The need for affordable housing has never been so high worldwide. One possible solution is to optimize the development of new neighborhoods. But how can you get a maximum number of residential buildings on your plot in a sustainable way while still providing comfort? In this class, we'll teach you step by step how you can use Generative Design for Revit and Dynamo to optimize the planning of neighborhoods of single-family residential buildings, including plot subdivision, land-use assignment, and placement and shape of structures. We’ll then review how Spacemaker brings even more value into this complex exercise for the optimization of multifamily residential buildings.

Buildings use over 40% of all energy on the planet. Of existing buildings, 99% are small commercial and residential buildings that use 80% of all energy in buildings. Each building in this group is generally too small to be of interest to the traditional professional who uses Building Information Modeling (BIM) or conducts sophisticated energy analysis. So, how are we going to solve this problem? We mash up the latest in mobile hardware, cloud services, augmented reality, and reality capture technologies to produce a solution that enables anyone who is able to play Angry Birds on an Apple® iPad® to analyze a small building in a fun and accurate way.

This presentation will look in detail at how a complex large-scale residential building can be delivered using Revit, with an understanding of overall modelling strategy, data management, and drawing output workflow. The Circus West project represents that first phase of the Battersea Power Station masterplan, and comprises of 752 apartments over 17 storeys, above a mixed-use podium. The building has a 350-metre-long footprint which wraps around the Power Station building, and is articulated as 2 stacked tapering glazed ribbons. In response to the original client brief, the building has a large number of residential typologies, with a mix of 1, 2, and 3-bedroom apartments, townhouses, and penthouses. The project was transitioned into Revit in 2013, with the intention to build a model for the output of GA plan scale construction drawings, scheduling and coordination with the structures and M&E consultant team. The project was not only the largest residential scheme that the practice had delivered to date, but also the first to be produced using Revit, and as a result, initial strategies had to be quickly developed and implemented in order to construct the model. The design work was split between the practiceÍs 2 offices, with the interior fit out of the residential element development by the Manchester office team, and Shell, Core and Podium developed by the London office team. The development of the interior fit out packages for the residential element proved to be the most challenging area of the project to set up in Revit, due to the large quantity of apartment types (over 200 unique layouts). In order to minimise file sizes, and repetition of modelling, a systems of nested Revit models and arrangement files had to be set up to enable drawing sheet output. The level of detail in the apartment models required careful consideration to strike a balance between information required for outputs and minimal file sizes. As part of this, a strategy for the use of families for complex interior fit out elements the within apartment models was developed. Following the BPS project, there are many lessons learnt that can be applied to future large residential Revit projects. This includes developing a strategy for how a project with numerous apartment types can be broken down into manageable elements, with an allowance for flexibility in the set up as the project progresses.

This Instructional Demo will begin with setting up a large site for multiple residential blocks in Revit and fully embracing work sharing from early conception of the architectural design. The role of the architect in the construction industry often aligns with the role of lead designer and project coordinator. Bearing in mind the responsibilities that come with such role the class will learn about techniques of setting up coordination files for a multidisciplinary shared project. The lesson will then explore fast-track workflows for conceptual residential design by utilising Revit and Dynamo. We will further explore workflows, user tips and tricks for the creation of numerous unit variations within a block and managing changes as the project is being advanced. We will discuss different roadmaps for modelling internal layouts with their benefits and challenges explained and analysed. The class will expand on the need to keep models flexible and adaptable to the level of detail and development required by clients at each stage of the project. Focusing on the transition from concept to technical design the class will learn how to progressively advance the model and aid multidisciplinary coordination. The demo will discuss team collaboration and the importance of discipline while working on a design in Revit. Milestones in the residential design working towards BIM Level 2 standards will be set out and discussed. How much is too much data and what can the residential design data be used for will be explored as a final of the demo with some RIBA project stages analysed from the user/draftsman's perspective.

Parsons explores the advantages of generative design and optimization tools (such as Dynamo & Refinery) in the scope of evaluating and altering the form, orientation and Gross Floor Area (GFA) of residential buildings in existing master plans, using Reem Island Sector 4 as a case study. A superblock is selected from the original design and studied in an attempt to deliver a proof of concept for optimized design oriented solutions, efficiently developed and scientifically driven to meet our client’s needs.

That final detailed grading around the houses when designing a residential subdivision has always been a time-consuming and tedious process. This class will show you techniques that will let you quickly and accurately grade that final design. The focus of this class will be primarily on using feature lines to grade out the lots. You will learn different techniques for creating feature lines, most of the editing tools for feature lines, how to stylize and label your feature lines, and how they can be incorporated into a surface. Even if you've never graded a subdivision and never plan on doing so, if you've ever done any grading at all, you'll benefit from this class, as the tools we'll show here are extremely versatile and you can use them in just about any grading exercise.

As main contractors on The UCD Dublin BIM Level 2 project, we are required to deliver a digital twin of the physical building prior to construction. This digital twin will contain accurate geometry and asset information relevant to FM, including drawings, manuals, and warranties. The UCD Student Residences masterplan consists of 3 phases. Phase 1 consists of 3 separate buildings, 2 student accommodation blocks and a student centre building with accommodation over to the northeast. Phase 2 consists of 3 separate residential buildings to the centre spanning northwest of the site. Phase 3 consists of surface car parking to the south associated with Roebuck Hall Residences and a building centred on Roebuck Castle (a protected structure to the south). The proposed 3-phase development will increase student residential accommodation by 3,006 bed spaces and provide ancillary and complementary facilities to create a living campus community in a new residential village connected to and integrated with existing residential village.

Housing has always been the largest sector of the U.S. economy. With increasing competition among architecture firms, designers need to figure out the most efficient options for their designs. Generative design that relies on the principles “generate, evaluate, and evolve” can help designers achieve seemingly limitless options within a short period—a task that is impossible for humans alone. In this class we’ll discuss the impact of generative design, using Dynamo scripts for multifamily residential design. Find out how you can use Dynamo scripts to drive efficiency in ways that benefit your architecture firm.

For today's architects to meet their ambitious sustainability goals toward net zero, new building materials that can sequester carbon emissions and replace petroleum-based products must rapidly enter the construction industry. In this session, we'll look at a case study where leaders in industrialized construction, composite manufacturing, and biomaterials technology joined Autodesk researchers. Together, they developed a carbon sequestering facade system by replacing the typical petroleum-based foam within fiberglass reinforced facade panels with mycelium fungi composites, a carbon-negative biomaterial. The session will describe the developmental journey from material research and performance validation to the use of Autodesk Forma and Autodesk Fusion 360 software to design the facade for a Californian housing development that meets sustainability, habitability, and construction project goals. Discover the rise of biomaterial building products and how today's construction companies are reducing their facade installation schedules with this approach.

Our planet is facing the biggest challenges seen in humanity’s lifetime: The environment at risk and being destroyed by humans, the acceleration of city growth, and the population acceleration in the megacities of tomorrow. The building industry consumes a large part of our natural resources. There's a big demand for houses and infrastructures to welcome these future populations, and buildings are generating a large portion of the carbon footprint on our planet. How can we overcome all these challenges and make a better world for our children and our children's children? Digital and BIM (Building Information Modeling) is certainly one of the best ways to bring some concrete and very pragmatic answers. In this class, you'll see how Autodesk's BIM and digital software are helping shape the beautiful world of tomorrow. Through very concrete examples and solutions, you'll see that sustainability is not a dream anymore.

Vanderbilt University has recently embarked on one of the largest capital projects in the institution’s history—4 new residential colleges, totaling 1 million square feet in new construction, to open over the next 5 years. A single design team has the monumental task of successfully ushering all 4 new buildings to completion. Join the architecture and construction team—together—to learn how collaboration through BIM 360 software is improving construction and alleviating typical coordination headaches throughout all design and construction phases of the second residential college to open in the Fall of 2020.

This session will describe the activity developed for the retrofitting of Teatro Lirico Opera House, a XIX sec. complex building located in the heart of Milan, Italy. For the building’s particular shape and complexity, taking advantage of laser scanning, ReCap software, and Revit software was the key to delivering a model faithful to the original, for renovation activity, visualization, and facility management.