AU23: Autodesk University ‘Design and Make’ 2023—Our Report

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EXPO Highlights

Arkance

Arkance premieres at Autodesk University, celebrating its status as Autodesk’s first global premiere partner. Arkance is a leading architecture, engineering, construction, and manufacturing solutions provider. Arkance unveiled the Be.Smart product portfolio to help with new jobs to do that have emerged in the Design and Built industries.

• Introducing the Arkance Partner to Build Smarter strategy, a network of best-in-class technology partners to lead organizations by harnessing the best in tech.
• Sustainability and Digital Advisory services have been expanded to help customers quickly connect the dots between technology and sustainable outcomes to create a better world.
• Broadening of the Think.Future strategic framework, a visionary approach that champions digitalization, central data environments, and the use of technology to reduce waste and redundancy. 
• Unparalleled momentum and expertise in Autodesk solutions to drive value for the Design and Make Industries. 

Arkance offers the largest professional services team dedicated to supporting digitalization for the Design and Make industries. 

For more information, go to https://www.arkance.net/.

 

ERSI

Ersi’s ArcGIS Basemaps and ArcGIS Living Atlas Data will be integrated into Autodesk Software environment. AEC relies on the interoperability of geographic information systems (GIS) and building information modeling (BIM) to reduce costs and get things done faster in construction. ERSI, the global leader in location intelligence, and Autodesk, an industry leader in Design and Make, have cultivated a strategic alliance to unify GIS and BIM, delivering real business value to architects, engineers, planners, and contractors. ArcGIS Basemaps and ArcGIS Living Atlas will be integrated into Autodesk software products. 

 

Matterport

Matterport announced a new CAD file add-on that will enable the simple creation of CAD files directly from Matterport, simplifying the pipeline to create digital twins.

The CAD file add-on package will include: 

• .DWG CAD format of floor plans and reflected ceiling plans (AutoCAD 2020 version) 
• .DXF exported from .DWG 
• PDF of all floor plans and reflected ceiling plans. 
• .RCS Point Cloud File 
• .CTB file of plot styles for CAD 

Architosh recently covered this exciting news in a report here. For more information, go to https://matterport.com/.

 

Lenovo

Lenovo showed off their new ThinkStation P8 tower workstation powered with the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000 WX Series processors and NVIDIA RTS GPUs. The ThinkStation P8 is a workstation designed for the most challenging workloads. It has an enhanced thermal design developed in cooperation with Aston Marin, allowing users to push AMD Threadripper’s power with the NVIDIA RTX professional graphics cards for the most complex projects.

ThinkStation P8 Tower specs include:

• Powered by the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000 WX-Series
• 5nm “Zen 4” architecture
• Featuring 96 cores
• 192 threads
• NVIDIIA RTX 6000 (up to 3)

For more information, go to https://www.lenovo.com/.

Lenovo was not the only one on the show floor showing off hardware, as HP Z8 Fury is a comparable machine with similar specs for a second option in powerful workstations.  

For more information, go to https://www.hp.com/

 

Rivian

Rivian may be a new player in the electric vehicle market. Still, its strategy for developing facilities for infrastructure support using Autodesk Construction Cloud Data Analytics is helping it compete in the marketplace. This includes new office space to accommodate TI’s, service center, factory additions, charging and new retail space. Rivian used the ACC platform to collaborate with all their design and construction partners, including internal stakeholders. Using ACC data on a common platform, they could use the invaluable data to optimize and build better collaboration with their teams.

Rivian also uses an all-cloud-based solution using Forma to create better products. Rivian won the Autodesk 2023 Design and Make award for Accelerating Transformation.

For more information, go to https://rivian.com/.

 

The Phoenix

The Phoenix is a 300-unit affordable housing project in Oakland. A collaboration between MBH Architects, a modular housing builder Factory _OS, and expert design technology developers Autodesk, bio-materials company Evocative, and building envelope consultant Heintges, Kreysler, & Associates. 

The Phoenix is pushing the integration of fungi-based infrastructure into the mainstream of modular housing solutions. The mycelium composite panels—with the exterior being fiberglass cladding—can resist weathering, and the remaining infrastructure is brick. 

This collaboration created one of the most interesting centerpieces on the Autodesk University show floor. I loved walking through the apartments and seeing the layout of the interiors, which provided much-needed space to live a good life. The design of the exterior walls helped deal with sound outside while giving the occupant a better quality of life. The fungi-based infrastructure worked well for the design. Modular with a sustainable and cost-effective design made this a solution that affordable housing companies should consider. 

You can read more about it here. https://www.mbharch.com/thephoenix.

 

Nearmap

Nearmap, the aerial imagery company, showed off its new AI capabilities for identifying assets like roof types, vegetation, and swimming pools. AI delivers the results faster with the data you need for your projects. 

For more information, go to https://view.nearmap.com/.

 

BIMLOGIQ

BIMLOGIQ was demonstrating its AI solution to annotate and analyze BIM models to improve productivity. BIMLOGIQ provides AI solutions for the construction industry using cutting-edge technologies that can help reduce waste and cost. 

For more information, go to https://bimlogiq.com/.

 

Chaos Group

Chaos Group, one of the top interactive rendering companies, was showing off demos of Enscape working alongside Revit in real time for 3D visualization. Chaos Group has been around for a long time, providing some of the best tools for visualization of photo-realistic imagery, animation, and immersive experiences. 

For more information, go to https://www.chaos.com/.

 

The Sphere

Autodesk did a special tour of The Sphere at the Venetian Resort. The outside screen of the enormous structure was covered in giant LED panels and was seen from miles around Las Vegas. 

The Marvels movie had an ad on the giant screen. Inside the Sphere theater area was an interactive exhibit with robots in the lobby. VIP entrance through the Theory Lounge was excellent, and it took you to your seats quickly. You are not prepared for how large the screen is on the interior. 

Hundreds of people sat in their chairs in stadium seating while Darren Aronofsky’s “Postcard from Earth” unfolded onto the screen. It was stunning; you felt like you were inside the movie, and it can be a little tricky when it moves, considering you can feel the heights you are experiencing. “Postcard from Earth” was impressive with the high-resolution technology used to create it and the message about our planet. 

I recommend experiencing the Sphere at least once if you are in the area.

 

What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas.

This is one of those times you hope that the technology, vision, and sustainable solutions you saw at Autodesk University will thrive and grow far beyond Vegas into powerful solutions for AEC.

There is still a lot of controversy surrounding AI and sharing data with a corporate company. Autodesk ensures that its data will not infringe on intellectual property rights and helps creatives empower themselves to hold their positions in companies by helping reduce cost, reduce waste, and be more sustainable.

I know I want to know that the privacy of the projects and the safety of the client’s data is protected in a way that you can trust. At this time, AI is just a starting point for helping to create better solutions and take risks, knowing that there is data to support our choices.

MORE: Firm Profile: NG+P and the Evolution of Architectural Technology

Apple has a reputation for protecting data, which was made apparent when they wouldn’t hack a customer’s phone for the FBI or when they changed how users could control who had their data. Let’s hope the future with AI is not one we fear but can embrace. But that will take strong social responsibility from companies like Adobe, Autodesk, Microsoft, and numerous others, and always put the interest of people and customers ahead of profit.

From this perspective, Autodesk and others have some very big boots to fill to match Apple’s privacy and user data stance, but right now, those possibilities with AI look remarkable and are worth the investment.

 

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End Note

If you like our AU23 coverage in this report or think we have missed something critical, post a comment below.