Tag: environmental analysis
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Designing with data: Rethinking South Downtown Dallas as a 15-Minute city
Students from the College of Architecture, Planning, and Urban Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), presented a bold vision for the revitalization of South Downtown Dallas. Designed in the spirit of 15-minute cities, their masterplan took a sensitive approach to a complex site, carefully considering densification, quality of life, new urban connections,…
Customer Stories
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Designing resilient cities: a data-driven approach to site analysis
What happens when cars make way for pedestrians as part of a 15-minute city? How do environmental conditions impact people’s wellbeing? With these questions and more in mind, students from the College of Architecture, Planning, and Urban Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) presented a bold vision for the revitalization of South…
Customer Stories
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Forma Building Design: Explore more ideas before it’s time for BIM
We're launching Forma Building Design, a cloud-based analysis and schematic design software that makes design exploration faster and lower-effort.
Autodesk Forma
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Schematic design in multifamily projects: when decisions–and mistakes–scale
Decisions made during schematic design last a building’s lifetime. Long before it’s time for construction documents, material selections, detailed engineering — the fundamental choices made here define massing, spatial organization, building orientation, unit layout, and core placement. They’re especially critical in multifamily projects because they don’t just affect one unit but scale across 50, 100, 200 or more units. To get these decisions right requires rigorous exploration during schematic design to ask questions, test ideas, check performance, and fine tune numbers. For this phase…
Industry & Insights
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How BDP upskills its team for positive impact
BDP is embedding sustainability into everyday design by empowering its global workforce to make sustainable decisions routine rather than exceptional. The firm began with a skills survey to understand where teams stood, then developed internal sustainability champions and a Climate Action and Social Impact Design Framework aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Implemented as…
Customer Stories
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How to: analyze your first proposal
In this article, you’ll learn how to run the sun hours analysis in Forma Site Design. The sun hours analysis provides a visual map of sun exposure – it’s a major part of any architecture site analysis. It shows how many hours of direct sunlight your site and building receive on specific dates. How to…
Learning
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Design for Good: The science behind the design at HMC Architects
Executive summary Guided by their “Design for Good” ethos, HMC Architects are delivering pursuits with a new competitive edge thanks to AI and data-driven tools. A recent proposal for a STEM center at a California community college demanded an innovative design focused on sustainability and student needs–within a deadline of just four weeks. Navigating the…
Customer Stories
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Five ways Forma Site Design helps architects beat early phase deadlines
The early stage of a project sets the foundation for success—but it’s also when tight deadlines and budgets hit hardest. Architects need to quickly understand site conditions, test multiple concepts, and keep teams aligned—all while time, resources are limited. They face the pressure to deliver clear direction quickly, often with limited resources, incomplete data, and too…
Product
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Serious fun: data-driven design that hits all the right notes
Guest blog postAuthor: Marco D’AmbrogioLead for Architectural Intelligence, Sweco Denmark Last September, Daniel Rees from Skanska and I, representing Sweco Architects Denmark, had the honor of competing on stage at the AECO Design Slam during Autodesk University 2025 in Nashville. Watch the full event here. This year’s challenge was to design a mixed-use neighborhood in…
Customer Stories
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From runway to concourse: how early analysis lifts airport performance
This blog post is based on the Autodesk University 2025 class: Leveraging Forma and its Extension Ecosystem for Airport Design. Watch the full session here. In this interview, Thesla Collier, Design Technology Manager at HNTB (pictured) shares how advanced tools unlock new opportunities to improve building performance to meet high sustainability goals. Based in the…
Customer Stories