Working Collaboratively To Create New Realities: A WSP Case Study

zahra.kamal
Autodesk
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2 min 25 sec read

Autodesk continuously strives to drive technology improvement and breakthroughs, responding to future demands to help its customers create a bigger, brighter tomorrow with their innovation. 

 
The Autodesk Research Community explores emerging ideas and concepts by conducting research interviews, surveys or feedback and usability sessions. Its engaged community of over 13,000 members provides diversity of voices and insights from individuals and companies. 

 

Yet, how do emerging trends translate into real world technical solutions? 

Autodesk prototyped an engine that could evaluate and generate multiple structural design options. The aim is to connect architecture and construction considerations, helping AEC disciplines collaborate effectively, with better understanding of impacts on issues like sustainability, construction time and cost at the earliest stages of design.  

At Autodesk University 2019, the team was able to receive feedback at the Idea Exchange on  the engine’s capacity for such a solution. Customers were asked how they potentially saw it fitting in their practice, and its possible improvement in their workflows.  

 
A Collaborative Approach  

Autodesk wanted to see how its technology would work in a real-life working environment and partnered with WSP Canada’s Digital Solutions Buildings team, who had previously participated in user research sessions at Autodesk University in 2019 and 2020. 

 

WSP is one of the largest professional services firms in the world, designing solutions in the Buildings, Transportation, Infrastructure, Environment, Geomatics, Energy, Resources, and Industrial sectors. They also provide management and strategic consulting services to the built and natural environment and are an Autodesk Enterprise Business Account. 

 

A Live Demo Experience

  • The WSP team were provided access to early stage emerging technology enabled through a Dynamo node and Revit plugin, to evaluate the generative capabilities on real-world examples.  
  • With their structural engineering expertise, WSP was able to help Autodesk test and improve the generative engine, by providing feedback on the structural design methodology that underpins the algorithms.  
  • This helped better prove the feasibility of the structural automation solution and build a business case for further feature roadmap and potential productization.  
  • The WSP team shared how they would work with the engine and helped develop UI concepts.  

 

Looking Forward 

  • This project helped open the future potential to unlock further collaboration and processes between architects and other experts, such as in Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing and Construction. 
  • We would be keen to hear from other structural engineers and architects what they think about these kinds of workflows. 
  • Share this story with your Customer Success Manager or contact kosala.bandara@autodesk.com 
  • Watch a related talk at AU 2022 here "BES502270 | Using AI for Sustainable Structural Design with DAISY and Autodesk Research" 

 

For more information:  

Learn more about emerging technology projects at Autodesk here.

 

If you would like to join the Autodesk Research Community and influence your Autodesk experience by joining our research, engaging with team members and seeing your impact, please click here to be part of our community. 

 

Authored by: Kristel Valaydon

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