Vote for Microdesk’s Autodesk University 2022 Proposal Submissions!

Reducing carbon emissions has become one of the most urgent objectives in the worldwide fight against climate change, making it one of the most critical metrics for the AECO business, where buildings account for over 40% of annual global GHG emissions, therefore providing our industry with the most significant impact potential. With owners becoming more aware of the benefits of net-zero buildings, organizations are navigating new standards, technologies, and workflows to stay compliant while also distinguishing themselves from the competition. Adoption will be dependent on integrating these techniques into daily routines to avoid disruption. This talk will offer a roadmap that includes a variety of toolsets, as well as standards and workflows, to help with energy and carbon performance feedback from the design to the operational phases. The roadmap can be used by small businesses and project teams to customize the most efficient way to reach their net-zero goal.

This session will begin with an overview of common but often overlooked inefficiencies in a general contractor organization. We’ll then demonstrate how Brinkman Construction, a leading GC in Denver Metro region turned to ACC, specifically Building Connected, Build, Docs and Pype to overcome similar challenges. We’ll share how you can realize quick efficiencies from your ACC implementation by showing how we consolidated our technology stack, digitized field workflows and eliminated redundant Excel tracking mechanisms. Streamlining handoffs between pre-construction & construction teams improved productivity by 75%. Migrating to ACC is estimated to bring a 50% gain in productivity to gather and collect data by end of the first year by eliminating non-value added time logging, referencing, and managing QA/QC information. The attendees will also get a glimpse of the process improvements that Brinkman made to their existing QA/QC practices to facilitate an effective implementation of ACC.

Revit is a database for graphic elements AND associated data. Revit can access data from easily managed spreadsheets, filter the data and report with planting tags or schedules/reports or color code results, say on plant provenance. Planting families can represent a distribution zone for species, such as a herbaceous layer of perennial plants, and use photo-realistic representations of planting. This presentation shows what is available and how it is implemented. The techniques shown can be applied beyond design proposals to education, for example interpretation centers or botanical gardens, restoration of habitat or management of existing landscapes. No sustainable building provides what we get from nature, so even if all buildings were energy net positive, we still need a sustainable natural world. A roof garden, an urban park has the potential to improve building performance AND contribute to the well-being of all species. It begins with appropriate data applied to plants.

Factory manufactured architectural buildings can be designed and built in a matter of weeks instead of months or years. Beautiful, versatile buildings can be fully assembled off site with a cost that is significantly lower than that of traditional construction and then assembled on site, allowing for high construction precision and quality. Utilizing a climate controlled factory based environment reduces delays due to weather as well as safety risks. The process is far more sustainable than traditional methods, with the capability of building entire subdivisions or cities in less than half the time with significantly less waste. This is the potential future of construction in the world. This presentation will go over how this can be done and uses several real world examples that are being used today.

BIMrx Cloud Manager is purpose-built software developed by AEC professionals for AEC professionals. It is focused on accelerating project setup, member management, automating data management, and exporting tasks for both Autodesk Construction Cloud and BIM 360 Projects. BIMrx Cloud Manager is a desktop application that is part of the BIMrx suite of products created to streamline the entire BIM project lifecycle. This demonstration will show workflows to set up projects faster, manage users across multiple projects more efficiently, automate data management, and automate exporting tasks. BIMrx Cloud Manager is for all disciplines and will automate tedious and repetitive tasks that Autodesk Docs and Revit users waste countless hours on. Attendees will learn how to use BIMrx Cloud Manager to spend less time on low value tasks and more time focused on solving the challenges of urbanization, globalization, and sustainability.

Modeling & documenting an entire Fabrication for Revit job is a repetitive, tedious, and time consuming process. During this session attendees will learn how to leverage the commands and feature sets available to BIMrx Fabrication users to earn back budget and time for their teams throughout the project lifecycle.
Attendees will learn advanced 3D modeling commands only available with BIMrx, as well as how to string these commands together to generate complex shapes and new repeatable workflows. They will then learn automated hanger and spooling workflows, to quickly fill the model with detail & fulfil high LOD requirements. Attendees will also be introduced to Automated Point solutions, to allow users to start integrating beyond just the shop, and all the way to the field. Lastly the session will focus on setting up automated spooling, data management, and documentation workflows to quickly generate turnover sets, improve deliverables, or feed spools directly to the shop.

With cost of labor increasing and clients demanding that project timelines decrease, automating manual tasks is a simple solution to maximize profits. There are many ways to automate repetitive button clicks so that we spend less time on “low level” tasks and more time on solving the challenges of urbanization, globalization, and sustainability. Automating tasks with software can provide project teams with workflows that increase in productivity upwards of 90%. In this session we will evaluate the pros and cons through a comparison of custom-made dynamo graphs vs. commercial applications vs. custom applications to automatic Revit tasks. We will discuss topics related to customizing workflows to specific project/company needs, investing in custom development, benefits of purchasing a commercial product, and the ROI of each.

Throughout each project’s lifecycle, information tends to flow in all directions. It is common to see teams and companies scramble for data, especially at the end of construction phase, trying to deliver as-built information to operations team per project delivery scope. Issues related to data discrepancies and ambiguities tend to suggest extended construction closeout timelines, bringing negative impact to Day 1 of building operations. In this session, Microdesk will discuss various proven methods in avoiding troubles around data. We will highlight the importance of early implementation of a data dictionary, which ultimately serves as the foundation for any digital delivery processes. We will also present a cloud-based data management tool that is created to become the medium of transferring asset data during the handover phase. Furthermore, we will demonstrate with real use cases to explain how all these methodologies formulate into an ideal (but also practical) BIM2FM workflow.

Microdesk Co-Innovation Lab collaborated with BamCore through the Autodesk Foundation to show the value and benefits of their products to clients within the industry. Utilizing the Autodesk-provided design analysis ecosystem, we showcase the energy and carbon advantages BamCore’s products can bring to the design. The developed custom workflow allows BamCore to rapidly obtain comparative energy and carbon impacts and present them to their clients without future support. We also set up the groundwork and created a phased journey to navigate the Future of Work, aiming to include an interactive UI dashboard for rapid ROI analysis. We compare BamCore technology vs. typical constructions to ensure Microdesk and BamCore co-create meaningful and inspirational future impacts toward resilient and low-carbon buildings.

Follow the journey of 5 different AEC professionals as they navigated their careers in BIM, the challenges they faced, and the impacts they have made. Learn how they developed their skills to transition from typical AEC professionals into the tech side of BIM. This discussion will show how a diverse strategy can improve corporate culture, business success, and ultimately the bottom line. Topics of discussion will include: mentorship, burnout, diversity, equality, parenthood, work-life balance, and inclusion.

For constructability purposes, Revit’s Construction modeling tools can be used to give more depth to your key building elements and elaborate on their shape, size, material, and look. These elements can be documented, scheduled, and shown alongside the rest of your model or in their own set of shop drawings.
The Parts feature can be used to ‘explode’ your walls and floors down to their basic layers, allowing you to change them in a variety of ways.
We’ll also show you how to use the assemblies feature. These capabilities are among the most underused in Revit, and I’ll make a case for why you should use them more frequently.

The current digital transformation trend is crafting a high-level strategy that challenges the as-is industry states, ramping up the adoption of new digital tools and processes, and impacting the decision-making of upskilling investment. To the AECO industry, digital transformation is a journey that embraces a portfolio with diverse innovations that are all aligned with facility expectations and business goals. In this session, the speaker will walk through the current digital transformation in the industry in terms of data migration, integration, and further analytics & reporting. Furthermore, the speaker will detail the promising future of the digital twin, a critical component of digital transformation in this industry, by highlighting and demoing a connected future. Various state-of-the-art technologies like IoT connection, Artificial Intelligence, and Neural Language Understanding will be introduced with use cases, with solid connections with Autodesk Construction Cloud (BIM360).

Join us as we look back on Build Health International’s important work, as well as its collaboration with the Autodesk Foundation & Microdesk’s Co-Innovation Lab, in developing workflows for more sustainable and comfortable buildings. This session will focus on the interoperability between Autodesk Revit and Rhino using Rhino Inside Revit to better document & analyze design strategies, building on earlier workflows using Ladybug/Honeybee in Rhino Grasshopper for climate and conceptual comfort analysis. This talk will also cover how to use Ladybug Tools’ Pollination Cloud to produce high-quality energy models from Revit elements, which can then be exported for use in energy analysis tools. Finally, we’ll look at how including energy modeling early in the project lifecycle can lead to better collaboration with project stakeholders by establishing procedures for the design of high-quality, energy-efficient buildings in areas of Africa & Haiti where reliable energy is scarce.

The AECO industry is constantly evolving and at a rapid pace. As senior professionals approach retirement what brain trust do they leave for the generation coming behind them? How can organizations approach and maintain knowledge retention? When decades of knowledge are no longer available, knowledge management becomes sought-after knowledge, now gone, its management becomes an afterthought. How can organizations leverage their body of knowledge? How can they prepare for tech evolution? Will adopting new technology always answer the tough knowledge management problems? These are some of the questions that should be asked in an ever-changing industry rapidly adopting technology, but also losing knowledge. Are organizations set up to prosper or preparing to keep business as usual? The importance of maintaining Standard Operating Procedures to maintain Change Management from one generation of professionals to the next will be explored.

With a simple, clean Revit ribbon tab, it is now possible to model and coordinate pipe, duct, conduit, cable tray and more in a single view. The need to change views is gone – open additional views now just to monitor designs. How many minutes a day do you spend creating sections and changing views? How much time and money would you no longer spend ever again if that dropped to zero minutes? Imagine pitching a branch pipe and elevating to align to the main, in a single, 10 second operation, or creating kick 90’s with two clicks, repeatedly, as fast as you can click, or rerouting multiple services over, under or around all in a single 10 second operation, with no bespoke content. If you change views a dozen times or more per day and perform modeling tasks like these just ten times a day, and you bill out at $75/hr., how much overhead would that put back in your pocket, simply NOT waiting on Revit anymore? How much would you save if you bill out at $150/hr? Come find out!

Where do you draw the line between importing complex geometry and creating it natively in Revit? The adaptive modeling features are not intuitive and can scare designers away from the program. In this session, we are going to tackle the undefined modeling constraints for complex non-rectilinear surfaces and look at how to overcome it. We will show when it is a good time to use interoperability workflows and compare it to starting your complex modeling process in Revit. With real world projects, we will show examples where we have used these techniques to challenge ourselves and created incredible work that has significantly benefited the bottom line. There will be like for like comparisons between similar model elements from the two workflows covering file size, usability, parametric ability, and data rich systems.

CAD is still the primary design, coordination, construction management, and building operation platform for many architects and engineers, designers and consultants, contractors and owners throughout the world. It’s time to switch to something new, just as we no longer use a flip phone. It’s time for a technological upgrade. We’re not anti-AutoCAD, but learning and implementing new technology is always beneficial to a company’s bottom line. We will demonstrate the value of this proposition and argue that trying something new is beneficial to your business.

As BIM is impacting design workflows, many transportation agencies are beginning to adopt a Digital Delivery program requiring BIM models as deliverables. However, the value of a BIM model does not stop with project completion. With the advancement of technology and integration of systems, agencies can transform internal workflows and increase productivity by efficiently managing and analyzing data throughout the project life cycle.
This session will review a strategic path for developing a Technology Plan to drive digital transformation. We will focus on Digital Delivery within the transportation sector and how it can be customizable per each agency’s goals. Highlighting a case study, where strategizing digital transformation for one agency impacted their roadmap, priorities, technology adoption, and standards development for their Digital Delivery initiative. Find out how advancing technology and business strategy can be leveraged to create efficient workflows for Digital Delivery.

Technical support is an important topic that is sometimes overlooked. Users require assistance and should be able to get it when they require it in order to effectively use their digital tools. Microdesk’s consulting team of technical specialists has established a compelling service that people use every day to have their issues resolved and questions answered. All you need is passion and knowledge to work at a support desk. Passion for helping others and knowledge of how to solve problems, or at the very least how to ask the right questions. This story will be told, as well as some basic troubleshooting advice and an overview of the most prevalent difficulties and how we resolve them. We will assist you regardless of who you are. Our specialists feel supported while working with clients and have the confidence of the team behind them because even people from within the organization reach out for assistance.

The term “sustainability” is a broad term that covers a wide range of topics. We’ve come to learn more about what sustainability means in the AECO & MFG industry for each of our major sectors. What do we have in common and what are the differences? Let’s talk about how we can bridge the gaps in our sectors to create better collaboration and a more sustainable design, construction, and operation. We hope to bring together industry thought leaders from all sectors in this event to discuss how to create a more sustainable cross-industry process that meets the needs of all project stakeholders. At the end of this session, we will share the raw data collected to assist in solving these roadblocks upon returning to work.

The term “sustainability” is a broad term that covers a wide range of topics. We’ve come to learn more about what sustainability means in the architecture world. Let’s talk about how we can fill up the gaps in everyday architectural procedures. Our goal is to create better collaboration so that we can design, build, and operate in a more sustainable manner. We hope to bring together thought leaders from the architectural sector in this event to discuss methods to make the adoption of early and predictive analysis more sustainable. We’ll also talk about the stumbling obstacles to effective collaboration and communication with stakeholders. We will share the raw data obtained at the end of this session to help you start navigating these barriers when you return to your workplace.

The demand for sustainable construction is growing at an incredible pace. It is estimated that the market for sustainable construction materials will hit $377 billion by 2022. We’ve come to learn about the importance of sustainability in the building sector. Let’s talk about the stumbling obstacles and how we might close the gaps in standard construction practices. Our goal is to improve collaboration in order to achieve more sustainable design, construction, and operations. The goal of this session is to bring together thought leaders in the construction sector to explore more sustainable approaches for the implementation of early, predictive, and real-time analysis. We’ll also talk about the roadblocks to successful stakeholder collaboration and communication. We will share the raw data obtained at the end of this session to help you navigate these barriers once you return to your workplace.

This market is anticipated to reach $103.08 billion by 2023. Engineers can help improve everyone’s welfare, health, and safety by working on sustainable projects. Sustainability is a broad term that covers many concerns. We are here to learn about engineering sustainability. Explore the obstacles and how to overcome them in everyday Engineering procedures. Our goal is to improve collaboration for more sustainable design, construction, and operation. In this session, industry thought leaders will discuss how to achieve more sustainable methods for early, predictive, and thorough analysis for validation and verification workflows. The team’s environmental impact will undoubtedly increase as they adopt more sustainable methods. We will identify and discuss the obstacles to successful stakeholder collaboration and communication. This event will culminate with a data sharing session to help you develop strategies when you return to your workplace.

Achieving long-term economic viability requires sustainable manufacturing. Globally, rising costs of materials, energy, and compliance, as well as consumer, investor, and community demands, are exerting pressure on firms. Our experiences suggest that environmental improvements are linked to increased profitability and competitiveness; nevertheless, many small and medium-sized businesses, accounting for nearly all businesses, have yet to take advantage of these opportunities. Let’s pinpoint the issue. Client pressure, a lack of knowledge and resources, or simply not knowing where to start are all issues. This workshop will bring together manufacturing industry thought leaders to assist them discover more sustainable processes and apply early, predictive, and real-time analysis. We’ll also discuss roadblocks to effective stakeholder collaboration and communication. When you return to your work, you will be armed with the raw data collected during this session.

The term “sustainability” is a broad term that covers a wide range of topics. We’ve come to learn more about what sustainability means to business owners in our industry. Let’s talk about the stumbling obstacles and how we might close the gap in how owners interact with project stakeholders. Our mission is to improve collaboration and develop more sustainable ways of designing, building, and operating. In this session, we aim to bring together owners who lead our industry to design better to achieve a more sustainable process for the adoption of sustainability strategies. By 2023, the green construction market in the United States is estimated to reach $103.08 billion. Green buildings that integrate such measures have been shown to boost their asset value by 7%. We’ll also talk about the challenges of working with stakeholders to attain these objectives.

BIMrx is purpose-built software developed by AEC professionals for AEC professionals and is focused on accelerating project setup, data management, and documentation. BIMrx is built to streamline the entire BIM project lifecycle from views and model production to collaborating with stakeholders and project administration. In this demo we will show you workflows on how to set up projects faster, manage data more efficiently, and accelerate documenting views with BIMrx Core. BIMrx Core is for all disciplines and will alleviate those tedious tasks that users spend countless hours on. It is an add-on for Revit to work in conjunction with your current project workflows and add efficiency to many Revit tasks. We will demonstrate how multi-disciplinary firms like SM&W use BIMrx to setup their Revit projects faster and increase their ROI so that they spend less time on low level tasks and more time focused on solving the challenges of urbanization, globalization, and sustainability

Growing demand for digital twin solutions is observed due to the rising awareness of asset health optimization, increased IoT market penetration, and expansion of smart building infrastructure. We’ll debunk a few myths and show you how to make your smart building vision a reality by embracing the Autodesk suite from the start. Learn what’s driving this shift in data value, how to use it to interact with stakeholders, and find the measurements and KPIs that will give you or your clients real value. Find out what a digital twin is, as well as the many levels of implementation. Consider how these small steps can add up to large outcomes and help you meet your sustainability objectives, as well as how they can be used to create a digital representation to support the owner’s objectives in an easily digestible style.

The buzz around AI, VR, and Digital Twins in manufacturing can be overwhelming. In reality, these technologies can add real value to your firm. Even though 73% of manufacturers believe digital technologies will increase ROI, more than half have yet to implement them. Autodesk Foundation and Microdesk Co-Innovation Lab partnered with Pallet Shelter, a rapidly growing startup with a mission to combat homelessness, workforce development and promote sustainable communities. Through this collaboration, Pallet Shelter is strengthening channels of communication & means of storing and sharing data by implementing solutions from the Autodesk Ecosystem. With centrally accessible documentation and built-in business procedures, unifying the firm on a Common Data Environment (CDE) gives key stakeholders insight into the design process. This infrastructure supports the company’s rapid and long-term expansion.