NXT DEV 2024

Introduction to NXT DEV

A Wall Street’s insider’s view of the AEC design technology landscape, putting the spotlight on rapidly evolving business models (e.g. licensing, subscriptions, tokens, pay per project) that are impacting the market.

Everything you wanted to know about software development but were too afraid to ask. Former Autodesk co-CEO Hanspar will share his vast experiences, including starting a company, building a team, raising capital, creating a minimum viable product, execution, go-to-market strategies, financials, and the importance of perseverance and self-care.

At NXT DEV 2023, Aaron Perry of AHMM Architects, talking on behalf of a collective of medium-to-large AEC firms, gave a masterful presentation on the ‘Future Design Software Specification’.

The specification document lays out what the AEC industry wants from its future design tools, covering everything from data framework, context and scale, responsible design, and modular construction, to user experience, modelling capabilities, automation, intelligence, deliverables and more.

This year, Andy Watts, director of design technology at Grimshaw, will give an update on the specification and then hand over to Allister Lewis, ADDD, to talk about benchmarking software against the specification.

Martyn Day // AEC Magazine, together with

- Skema - Marty Rozmanith
- Snaptrude - Altaf Ganihar
- Augmenta - Francesco Iorio
- Grabert - Robert Grabert

AEC Magazine co-founder, Martyn Day, will give his unique perspective on the latest AEC software development trends. We are not just seeing the development of next generation cloud-based BIM tools, but also applications which will crush timelines and offer big boosts to productivity with current BIM 1.0 applications. The manual process of working from conceptual, through detail, to drawings and PDFs will be accelerated by automation tools and expert systems.

In his presentation there will be a world first demonstration of multiple new applications working together to show the kinds of design automation tools which will change the way we use BIM for design.

Host: Martyn Day // AEC Magazine.

- Andrew Victory // Arcadis
- Janne Aas-Jakobsen // Consigli
- Clifton Harness // TestFit.
- Marty Rozmanith // Skema, Inc.
- Dimitrie Stefanescu // speckle.systems

To date, the industry has made do with relatively manual tools and workflows. A whole new generation of automation and expert systems are coming to market to shortcut the boring work and provide leaps in productivity. While some tools may harness the power of AI, it’s not specific to the genre. Often, it’s just about working smarter. Work that would usually take months will be done in days, hours or even minutes. How are firms to prepare for this? What other areas are open to automation? We have a panel of the greatest minds and tool developers to go deep on these exciting new technologies.

Host: Martyn Day // AEC Magazine

- Jeff Mottle // NVIDIA
- Francesco Iorio // Augmenta
- May Winfield // Buro Happold
- Julien Moutte // Bentley
- Adi Shavit // SWAPP

While Artificial Intelligence / ML is going through the hype-cycle, the full impact on AEC has yet to be felt. Many software developers are working on applications, and we are seeing early uses in conceptual design, but AI tools will eventually be sprinkled throughout the AEC process, from concept, through fabrication to operation, dramatically increasing productivity.

Our panel will discuss application areas in use, in development, what AI training for AEC involves, the legal ramifications of AI (learning, IP protection), in-house vs general AI and what AI expert systems will mean to current workflows.

Intro: Martyn Day // AEC Magazine.
Host: Richard Harpham

- Jens Majdal Kaarsholm // BIG
- Andy Watts // Grimshaw
- Iain Godwin // Godwin Consulting
- Alain Waha, CTO, Buro Happold

In this world nothing is said to be certain, except death and taxes. One might suggest that ‘changing software business models and increasing prices’ should be added to that list. With rapid metastases in licensing and pricing models, customers seem to be at the receiving end of this. Design IT Directors have to cope with rapidly evolving their tech stacks against a backdrop of subscription fees and license model changes. It’s not just one firm, but all firms that are experimenting with extracting the most from their user bases.

What do Design IT Directors think of current business models? What licensing models work and don’t work? Pricing has gone from pay once, perpetual, to some software firms wanting a % of the project fee. We have a panel of customers to give us their frank opinions.

In the realm of architecture, there’s a significant, often unspoken gap between the explicit data in BIM models and drawings and the implicit, high-level expertise and intent of architects that shapes these models. SWAPP is now bridging this gap by transforming this dispersed and implicit knowledge into explicit, accessible, verifiable, and actionable insights, guidelines and operations.
By leveraging the capabilities of Large Language Models and integrating them with generative BIM AI, SWAPP enables clients to immediately benefit from bespoke automation tailored to their needs, deeper insights and increased efficiency.

This talk will highlight how Graebert's ARES suite uses automation to streamline BIM drawing production, saving time, reducing errors, and allowing professionals to focus on creative tasks. The session will also cover the integration with new design tools and their approach of mixing automation with flexible editing, providing a powerful toolset.

Host: Martyn Day // AEC Magazine

Adi Shavit - SWAPP
Robert Grabert - Grabert
Julien Moutte - Bentley
Greg Schleusner - HOK

There are now multiple software developers working on creating auto-drawing tools. This includes the main BIM suppliers - Autodesk, Nemetschek and Bentley Systems - as well as Graebert CAD and SWAPP.

Auto-drawings will be an application on your desktop, or a cloud service for mass automation.

How much can be done today? What will be the cost? How can we trust the output? For the first time, we bring together many of the people behind auto-drawing development to present at NXT DEV, so the industry can set their expectations of what’s coming.

Host: Martyn Day // AEC Magazine

- Moritz Luck - Luck Investment
- Jess Clemans - A0 Proptech
- Shubhankar Bhattacharya - Foundamental

For software start-ups and industry experts with an entrepreneurial outlook, our panel of experienced venture capitalists and enterprise investors will be quizzed on the details of today’s market.

VCs can express their views on trends and give advice to better use any time in an engagement when seeking funding.

Snaptrude is the most mature and well-funded of the BIM 2.0 players. Its cloud-based BIM modeller is set to disrupt the traditional market for BIM platforms in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) design sector. In this session, founder Altaf Ganihar will share more about the latest updates and preview a few of the upcoming capabilities.

After a series of local 'Qonic Talks' events in London, Ghent, and Utrecht, with more than 200+ attendees, at NXT DEV Qonic will demonstrate its launch capabilities, to revolutionise and transform 3D modelling and BIM solutions. Qonic has a model-centric approach, which features the automation of modelling tasks, with a robust solid modelling engine, and Qonic's commitment to bringing 3D modelling to the cloud.

Parametric models created with Grasshopper have long been a popular no-code framework for architects and engineers to iterate, analyze, and optimize early-stage design options. Automating these processes with Grasshopper helps save time and cost. However, sharing these models with colleagues, clients, and other stakeholders is difficult if they don't know how to use them.

Enter ShapeDiver, a framework that turns Grasshopper models into scalable and secure web applications that can be shared with anyone at the click of a button.

And there's more: ShapeDiver's API allows these apps to be integrated into workflows and other tools like Skema and Autodesk Forma.

Are you tired of cumbersome design workflows and software that stifles your creativity? Spacio is here to revolutionize the way you approach architecture. Our intuitive, easy-to-use web tool empowers architects and engineers to seamlessly sketch, design, and optimize buildings—all from a single platform.

In this presentation, we will unveil Spacio's innovative features, showcasing how it can transform your design workflow and elevate your architectural vision. We will also delve into the technology and underlying features that make Spacio a game-changer in the field of architecture.

Host: Iain Godwin // Godwin Consulting
Introduction: Cobus Bothma // NVIDIA

- John Manoochehri // Treasury
- Shajay Bhooshan // ZHA
- Sasha Crotty // Autodesk

Universal Scene Description (USD) is best known as Pixar’s lightweight data format for transferring scenes between their animation teams. It’s worked extremely well for that intended purpose. Over the last few years USD has been championed by NVIDIA as a seamless solution for CDE data wrangling and collaborative working on the web. USD has since been adopted by firms such as Autodesk and Siemens as a possible data format for internal and external data sharing. Pixar has agreed to let the industry advance USD’s development to better cater to other vertical markets, including Mechanical CAD (MCAD) and AEC. This result in the creation of the AOUSD – Alliance for Open USD, which will extend USD to better serve AEC with relevant metadata and capabilities and expand its architecture to suit streamed cloud environments.

While the AOUSD was created last year, the number of firms supporting this initiative has been rapidly expanding and looks set to be a core AEC format in the future, with a targeted aim of ISO standardisation.

AT NXT DEV we will quiz the key firms behind the AOUSD on what kinds of capabilities we can expect to see added to USD with regards to the AEC community, how they envisage it being used? How will it compare to IFC?

Host: Marc Goldman // ESRI

Greg Schleusner // HOK
Emma Hooper // RLB Digital
Cobus Bothma // NVIDIA
Antonio González Viegas // ThatOpenCompany
Francesco Siddi // Blender

The AEC industry has been hamstrung with proprietary file formats and a need for data wrangling. There is now great lip service paid to openness and it seems that every vendor is onboard to opening up the data flows between applications. But it’s not just about files, which are ‘dead things working’. What happens when we have most of our data hosted on the cloud, where we rely on open API access to proprietary data stores? We assemble a panel of experts to discuss what openness should be and how we get there, what formats will emerge and how data should be structured to benefit everyone.

Consigli uses artificial intelligence and mathematical optimisation, and offers users built-in expertise from the construction and real estate industry to assist in design. This will reduce engineering time by months and reduce the cost of material and installation, enabling clients to harness insights for the planning and design of buildings.

Sparkel is a web-based platform with AI capabilities that simplifies quantity takeoff for construction projects. It enables seamless collaboration, ensuring accurate, real-time quantities and thereby reducing miscalculations and rework. Unlike traditional tools, Sparkel works on low-LoD, imperfect BIM models and is easy to use, requiring no training. With Sparkel, construction projects will save time, cut costs, and improve efficiency by having full control of all quantities with minimal effort.

Host: Richard Harpham

- Jeremy Tully - Intel
- Marty Rozmanith - Skema, Inc
- Bruce Bell - Facit Homes
- Oliver Green - Kope

We all know the future of AEC lies in the convergence of Digital Design with Digital Fabrication. However, the route to that utopia seems to have been an expensive experiment for many offsite fabrication firms in the US and UK.

We have assembled a panel of experts to discuss the path to Digital Fabrication, what we can learn from the failed and the successful attempts. What strategies can be adopted at the design stage to ensure better manufactured outcomes?

Host: Iain Godwin // Godwin Consulting

- Tiemen Strobbe // Qonic
- Mark Van Den Bergh // Qonic
- Altaf Ganihaf // Snaptrude

Next generation BIM tool development kicked off an industry-wide, concerted effort to innovate the model to drawing process. Embracing the cloud, with collaboration built in, and allowing access to models from anywhere, we bring together the teams on this marathon to flesh out new platforms to challenge BIM 1.0 workflows and tools.

How has development progressed? What new things will we be able to do over first generation tools? Can a cloud app really be as fast or faster than a desktop?

SpaceForm is an AI-powered, 3D visualisation platform built in Unreal Engine, for immersing clients in one virtual space, in a few clicks.

The problem is that Real-estate developers and architects want immersive twins but the setup process is time consuming and service heavy. Populating photorealistic twins from architectural design files to make them believable is technical and time consuming so the perception is that they only suit larger scale projects.

Once the twin is set up, publishing to a high quality spatial platform takes technical knowledge and knowhow in preparing the cloud environment. Only then can a customer access the twin and unlock the full potential of this transformative technology.

SpaceForm solves this by a 90% reduction of time, effort and skills needed to create spatial presentations from 3D design files in three ways:

Convert: Proprietary pipeline optimises, cleans and prepares a twin in minutes from a 3D file directly from the most popular design packages like Rhino, Sketchup and Revit.

Populate: AI and automation used to populate the twin with people, furniture, fixtures and fittings using AI and natural language interfaces.

Publish: Unique immersive platform that enables 3D design reviews, sales presentations, unlimited expansion and direct AI image generation.

SpaceForm is about experiencing design perfectly. From 3D design to immersive twin, in minutes.