{"id":93855,"date":"2017-10-04T13:00:32","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T17:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techvibes.com\/?p=93855"},"modified":"2017-10-04T18:02:03","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T22:02:03","slug":"autodesks-new-toronto-office-displays-algorithm-driven-generative-design","status":"publish","type":"magazine","link":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/magazine\/autodesks-new-toronto-office-displays-algorithm-driven-generative-design","title":{"rendered":"Autodesk&#8217;s New Toronto Office Displays Algorithm-Driven Generative Design"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Autodesk recently unveiled its new Toronto space inside MaRS Discovery District\u2014but it wasn&#8217;t a typical ribbon cutting. It marked the first large-scale generatively designed office ever constructed.<\/p>\n<p>Spanning three floors and 60,000 square feet, the American multinational company chose Toronto to display the architectural power of a new tool\u00a0Autodesk has incubated over several years.\u00a0It&#8217;s called\u00a0Project Discovery, a generative design tool.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe automated the design of an office space. But the result is that it augments the skills of a designer,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Gordon Kurtenbach, Autodesk&#8217;s head of research.<\/p>\n<p>Project Discovery combines human ingenuity and machine learning, using intelligent algorithms to factor in engineering constraints to create thousands of design possibilities. These constraints are elements that can\u2019t be moved or adjusted including windows, stairs, elevators and the physical floor space. Generative design\u00a0takes these parameters into account and\u00a0pulls in the individual preferences\u00a0of the people that work in the space to humanize the design.<\/p>\n<p>Kurtenbach said they met with teams and surveyed more than 250 employees to learn what matters to them within an office.\u00a0For Autodesk Toronto, there were six measurable\u00a0preferences, including distance to neighbours and amenities, availability to daylight, visual distractions and views to outside.<\/p>\n<p>Autodesk Toronto took the personal input, quantified the data and then synthesized that into the algorithm that\u00a0generated office layouts. In the first meeting with the research team running the project,\u00a0Kurtenbach recalled being showed what he thought were eight designs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But those were just the eight families of designs&#8230; In the end, we generated 10,000 possibilities and selected the best from that,&#8221;\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_93879\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93879\" style=\"width: 1440px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-93879 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/app\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Autodesk2.jpg\" alt=\"Autodesk2\" width=\"1440\" height=\"800\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-93879\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Each team works within what Autodesk calls a neighbourhood, one of 15 spaces the teams had the chance to customize with murals and more.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_93880\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93880\" style=\"width: 1440px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-93880 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/app\/uploads\/2017\/10\/autodesk3.jpg\" alt=\"autodesk3\" width=\"1440\" height=\"800\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-93880\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;When you have a mix of teams with different work styles, a big question is: what does a productive office look like?&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Kurtenbach assured that architects are still needed in the design and delivery of a space, but that Project Discovery can enhance what they do. The software represents a co-design between human and computer that makes data-informed trade-offs to create an optimized office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the first time, we can fulfill the promise of design: to understand the intention and understand the connection of what you commit to before you actually put it on the planet,\u201d said Jeff Kowalski, Autodesk\u2019s chief technology officer.<\/p>\n<p>The software allows stakeholders to visualize how\u00a0design elements are interconnected and how small preferences can shift the design.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we have limited resources in form of energy, labour, natural materials, and we\u2019re seeking to optimize them on the planet, the way that all architecture has been performed to date is that we have shipped out betas. We understand it after it is built and then wish we could have built something else,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Each design changes the boundaries between the teams and rearranges desks to meet the complex goals, helping an architect navigate through those options.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are combining human intelligence and machine intelligence&#8230; to create better outcomes,\u201d said Kowalski.<\/p>\n<p>While Autodesk was the first customer to use their own generative design software to conceptualize office layouts, Kurtenbach said that other companies are beginning to use the tool for similar purposes.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly named generative design tool Project Dreamcatcher has been\u00a0used for consumer products.\u00a0Under Armour used the software to consider weight, style, material and cost to create the first consumer-grade\u00a03D printed performance trainer.<\/p>\n<p>Autodesk will be at Toronto&#8217;s next\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/borndigital.com\/techfest\/toronto\" target=\"_blank\">Techfest<\/a> on Oct. 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Autodesk recently unveiled its new Toronto space inside MaRS Discovery District\u2014but it wasn&#8217;t a typical ribbon cutting. It marked the first large-scale generatively designed office ever constructed. Spanning three floors and 60,000 square feet, the American multinational company chose Toronto to display the architectural power of a new tool\u00a0Autodesk has incubated over several years.\u00a0It&#8217;s called\u00a0Project [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76241,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1243,1609,1030,1628,21],"magazine-region":[],"magazine-series":[],"magazine-topic":[],"class_list":["post-93855","magazine","type-magazine","status-publish","hentry","category-News","tag-autodesk","tag-generative-design","tag-mars-discovery-district","tag-project-discovery","tag-toronto"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/93855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/magazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/76241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/93855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93855"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-region?post=93855"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-series?post=93855"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=93855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}