Human-centric building design
-
Some weeks ago I joined Evan Troxel for a couple of hours to chat about my journey and some of the projects I've worked on. I've enjoyed the TRXL podcast for some time, so it was a real honour to be invited on. Our discussion has just been published as episode 152. If you prefer video, here's the version from YouTube: Evan's a great interviewer: I enjoyed the session a great deal and I hope you do, too. Listening back to it I realize there's a lot more we could have talked about… hopefully Evan will…
-
Now that the dust has settled on another Autodesk University (the best one ever?) it's a good time to revisit what brought our team to AU, this year. I realize that I've posted a lot of pictures of people wearing helmets and high visibility vests without really explaining what it was all about. Our team at Autodesk Research has been very focused on understanding the human experience of the built environment, with the ultimate goal of making our software tools better at helping our customers design human-centric spaces. Spaces that emphasize occupant well-being in its various forms. Humans are tricky:…
-
The last day of AU started, once again with me checking out the Sphere. I have to say that since the Las Vegas Grand Prix has been getting really close the quality of the content has become a bit meh, at least from my perspective. (I think I really like the AI-based art rather than endless commercials for brands I don't care about.)The expo opened earlier on Day 3 - at 10am - and with no general sessions to compete with the flow of people to the stand - and the participation in the study - was very steady throughout.…
-
My second day at this year's Autodesk University started with another lovely sunrise.After breakfast I spent an hour or so writing my Day 1 blog post in the Community Zone before I realised a queue was forming to enter the general session. I wandered over and joined it - quite near the front - and chatted with a number of people who were clearly very excited about listening to the day's guest speaker. Here are the people waiting in the Community Zone for the general session to open its doors. I found a single seat free in the third row…
-
After a great trip to Stanford on Friday, we had some last-minute preparation to do for our AU exhibit at Pier 9 on Saturday morning. We headed into the office - after having to explain our way through a security cordon along the waterfront due to APEC 2023 - and printed out a bunch of legal waivers for study participants to sign. It seems APEC will be impacting our SF employees, with the offices being closed during the AU week.Enough people had warned me about craziness at SFO that I ended up at the airport well ahead of my flight…
-
In a recent post I talked about "From Steps to Stories", the exhibit we're showing in Toronto, hosted by our partners at The Bentway. In that post I promised I'd share more details, nearer the event, and, well, here we are. We recently published a video showing more details about the project. There will be a longer video produced, once we've captured footage of the exhibit in Toronto, but this one tells the story behind the project quite nicely in just 2 minutes. Beyond that, I thought I'd share a couple of shots that give a sense of…
-
I'm very excited that our partners at The Bentway have announced the upcoming exhibition they're hosting that will showcase work being done by Autodesk Research. Here is some information on The Bentway from their web-site: Anchored under Toronto's Gardiner Expressway and guiding its complex future, The Bentway is a growing public space, and much more. We are a new type of civic organization: a not-for-profit, powered by vital partnerships with the City of Toronto, residents, supporters, artists, city-builders, and dreamers. The Bentway is a creative catalyst rooted in experimentation, leading a creative movement to re-imagine the opportunities of urban spaces.…
-
A number of colleagues from Autodesk Research have participated (as have I) in an activity to help people learn more about our organization, who we are are and what we do. Here's the video about me: It's part of a playlist on the Autodesk Research YouTube channel, so you can hopefully see the others once mine has played (or just skip mine to watch the others :-). If you're interested in getting to know more about our work, then I also recommend visiting the Autodesk Research blog. There are posts on there highlighting work by interns who have…
-
In a recent post, I mentioned that I've been asked to help lead our efforts in a particular area of research. I was deliberately vague at the time. Now, with Autodesk University 2022 around the corner, it seems a good time to say more about this. I hope it stimulates some interesting discussions at the event. As a company, one of Autodesk's core interests is to enable the design and creation of healthier, safer, more resilient spaces. We want to explore tools for designers and architects that help them create buildings with more attention to the occupants. In the past,…