Key drivers in the AEC industry in 2023 – GRAPHISOFT

By Huw Roberts, CEO, Graphisoft

Huw Roberts

Hybrid workplaces, the lingering pandemic, and the war in Europe are major narratives shaping the global economy, and the AEC industry is fielding the fallout on several fronts.  Workplaces and workflows are changing, materials and resources are in short supply, and a general slowdown has increased competition for larger projects.  What has remained consistent is that the repercussions have accelerated the trajectory toward digital collaboration with teams, partners, and clients.  While remote work greatly influenced the move towards collaborative work in dispersed locations during the pandemic, supply chain complications and high energy costs have encouraged teams to continue embracing technological solutions to fill the gaps.

Looking ahead, Graphisoft CEO Huw Roberts orients resurging industry themes, highlighting trends in digital collaboration, environmental sustainability, globalizing talent, and evolving technologies as they adapt to a resource-scarce landscape.  As teams adapt to external factors, seamless virtual collaboration and smart workflows have helped shore up limited resources while bringing innovative solutions and new opportunities to the table.

Open BIM is driving inclusive digital transformation

Open BIM continues to be at the heart of the effective digitalization of AEC, with data-rich 3D models established as a prerequisite for smart workflows in the building lifecycle – from conceptual design through Digital Twins in operation.  Open information methodologies and an ever evolving and expanding universe of software tools and work processes demand that information be open and not locked into file formats or proprietary cloud systems.  Properly shared and managed open information flows between people, teams, and technology tools is an increasingly key driver in enabling well-functioning hybrid work environments, opening the door to geographically independent collaboration to include talent from anywhere and deliver work everywhere.

Effective digital collaboration relies on open data standards

Digital Twins will continue to be a growing industry objective in 2023 and are a great example of a wide range of digital technology in shared workflows.  These models tie live physical buildings to virtual twins of that building in operation, letting users connect and simulate physical scenarios on a digital model throughout the building’s life cycle.

Multiple vendors of building components have many different information systems, each with their customizations and integrations.  In many cases, the digital interface to the physical equipment and systems in buildings varies depending on the manufacturer or may even be bespoke for a project.  Due to the countless interlocking pieces working together in a digital twin — from passive sensors to active and automated systems — the model framework upon which the twin is built inherently needs to use open information standards to incorporate all these connections effectively.  This is even more true over time as systems and components are upgraded over the life of the building.  An Open BIM approach is critical to providing a seamless virtual environment for integrating these many data sources and types with a geometry simulation in a sustainable way.

Emerging trends in sustainability address the ongoing energy crisis

Throughout most architects’ professional lives today, sustainability has always been a key topic in the industry.  Current events see new trends in this ongoing conversation as professionals grapple with how to design low energy consumption, low carbon, sustainable resource buildings in an economy where a heavy focus is once again on energy costs and global supply chain issues challenge the availability of systems and materials.  As an architect, I started my career building passive solar houses, so this is not a new topic – but its importance is once again being elevated in our collective consciousness.  In addition, as countries look to onshore manufacturing and material sourcing and deglobalize to prioritize local energy resources, solutions from the past have re-emerged with new possibilities facilitated by technology.  BIM provides a perfect environment to consider these design objectives and options and will be of increased importance in 2023 and the future.

Lean construction and adaptive reuse are driving sustainability in architecture

Lean construction has always focused on reducing waste and being efficient and effective in the construction process.  This equates to using locally sourced materials and systems, designing to minimize materials waste, and optimizing fabrication and assembly.

With supply chain issues front and center, this approach makes it possible to maximize the use of available resources, optimize labor needs, and accelerate schedules.  In terms of technology, the right tools help immensely with understanding the materials and assemblies in a building, allowing teams to apply these principles better and consider many options in finding the “lean” solution.

As society adjusts to a New Normal with hybrid work from anywhere, the needs for and use of building functions and activities within buildings are seeing significant changes.  These changing needs are complex and vary by location, but there is consistency in that there is a great deal of renovation and repurposing expected in the near term to meet these changing needs.  Meanwhile, many industry reports indicate that many design and construction projects will center on renovating and reusing existing buildings.

The topic of Adaptive Reuse is once again returning to the forefront.  This is both in reworking existing buildings for new uses or ways of being used and in recognizing the importance of future flexibility in new building designs.  Renovation and reuse projects have many constraints besides those for a new building – including how to fit into the space, connect to the existing utilities and systems, and so on.  Most designers will need extra capabilities to effectively ‘digitize’ the existing buildings into their design tools and enhanced flexibility in exploring design options and variances as they work to fit the new needs into the current constraints.  Tools and technologies that work together to help understand existing conditions and the opportunities for reuse, renovation, and repurposing will be an area with increased focus and attention this year and for years to come.

Globalizing talent

As architects and engineers moved to working from home during the pandemic, it quickly became apparent that collaboration capabilities were essential to design teams’ success.  This remains a key focus in 2023.  However, the other big realization was that with well-integrated design collaboration capabilities, teams could incorporate talent into their projects from virtually anywhere in the world – and designers could deliver their services and add value to almost everywhere.  Consequently, integrating cloud-based collaboration and integration tools into design workflows is quickly becoming the norm – the benefits are so easily visible on teams of all sizes and projects of all scales and complexity (or simplicity).  Again, the key is openness – 2023 will see a continuing focus on these capabilities and the critical Open information workflows needed between and amongst systems.

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and the Metaverse have promising practical applications

This year, we will continue to see exponential advancements and exciting applications in artificial intelligence and machine learning.  A proliferation of chatbots, AI image generation services, content writing tools, and specialized uses spark ideas and boost creativity across many fields.

2023 will be a year where we could see growing convergence between digital twins, virtual collaboration, and AI/ML technology to produce practical applications around real-time analysis and decision-making.  For example, users of capabilities in our Archicad and Engineering solutions already see that the software does real-time calculations, such as sizing during the design process, and a wide range of analyses can be done on demand – both within the design tools and using external tools and services.  ML and AI will increasingly extend these capabilities and become proactive or even predictive, spanning multiple analysis types to find new understandings and offer (or even act on) new insights and guidance.  2023 will likely see many exciting advances in this area.

Finally, we look ahead to the futuristic space of the rapidly evolving “metaverse” (or the many metaverses).  These platforms create an open environment for shared experiences and activities in rich 3D model simulation.  And, through the computing power of their cloud nature, they can deliver very engaging visual experiences that multiple people can share in real-time.  We are already working with several partners in this area and have integrations with these environments.  In 2023, we should all learn a lot about whether these vendors will move in a closed and proprietary direction or embrace an open data exchange approach, which will hugely impact their usability, values, and adoption.  I see many exciting possibilities and potential and look forward to what comes next.

As we address these challenges and opportunities, 2023 will be an exciting year!

About Author:

Huw Roberts, AIA, has over 30 years of experience helping architects and the AEC industry maximize the value of new and emerging technologies.  A licensed architect by profession, Huw is a highly regarded industry expert on the best practices for integrating technology into the design, delivery, and operational management of buildings and infrastructure.  He has served in many industry organizations on work such as the U.S. National CAD Standards, Uniform Drawing Standards, Facility Information Council, and as Chairman of the American Institute of Architects Technology in Architectural Practice committee.  As the CEO of Graphisoft, Huw is committed to empowering teams to design great buildings.  Before joining Graphisoft, Huw served as Chief Marketing Officer for BlueCielo, a global Asset Lifecycle Information Management software company based in the Netherlands, and as Vice President of Marketing for Bentley Systems, a global leader in software solutions for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, following his practicing architecture at firms including EwingCole and his own firm.

Category: Industry Predictions

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 19th, 2023 at 12:39 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.