Note: This article was written and published in a different language and is a translated version of the original published here.
A paradigm shift in the AEC industry driven by data, AI, and convergence
Recently, the hottest topic cutting across the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry has unquestionably been the advancement of digital transformation (DX) and the practical integration of artificial intelligence (AI). If past digitalization was about converting hand-drawn plans into CAD or automating fragmented tasks to improve individual productivity, today’s innovation has evolved into organically connecting generated data, transforming it into a core organizational asset, and ultimately making AI a fundamental partner in the way people work.
Against this backdrop, Autodesk Design & Make Summit Korea 2026, held in Seoul on July 15, was an outstanding venue for seeing both domestic and global AEC technology trends and the future blueprint for digital construction at a glance. The three key themes presented by Autodesk—data, AI, and convergence—were not just technical rhetoric; they had already been deeply embedded in the day-to-day practices of major Korean construction companies and large architectural firms.
I attended this seminar and listened closely to key sessions from GS E&C, Gansam Architects & Partners, SAMOO Architects & Engineers, and Autodesk, all of which stand at the forefront of construction technology in Korea. I would like to share the limitations they encountered in the field, the technological journeys they undertook to overcome them, and the direction of next-generation work innovation that the AEC industry should pursue, centered on cognitive value.
Three customer success stories—different starting points, same conclusion
GS E&C — Connecting “scattered information” through CDE
Presented by: Jaeyoung Cho, Head of the Digital Construction Team
Construction projects involve a complex mechanism with a wide range of stakeholders, including owners, designers, supervisors, contractors, and subcontractors. Jaeyoung Cho of GS E&C opened his presentation by pointing out that “the fundamental problem is not that construction sites lack information, but that vast amounts of information are fragmented and scattered across different systems such as email, messaging apps, and personal PCs.” Because the information is not connected, teams in the field end up wasting enormous amounts of time constantly searching for the latest approved drawings or checking whether corrective actions have been completed.
The solution GS E&C found was the company-wide implementation and expansion of a CDE (Common Data Environment) system using Autodesk Forma (formerly Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC)). A CDE is not simply a file repository; it serves as a single source of truth that ties together all approved information—such as the latest drawings, BIM, specifications, and inspection photos—into one workflow.
What was especially noteworthy was a practical innovation case. The existing “combined drawing set” approach, in which more than 100 sheets were bundled together, was inefficient because even a partial revision required the entire file to be redistributed. GS E&C addressed this by shifting to sheet-level management. By incorporating AI OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, the company built a system that automatically recognizes drawing numbers and drawing names and splits and distributes them as individual PDFs, reducing resistance in the field and accelerating adoption.
In addition, the paperless inspection process using mobile devices has moved beyond the old method of relying on handwritten documents. It now enables teams to create checklists in real time and link drawing locations with inspection photos, automatically completing standardized inspection reports. Based on the CDE data it has established, GS E&C is also seeking to expand into AI-powered specification review automation and schedule and quantity forecasting, clearly demonstrating the practical impact that connected data can deliver.
Gansam Architects & Partners — The future enabled by turning data into assets
Presented by: Hyuk Lee, Head of the INNOVATION Division
Architectural design firms have traditionally operated as labor-cost-based businesses, and it is no exaggeration to say that people themselves make up the entirety of the production infrastructure. Hyuk Lee of Gansam Architects & Partners sharply identified the critical limitation of this structural characteristic: when carefully developed talent leaves the company, the “assets” of experience and know-how they possess disappear with them. Therefore, for sustainable growth, it is essential for design firms to turn individual experience into organizational “knowledge assets” through data assetization.
Gansam Architects & Partners validated the potential of process compression through technology in an actual project. At the end of 2023, during a year-end period with limited staffing, the firm boldly introduced Veras, a 3D model-based AI rendering tool, during the schematic design phase of an office-hotel remodeling project that had to move forward quickly. By combining AI prompts with seamless interoperability between Rhino and Revit, just two engineers were able to complete a high-quality schematic design proposal in only 14 hours. It was a landmark achievement showing that changes in tools can dramatically compress processes.
The detailed strategy for overcoming organizational resistance was also highly interesting. By shifting CAD licenses to an approval-based system and distributing BIM videos company-wide, the firm naturally encouraged the use of Revit, and it also created “Team 31,” which combined BIM managers with senior designers. Their goal is to extract 30% of the total construction drawing volume at more than 60% completion by the end of schematic design (SD). Many projects are now meeting this benchmark, enabling drawing automation in the early stages of design.
Furthermore, through Content Catalog, a cloud-based integrated system, Gansam Architects & Partners built an environment where standardized unit families can be inserted into drawings with a single mouse click, and where drawings containing vivid advice and feedback from senior colleagues can be reused through Detail Finder. The firm’s vision of becoming “a company as a platform,” where members exchange value horizontally, presented a true milestone for the kind of assetization AEC companies should pursue.
SAMOO Architects & Engineers — From DX to AX
Presented by: Jonggeun Yoon, AX Team Professional
SAMOO Architects & Engineers is already a digital leader that began full-scale BIM implementation in 2016 and has since accumulated design standards and know-how as digital data. Jonggeun Yoon of SAMOO Architects & Engineers introduced the company’s next step: an evolutionary journey beyond the limitations of the DX stage, where automation centered on technical departments, toward AX (AI transformation), in which working designers themselves take ownership of how they work.
Under the existing DX approach, technical departments collected pain points from business teams and developed and distributed Revit APIs or automation programs in a top-down manner. While the initial results were impressive, as demand from the field grew explosively, it became increasingly difficult for the limited resources of technical departments to keep up. SAMOO Architects & Engineers shifted the paradigm so that technical departments no longer solve the problems themselves; instead, business teams proactively identify and solve problems on their own using AI as a tool.
A concrete result of this shift was the development of the in-house image-generation AI service “MIJI.” Fresh ideas from business teams that emerged through an internal generative AI contest were combined with proof of concept (PoC), security guidelines, and UI/UX improvements from the technical department, allowing the service to take root as an easy-to-use web service for everyone. In addition, in a drawing issuance automation project using Autodesk Platform Services (APS) and cloud computing resources, AI served as a reliable co-development partner that went beyond simple document creation to help write code and improve errors, reducing a drawing issuance task that once took a full day to just 30 minutes.
To structure these fragmented AI usage experiences into official organizational assets, SAMOO Architects & Engineers established an internal AI operating system framework called “CYPHE.” By providing a secure company-wide standard environment, accumulating validated use cases, and rewarding work innovation outcomes, the company was realizing the true value of AX—changing organizational behavior patterns beyond automation technology.
Work innovation powered by Autodesk AI
Presented by: Dr. Taeseung Jung (Principal Account Technical Lead) / Jinho Sung, Technical Specialist
In the Autodesk Korea session, a global blueprint was presented from the perspective of a technology provider on how AI is making work environments in architecture, construction, and manufacturing more intelligent. Dr. Taeseung Jung and Jinho Sung emphasized that artificial intelligence is evolving beyond the “assistant” stage, where it supports designers with simple repetitive tasks, into “agent AI” that understands design context on its own and supports decision-making.
Today, Autodesk AI, centered on the Forma platform, is already serving effectively as a powerful assistant through natural language-based tool control, automated QA/QC review in AutoCAD, and the creation of cloud-based collaborative environments. In particular, when a natural language prompt is entered, the technology goes beyond simply producing high-quality perspective images; it can directly generate 3D virtual spaces and architectural massing information that can actually be controlled and edited. This is emerging as a megatrend that could reshape the paradigm of future design environments.
Jinho Sung’s Autodesk Fusion demonstration for the manufacturing and mechanical design field (DNN) was equally impressive. The process of using natural language commands to batch-select and edit specific components in 3D modeling, or converting image or STL data into solid modeling and generating history through integration with Claude, vividly showed that artificial intelligence is functioning as a partner that communicates seamlessly with designers. AI-enabled cloud platforms are now providing a true collaborative environment in which data is no longer tied to specific hardware or work PCs.
Looking back on the day, the four presentations were saying the same thing in different languages. GS E&C spoke of “CDE and role separation,” Gansam Architects & Partners of “knowledge assetization and an open yard,” SAMOO Architects & Engineers of “CYPHE and a growth structure for use cases,” and Autodesk of “data exchange models and governance.” The wording differed, but the direction was one and the same. Tools have already become a given, and the real battleground has shifted to how data is turned into assets and how individuals’ use of AI is transformed into organizational assets.
No matter how excellent the alternatives AI presents, the final judgment belongs to people with domain knowledge. The tools have already been democratized. The key question now is what to ask for (domain) and how to ask for it (prompts and governance). In particular, the statements “AX is about designing an operating model” and “someone has to be accountable” were the lines that lingered the longest among all the dazzling AI demonstrations.
Conclusion: The future of the AEC industry ushered in by the “democratization of technology”
The fundamental purpose behind King Sejong’s creation of Hangul was the “democratization of knowledge”: breaking down barriers to knowledge by enabling all people, not just a small ruling class, to easily read and write the script they had monopolized. At Autodesk Design & Make Summit Korea 2026, I witnessed precisely the same phenomenon—the “democratization of technology”—in the journey of technological innovation demonstrated by leading Korean AEC companies.
In the past, complex 3D data and assetized tools could only be handled by a small number of experts in specialized technical departments, people with coding skills, or coordinators with high-spec PCs. Now, however, working designers, senior engineers in the field, and even general managers can easily use them to define and solve problems.
If BIM standardized data and DX brought process automation, AX is now expanding the agents of problem-solving to all members through artificial intelligence and the cloud. Absorbing individuals’ know-how and fragmented experiments with data into an organization’s official validation systems and governance, accumulating them as shared assets, and using them to deliver better quality and more reliable designs to the market more quickly—this is the one clear and certain blueprint through which the AEC industry, in the age of AI, can secure global competitiveness.
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