Autodesk has launched Forma, an industry cloud that it claims will unify workflows across the teams that design, build and operate the built environment.
According to Autodesk, Forma’s initial capabilities target the early-stage planning and design process with automations and AI-powered insights. These simplify exploration of design concepts, offload repetitive tasks, and help evaluate environmental qualities surrounding a building site.
Amy Bunszel, executive vice president of architecture, engineering and construction design solutions at Autodesk, said: “Forma gives architecture professionals the agility to work iteratively rather than sequentially between planning and detailed design, supercharging what they can accomplish. From rapidly evaluating a large set of factors – from sun and wind to noise and operational energy – to offloading computational tasks to the cloud and connecting with Revit, Forma unlocks great value for our customers.”
Forma’s capabilities
Included in Autodesk Forma’s initial capabilities are:
- Contextual modelling to “radically simplify the process to start a new project”. Users can set up a 3D model of the entire project area “within minutes", Autodesk claims. Users can input their own data or buy data sets for selected geographies within Forma.
- Conceptual design capabilities offer design tools for users to express design intents and create complex designs in 3D in “minutes”.
- Automation speeds up early exploration of design concepts. With parametric tools, users can “quickly develop many design concepts and variations to ensure the full solution space is explored”.
- Machine learning performs real-time analyses across key density and environmental qualities such as sunlight, daylight, wind, and microclimate, without users requiring deep technical expertise, Autodesk says. Therefore environmental analyses can be completed from day one of the design process.
- Revit add-in provides a file-less sync between Forma and Revit. This allows users to detail their Forma data in Revit and bring it back to Forma for analysis.
Forma is included in the Autodesk AEC Collection for existing subscribers.
“This is just the beginning,” said Bunszel. “I’m excited for the future as we continue to build out Forma, reimagining BIM to focus on achieving outcomes instead of modelling, and connecting data, teams, and workflows across the entire project lifecycle.”
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