Category: Features
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City Development with Interactive 3D Models
The Finnish city of Hyvinkää has developed a unique internet service for collaborative 3D city planning. It gives real estate owners, investors, developers, designers, authorities, and citizens easy-to-use tools to publish their 3D plans and ideas for the built city environment. Participants can comment on the 3D plans directly in the city model. The 3D…
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The Winning Teams at the AEC Hackathon Helsinki
The AEC Hackathon on September 7-9, 2018, was a part of Housing Fair Finland’s City Living event. The winning hack teams presented three quite different solutions to the hackathon challenges. The hackathon took place in a school building constructed in 1878 that the current owner, Kojamo, is developing into a hotel. The three hackathon challenges…
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How AI Can Become a Design Adviser
Parametrized design software is not a recent invention. This software is based on predetermined, fixed algorithms, leaving most of the work to the designer. Sweco, a leading engineering consultancy, is now exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) could take design automation in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry to the next level. Ricardo Farinha “We want…
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How Uber is Developing Urban Mobility – An Interview with Marius Macku
I had the pleasure of interviewing Uber’s Marius Macku, Senior Associate of Public Policy & Government Relations, EU. We discuss the outlook for urban mobility. Can you say a few words about your background and your current position at Uber? Sure. I’ve joined Uber almost two years ago, leading our policy efforts around mobility in…
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BIM Meets Reality on the Construction Site
BIM models are mostly used by foremen on construction sites. But what if they could be made available for workers at the press of a button? This question was what the Finnish government-funded KIRA pilot project set out to answer. As a by-product, the project also produced augmented reality (AR) solutions for construction sites. Otto…
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How BIM Can Serve Building Owners
Building Information Models typically end their active life after the construction phase. An experimental project was initiated to find out whether and how they can serve owners throughout the life cycle of a building. Gradia, the Jyväskylä Educational Consortium, provides education to students of all ages in central Finland. It has around 25,000 students, a…
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Amos Rex – A Museum for the Digital Age
In the very heart of Helsinki, a new museum is set to open its doors to showcase the art of the future. Amos Rex is an architectural and artistic gem that seeks to make modern art more accessible for people to experience and enjoy. Kai Kartio The construction work for the museum was almost completed…
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Connecting IoT Data to BIM
Internet of Things sensors and IoT-capable devices provide a huge amount of data from buildings. To make this data useful and usable for research, Aalto University is developing and testing a service that links IoT with building information models, BIMs. “The idea to start an experiment on linking IoT with BIM at the Otaniemi campus…
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Digitalizing Cross-Laminated Timber Construction – AEC Business
A Finnish experimentation project has made cross-laminated timber construction more productive and creative by using digital modeling. The office of &’ [Emmi Keskisarja & Janne Teräsvirta & Company Architects Ltd] looks rather like a prototype workshop. Intriguing scale models, a 3D printer, and a small CNC machine all give clues about the architects’ current project.…
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Raising the Bar: Sellen Construction’s Salla Palos and Construction Tech
Find out how Palos and Sellen Construction are leading the way in turning Seattle into a real-time incubator for the latest in construction innovation. When you think about the forefront of innovation in the US, you may first think of New York City or Silicon Valley. However, just like paradigm-shifting companies Amazon and Starbucks, the…