By Rebecca Lipsitch - 27th June, 2024

Shaping the Future of Digitally Connected and Sustainable Cities

At BuiltWorlds' recent two-day AEC conference, centered on innovation, technology, and sustainability in the building industry, PLASTARC founder Melissa Marsh moderated a panel called “Shaping the Future of Digitally Connected and Sustainable Cities.”

This event addressed the urgent need to seamlessly integrate emerging building and design technologies with sustainability. Marsh was accompanied by four thought-provoking panelists representing diverse specialties.

John Cerone is a Principal at SHoP Architects, leading virtual design and construction teams with a focus on technology integration, in projects like the Barclays Center and Botswana Innovation Hub. Bernd Oswald, co-founder and VP of Development at GROPYUS, pioneers digitized timber construction for sustainability. Formerly, he held leadership roles at CREE Buildings and Mayr-Melnhof Holz Holding AG. Pallavi Mantha, a climate and sustainability lead with the consultancy group Arup focuses on the intersection of decarbonization, energy resilience, and equity. Paul Doherty, President & CEO of The Digit Group, drives Smart City initiatives, via architecture and technology integration.

One of the major talking points was the significant benefits of technology within the entire building process and particularly, its impact on efficiency and precision. Cerone explained the ways in which the entire design and modeling process is unfortunately very abstract and 2D- centric. Given the vitality of precision, specifically when aiming to control and reduce waste in the manufacturing and construction phase, an imprecise relationship to geometry becomes a major obstacle. “You can't get to the conversation around having control over sustainability and environmental impact if you're in a super imprecise way of trying to describe buildings,” he said. He advocates for a much greater use of 3D models, in which one can visualize the space, seematerials, and get a sense for how people might move through the space. Such visualization becomes more accessible to stakeholders, including clients who aren’t trained in 3D CAD. It’s also easier for clients to give feedback earlier in the design process, if the proposed building with all proposed materials and cost is immediately shown in VR.

While Oswald agrees that one of the biggest challenges to sustainable design is efficiency and affordability, he has a slightly different approach. Instead of human-created 3D models, he advocates for a completely digitized process, from design to construction. Not only does industrialized construction sink short term costs, but he argues, it limits room for error and allows learning through repetition and from data. Oswald says that the integration of AI minimizes errors and accelerates project timelines, focusing on machine-to-machine communication to streamline operations and reduce human-related challenges in the construction process.

On this same theme, Mantha highlights “Inform”, a generative tool developed ARUP for a variety of building and infrastructure projects that allows users to “combine a variety of relevant constraints or client preferences, before generating thousands of workable designs.” InForm helps stakeholders visualize site and budget constraints and client preferences in the earliest stages of a project, allowing users to test dozens and even hundreds of different factors, ranging from direct sun exposure to using the most sustainable materials. This visualization may evolve with new data.

Doherty comes more from a place of general livability and an improved work-life balance. Taking inspiration from games like Fortnite, he mentions bringing the gaming nomenclature and vocabulary such as “NPC” (non-player character, or characters who are not controlled by a player) to the workforce, with a metaverse-like approach.

Doherty proposes the idea of having AI motion/reality capture learn from an architect or contractor, and begin work during employees’ off hours. Once this technology becomes smart enough, everything from material delivery to effective decision-making about materials will become automated.This technology could also cut costs through minimizing errors..

Overall, the panel considered current best-practices with technology and sustainability goals, and helped the audience imagine a healthier, climate-focused future.