AECCafe Voice 2021 Industry Predictions – Part 1

What will we look forward to in technology trends, design trends, and developments in BIM in 2021? Artificial intelligence and machine learning will help the “aided” in computer aided design, according to Piet Lelieur of BricsCAD. For GRAPHISOFT, the machine-driven process tends to clash with creative disciplines such as architecture – however, according to Akos Pfemeter, we see examples of the ways it can assist in construction security, generative design, and other areas.

Predicting the future was tough in 2020, as we were all burdened with the urgent presence of a pandemic, job losses, some loss of loved ones.  Making plans has been difficult at best.

Technology providers have offered a positive view of the future, or as Allison Scott of Autodesk suggests, “future-proof” your organization with resiliency. Cloud powered offices have taken over as a result of the pandemic, and new solutions have arisen from the need to have more employees working from their homes. Take a look at what these industry professionals have in the way of predictions and a look into a brighter future.

Bricsys/Hexagon

Piet Lelieur, BricsCAD BIM Technical Marketing Manager, Bricsys/Hexagon

“The ‘Aided’ in Computer Aided Design will be realized”

For years, users waited on their computers. Today, ninety-plus percent of your CPU’s time is spent idling and waiting on your input. Our PCs have the power to change the way we work; to help us be more innovative. We all know how disruptive innovation can be… but it doesn’t need to be disruptive. Innovation doesn’t always mean that you need to invent a new way of doing things.

Finding and automating gaps and tedious tasks in existing workflows can offer huge improvements in productivity. In a perfect world, this automation would be delivered in a very familiar environment, so that users would not be forced to re-learn software workflows from scratch. In a perfect world, your tools will always help you, not hinder you.

People doing project work can’t even spare the time to get excited about learning a new, ‘magical’ solution. Designers, architects, engineers just want their existing problems to be solved – faster, more accurately, better – so that they can innovate freely, with the aid of their computers.

We believe that innovative software will let you keep the effective and familiar parts of your existing workflow, while leveraging the ‘magic’ of machine learning / A.I. to help you do more, faster, easier and more accurately. When the division of labor – human and CPU – is optimized, we’ll realize the value of Computer Aided Design. 2021 may very well be the year for that realization.

By Piet Lelieur, BricsCAD BIM Technical Marketing Manager, Bricsys/Hexagon

Autodesk

Four Ways We’ll Build Construction Resiliency in 2021

As we begin the new year, the word I’ve been thinking about more than any other is “resiliency.” After a year of dramatic changes, 2021 has the potential to be

Allison Scott, Director of Construction Thought Leadership at Autodesk

transformative for construction — but only if we continue to build our resiliency muscles so firms and workers can future-proof their businesses and strengthen the built environment.

Here are four trends that will be key to building industry resiliency in 2021 and beyond:

1. Focus on Sustainability

With the new administration in the U.S., there will be a renewed focus on environmental resiliency, focusing on how energy sources, infrastructure, and the built environment play a part in combating climate change. Being creative in our approach to these challenges is an AEC industry call-to-action. Firms that are already exploring next-generation net-zero construction, creative material use/re-use, intelligent infrastructure projects, and renewable energy projects will be well-positioned to take advantage of the rise of “resilient” projects that encourage sustainability. Similarly, digital infrastructure projects are also poised to grow as the rise of digitization has accelerated due to remote working brought on by the pandemic.

2. Innovation Mindset

Most construction firms’ business models have not provided the right amount of resources and flexibility to support true innovation that will create exponential growth. Simply adding new tools to the stack doesn’t solve the root challenge of stagnant or out-of-date workflows, nor does it create lasting differentiation. As construction firms take on the challenge of future proofing beyond 2021, leaders have an opportunity to drive an innovation mindset and rethink their technology investment and adoption strategy. Examples may include formalizing an internal cross-functional innovation council within their companies that are also responsible for change management and program management; exploring innovation R&D tax incentives; and applying a culture-driven approach to technology adoption that balances performance incentives with behavior change.

3. Workforce Transformation

Construction firms will continue to increase their focus on building a resilient workforce. As the pandemic showed, firms that readied teams with connected technology, remote working solutions, and cultivated a culture of empathy, trust, and flexibility have been able to weather the ups and downs of the last year. However, this roller coaster ride also stretched teams to their limits. We’ve all been dealing with the blurred lines of home and work life. The ability to adjust strategy and process has been impressive, but culture ultimately trumps strategy in the long term. Leading construction firms will take the challenges of the last year as an opportunity to revisit a number of their human resources and culture initiatives such as improving training of construction technology to include a broader set of roles both on and off the site; widening the talent pool by developing new roles for digital natives and a more diverse population; developing unique and fast-growth career paths that encourage folks to stay in the industry; increasing health and wellness benefits to include things like mental health, stress management and family-friendly care options; and increasing employee engagement tactics to improve a sense of community and build a culture of trust among distributed teams.

4. Accelerated Digitization

Over the last few years, many leading construction firms have taken on new technology and increased their attention towards things like digitization as central to their work. COVID-19 has only accelerated the use of technology and digital workflows in the industry. For 2021 and beyond, this opens the doors to even more opportunities for businesses to reimagine how they utilize technology and data to build resiliency, including virtual collaboration, AI,  and machine learning. Businesses have more data than ever before; we will see a significant increase in firms taking advantage of this new information and creating more core competencies around data, analytics, and business intelligence. Examples include standardizing data collection and KPI strategies company-wide, expanding the use of connected and integrated technology solutions to reduce data silos and disconnects, and the growing utilization of dashboarding and analytics tools to inform project and business decisions.

To build resiliency and prove out the construction business of the future, leading firms should take the bull by the horns. Together, we can play offense, collect data, build digital platforms, operate new business models, and offer innovative services that create the new possible for our industry and communities at large.

By Allison Scott, Director of Construction Thought Leadership at Autodesk

GRAPHISOFT

Akos Pfemeter, VP, GRAPHISOFT

2021 Tech Predictions and Trends

Given what the world has witnessed this year, any effort at predicting the future will be met one of two ways: with a hopeful mindset or skeptically. This year gave new meaning to the phrase, “hindsight is 2020” so no surprise there, right?

The team at GRAPHISOFT has never stopped looking ahead. It is the dedication to innovation and forward thinking that led us to create and continually improve on what is largely regarded as one of the most powerful, flexible, and design-friendly BIM solutions available today.

In that spirit, Akos Pfemeter, Vice President of Product Success, has offered insight into technology trends, design trends, and developments in BIM that will have impacts in the coming year.

BIM Innovation

The promise of BIM is overdue for many. GRAPHISOFT has identified this as an area of focus. Integrated Design – a concept supported in Archicad 24 – can extend the reach and benefits of BIM to a broad spectrum of stakeholders, even non-BIM users. That connection brings the disciplines closer to each other.

Integrated Design represents a major paradigm shift from the status quo, which puts the emphasis on model federation and coordination to find issues “post-mortem”. The Integrated Design workflow makes it possible for all trades to work together and avoid clashes in the first place.

Architects and structural engineers using Archicad have reached that milestone, empowered by Archicad. They work on a shared model co-designing the load-bearing structures of buildings. Structural analysis partners within the Nemetschek Group and sister companies such as RISA, SCIA, and FRILO provide workflow integration.

An open format solution and APIs enable third parties to establish similar workflows with Archicad.

AI and Integration

At this time a year ago, machine learning and artificial intelligence were touted with the promise of having a large role in integration. That prediction, at least pertaining to the architecture industry, has yet to provide any direct benefits. Augmented reality and virtual reality have already proven valuable in the gaming industry. Media distribution, Fintech and Healthcare workflows received the lion’s share of AI’s predictive and automating benefits. The machine-driven process tends to clash with creative disciplines such as architecture – however, we are seeing examples of the ways it can assist in construction security, generative design, and other areas. We believe that true, broad commercial application is still years away.

Connectivity in the Cloud

Design freedom maintains a position of high importance to the Archicad development team. As architects themselves, our developers know how highly our users value that aspect of the software. When the move to cloud-powered offices, necessitated by the pandemic, became part of the day-to-day reality, GRAPHISOFT made certain firms could facilitate on behalf of the architects using Archicad.

We led by providing solutions designed to overcome the inherent difficulties of remote work. World class remote collaboration technology was made available to all our users for free back in March of 2020. What was a necessity for safety’s sake has evolved into an effective process for many firms, employing BIMcloud as a Service steadily ever since. Look for additional features in the new year that will further expand our teamwork functionality to the broader set of stakeholders in BIM projects.

Looking at Public Spaces

Can the AEC industry assume any responsibility for making public spaces inherently safer, even by a fraction, through technology? Airborne diseases will alter shared workspaces dramatically. Design software needs to step up to the challenge and empower architects to respond to new realities.

Creativity Out of Chaos

In no way did innovation suffer because of the pandemic. One may argue, it forced companies to be creative – accomplishing more with less. It triggered innovation. The new reality accelerated developments with regard to remote collaboration and teamwork. At GRAPHISOFT, we anticipate some surprises as external players show interest in the AEC space. NVIDIA Omniverse, for instance, is a powerful, multi-GPU, real-time simulation and collaboration platform, where users of different design software can collaborate in real time. An attractive approach, albeit lacking the breadth and depth of this solution for the level of native BIM collaboration solutions.

By Akos Pfemeter, GRAPHISOFT Vice President of Product Success

Tags: 3D, AEC, architects, architecture, Autodesk, BIM, building, building design, building information modeling, CAD, collaboration, construction, design, digital twin, facilities management, generative design, Graphisoft, Open BIM, reality capture, visualization

Categories: 2D, 3D, AEC, AECCafe, apps, Autodesk, BIM, building information modeling, civil information modeling, Cloud, collaboration, construction, construction project management, engineering, field, file sharing, IES, IFC, infrastructure, Internet of Things, IoT, point clouds, project management, reality capture, rendering, simulation, site planning, sustainable design, virtual reality, visualization

This entry was posted on Friday, January 15th, 2021 at 8:37 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.