to tune in to its plenary sessions online, which provided an insight into how its ArcGIS products were being used in multiple ways across the world in varied domains including agriculture, environment, communication and connectivity, urban planning and transportation, communication and connectivity, disaster planning and management, and more. The ability to map out the world and overlay it with data — which is fundamentally what a GIS application does — seems to be one that is being put to work in countless ways across all fields of human endeavor and is likely to continue doing so.

This article provides an overview of some of the user implementations that were presented at the conference, including those from PCL Construction from Canada, Foster + Partners, the City of Cambridge in Massachusetts, the Netherlands’ Kadaster mapping agency, and the PG&E utility from California.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2023/EsriUserConference2023.html

This is a follow-up to the article that was published two weeks ago capturing three design case studies from Graphisoft’s recent Building Together Design event, in which it unveiled its 2023 product lineup as well as profiled several of its design customers from around the world who presented an overview of how they were using Archicad, BIMx, and BIMcloud. This article captures the highlights of three more customer presentations from the event: Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés from France, JKMM Architects from Finland, and Earthworld Architects & Interiors from South Africa.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2023/BuildingTogetherDesign2023-2.html

Earlier this month, Graphisoft held its Building Together Design event in which it unveiled its 2023 product lineup as well as profiled several of its design customers from around the world who presented an overview of how they were using Archicad, BIMx, and BIMcloud in their projects. This article captures the presentations of three of these firms: Reflex Architects from Sweden, Tektonn Architects from China, and The Up Studio from the US. Part 2 of this article, which will be published next week, will profile Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés from France, JKMM Architects from Finland, and Earthworld Architects & Interiors from South Africa.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2023/BuildingTogetherDesign2023-1.html

The annual AIA conference — the main event for architects in the US — was held in San Francisco last week and I was able to attend it in person after a gap of several years. This was a conference I used to typically attend every year before the pandemic, as it featured all the key AEC technology vendors and provided an excellent venue to quickly get up to speed on the state of the art of the industry. The previous AIA conference I was able to attend in person was in 2019, and while the attendance at last week’s event was far below pre-pandemic levels, it was great to get a chance to see different products and meet their developers in person once again. Hopefully, events like this can soon return to full force and give people a chance to imbibe and be inspired by the collective energy and vitality of like-minded professionals.

This article provides an overview of some of the technology products I was able to see at the AIA 2023 conference, including new tools like Skema, Snaptrude, Autodesk Forma, and CodeComply.AI, as well as feature enhancements to established tools like SketchUp, Enscape, and Archicad.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2023/issue_125.html

This article provides an overview of some of the projects that were presented at ALLPLAN’s recent digital conference by AEC firms all over the world including Ardanuy Ingeniería, Xingtai Transportation Construction Group, Quadrante, and Michael Baker International.

URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2023/issue_124.html