Soon after the successful launch of PokEmon GO, Royal HaskoningDHV started exploring the applicability of Augmented Reality in engineering consultancy. Early 2017 we presented our first HoloLens Showcase of Heerlen Railway Station in the Netherlands. Initially intended as a new way to present our deliverables to customers, our showcase drew curiosity from a much wider audience: ranging from residents living nearby the railway station to customers new to our business. HoloLens Experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCSd1eLvxrU Virtual Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQjUW24Qz0I&t=16s Further inspired by the gaming industry, we identified various promising and valuable AR applications for the AEC industry. This led to a development agenda to allow for more integrated design and engineering as well as virtually-guided construction and maintenance. Moreover, we believe that AR will allow us to fully engage both clients and users in a truly co-creative design process. In short, interactive design and engineering with Augmented Reality. Together with various launching customers and in partnership with Cadac Group, we are now developing a suite of applications to allow both engineering consultants and relevant stakeholders to truly interact with holograms including shared view solutions to work from different locations, holographic libraries to select objects and solutions from, and synchronisation solutions to push designs back to Revit. These and similar developments and closely tied to the emergence of Digital Twins for the Built Environment in which Royal HaskoningDHV is seeking to take a leading role. At Royal HaskoningDHV, we believe Augmented Reality will disrupt the AEC industry and will play a pivotal role in realising Digital Twins. We are eagerly looking forward to share our AR development endeavour and deliverables at Autodesk University to a broad audience.

A big inefficiency in MEP design lies in communicating data between disparate design software. What if all of these applications could communicate seamlessly with a single data model? This class will showcase a solution in which disparate applications communicate via a common schema (GraphQL) and a cloud database (Neo4j). Introducing the design-as-a-service concept, we’ll consider the huge potential unlocked by moving the primary data model from Revit software to a connected cloud service. We’ll see how a common data model can store data beyond that which can be stored in the Revit model, and explore how you can easily integrate your own apps and services. Examples will include integrating an electrical calc service, and how the cloud data functions as a digital twin, where live sensor data is visualized within the Forge Viewer. Finally, we’ll consider how we can work together to further define and improve the data schema as something we can all own as innovators in MEP design.

Dynamo has been given a big boost of new and expanded features since last year—they’re the new super powers to check out! With the updated integrations, bug fixes, user packages, and new features, you can go even further with Dynamo. See what you can do in Dynamo now, including generative design, machine learning, web API integrations, coding enhancements within Dynamo, digital twins, expansions to popular packages, and the hidden gems of lesser-known packages. All of these capabilities can boost your workflow and make you feel the real potential of visual scripting with Dynamo.

Bridge design, from innovative U-shaped viaducts to long-span bridges, is one of the key products of SYSTRA in developing mass transit and railway infrastructures. In this class, you will see how our bridge experts have embraced BIM (Building Information Modeling) transformation to improve the designing of bridges from the early stages to construction designs. The ambition of this program is to ease the work of our engineers when creating the bridge assets, and aims to provide our client with a digital twin of their infrastructure that is fit for use during operations and maintenance. This development relies on a software application called CABLOA automating the 3D-design authoring processes, and BIM uses such as 2D drawings production, structural simulation, and clash detection with 3D reinforcement or jacks. The presentation of PrestressBIM program will be based on a practical example of a balance cantilever bridge in order to go through all the capacities that have been developed.

This talk will describe the challenges encountered when developing the common data environment (CDE) of the expansion project. Heathrow Airport is the second-busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic. The third runway will hugely increase passenger capacity and flight movement capacity. The expansion project requires the development of a highly constrained design from multiple suppliers that considers a vast amount of incoming information from multiple sources and stakeholders. The design must pass several major public and government approvals and is required to integrate into the current developing and future live digital twin of Heathrow. The CDE must facilitate all the challenges associated with the above to ensure the project can produce and provide the correct data and information needed for each audience as efficiently and cost effectively as possible. The design is developed in AutoCAD software, Revit software, AutoCAD Civil 3D software, and Navisworks software. Data is stored in Esri, ProjectWise, SharePoint, and other specialist databases.

Inspired by the gaming industry, Royal HaskoningDHV introduced augmented reality (AR) to engineering consultancy by bringing to life the firm’s projects through Microsoft HoloLens showcases. An early example is Heerlen Railway Station (see https://bit.ly/2xySKFw). Aspiring to stay at the forefront of digital engineering, we since developed various AR applications to let both engineering consultants and relevant stakeholders truly interact with holograms. Highlights include shared-view solutions to work from different locations, holographic libraries from which to select objects and solutions, and synchronization solutions to push designs back to Revit software. Our industry talk will aim to provide an inspiring vision on the digital future of architecture, engineering, and construction; the role of AR in realizing digital twins; and valuable lessons from our AR applications development agenda.

In this class, you’ll learn how digital engineering expert firm Willow Consulting has pioneered new cloud technologies as part of its digital twin service, by adopting BIM 360 software to its business process and expanding service offerings with Forge. WillowTwin™ integrates, analyzes, and manages data at scale, delivering insights to improve performance and experience of buildings and infrastructure networks.

These days, you can use software like Revit MEP software, Dynamo, Python, Forge, and Insight360 to create highly detailed analytical simulation models as the basis for high-quality MEP planning. Frequently, however, the simulation results and operation profiles aren’t transferred to building operation, which leads to a significant performance gap. This industry talk will provide insight into the evolution of building performance simulations for practical use and as a basis for training AI-based HVAC controllers using pattern recognition—which will revolutionize the way building engineering is planned—in BIM2Field (building automation and building performance simulation) and in BIM2FM, using digital twins and linked IoT (Internet of Things).

Customers in the AEC and Film & Television industries are transforming traditional workflows to accelerate the production of linear and non-linear, interactive content. From using virtual production technology on The Mandalorian, to building a digital twin for Wellington City for public engagement, we’ll explore how real-time technology opens the door to a new world of creative opportunities. This session will dive into how Datasmith is connecting the dots with Autodesk solutions like Forge, Revit, 3ds Max, Navisworks, and Maya. You’ll find out how Twinmotion and Unreal Engine are used to collaborate and engage with stakeholders and peers using Pixel Streaming and other methods. It isn’t all about AEC, as the session will also cover how real-time technology is changing the way films and TV shows are made. And while there won’t be enough time to get into all of the technical details, we’ll point you to free resources to learn how to achieve the same results.

Getting the CAD model right is only half of the story. Fully understanding the production capabilities – tied to the CAD model – tells a full story for the planning phases of Digital Twins.

Today’s plant operations and maintenance processes require a highly experienced workforce to gather information from multiple sources while collaborating seamlessly across all stakeholders. Discover how the global operating company ANDRITZ has equipped their teams with an Information Hub which centralizes multiple data sources into an up-to-date Digital Twin of their plants. The class will highlight how 3D model data, 2D schematic diagrams, Equipment information, Documents, Maintenance tasks and even real time sensor information gets interactive linked together and provided to the stakeholders as an easy to use web application. Together with best practices how to build a sophisticated solution based on Autodesk Forge we will also share practical benefits the teams now experience by taking faster and better-informed decisions. The session will conclude with the various positive business outcomes companies can achieve by providing such a hybrid environment to their stakeholders.

The road to digital transformation in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) requires interoperable, accessible, and accurate streams of information to enable digital twins, smart assets, and smart cities. The complexity of linear infrastructure, the environmental impact, and the sizes of projects require the talents of design and geospatial experts. This session will highlight how Skanksa’s geographic information system (GIS) and BIM (Building Information Modeling) teams successfully integrate Autodesk and Esri solutions, bringing value to all teams and stakeholders. This class will introduce an integrated approach to GIS and BIM for rail and highways, showing how together they improve digital delivery and productivity. Using specific project examples, Skanska’s leaders will explain how streamlining workflows between Revit software, Civil 3D software, and Esri ArcGIS provides a coordinated and enhanced experience to all end users. You will leave this session understanding how maximizing GIS and BIM expands value to all technical and non-technical teams throughout the lifecycle of the infrastructure.

During the BIM (Building Information Modeling) evolution, we’ve seen many different solutions for many different contexts. Easy access to information means that our customers are coming to us much better informed and more curious. During the COVID-19 crisis, there was an abundance of information available via webinars, online workshops, and other channels that helped people understand BIM better. But how do we keep moving forward? Much has been heard about digital twins, the new proposal for project analysis in construction and postconstruction processes. Innovation raises questions such as: “How am I supposed to offer this solution to my customers?” In this class, we’ll explore the differences between a digital twin and an intelligent model, help you understand Unity solutions for digital twins, and highlight the advantages of this innovation by showing you how we can do it with the support of Autodesk partner Unity.

Digital twins are digital replicas of physical assets—a bridge between the physical and virtual worlds. Combining real-time data from multiple sources (including your design data) with a 3D interactive model can help you generate greater insights into your project—leading to performance improvements at all phases of the project lifecycle. In this session, you’ll hear from three companies that are using Forge to power their digital twins. They’ll talk you through why they needed to create a digital twin, and how they achieved it with Forge.

When this digital twin journey was first shared by Brandon Wlosinski (Walt Disney Parks and Resorts—WDPR) and Dorian Chau (Autodesk) at Autodesk University 2020 as a roundtable discussion on digital twins for building owners, it focused on objectives, value, and vision. This year, the speakers are expanding the session into in a panel discussion to include Ken Kurihara from WDPR; Bill Kwon, VP of Digital at CRTKL, and Bob Bray, Autodesk Tandem GM, as well as invited enterprise business leaders. The panelists will share their experiences with industry challenges involving the optimization of project data for digital handover and other digital twin use cases. Digital twin practices have gained momentum in the building industry in the past year, and we will discuss the impact on and value to the businesses and changes in management approaches. Our panelists will share their perspectives on why digital twins are important from both the owners’ and consultants’ perspectives with digital handover, smart operations, and greater building insights.

“Virtual commissioning,” “industry 4.0,” and “digital twin” are today’s buzzwords in factory planning. Today, 3D planning is standard in many areas. But with Factory Design Utilities software and Industrial Physics software from machineering, new far-reaching simulation possibilities are emerging. The digital twin accompanies machines throughout their lifetimes—daily business, changes or modifications on the machine, service works—with a goal of preventing errors, optimizing machines, and avoiding failures. Use the simulation model as a basis for the digital twin in the early stages of the development process to safeguard your concepts.

This session details developing a digital twin for the healthcare market, specifically for operating theatres where we try to combine the medical and technical world to improve patient safety and reduce surgical site infection which leads to mortality. Creating this digital twin is a sum of data analytics, CFD simulations, and the use of visualisation tools such as VR and AR. In practise, this leads to a better design process and lifecycle of the OR that guarantees the optimal safety for the patient. We are still in a development phase and using the following Autodesk products: Revit, Fusion 360, CFD, 3ds Max and Interactive.

Digital twins of process plants are digital replicas of the physical plant that contain information of the plant structure and of the dynamics of how the processes and devices operate. In simulation-based digital twins (SBDTs), first-principles simulation models are used to obtain dynamics of the targeted plant. These applications can be used to derive nonmeasured information of the simulated system, to obtain high-fidelity predictions, or to perform system-wide optimization for improving plant performance. This class will present an extension to the work showcased at Autodesk University 2018. In this class, we’ll present a Forge-based SBDT that uses a Model Broker, a novel solution for automatic simulation model generation. Model Broker utilizes the DEXPI information format available from AutoCAD Plant 3D software to generate the underlying simulation model of the SBDT. In the example implementation used in this class, the generated model is connected to the plant using OPC UA.

SYSTRA expertise in bridge has started developing design capabilities for a High Speed Railway line and for an Elevated Metro line with the system integrated concept of the U-shape viaduct. We are now designing bridge structures for all types of transport modes including long-span bridges such as Chacao bridge in Chile, and road causeways such as The Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Causeway in the gulf of Kuwait. With the US-based company IBT, newly acquired in 2017, SYSTRA has reached in 2018 the 8th rank of the International ENR ranking for bridge engineering.This expertise is strategic to SYSTRA global capacity to deliver mass transit or rail infrastructure worldwide. That's why at the early stage of our BIM deployment we focused in developing internal solutions and design workflows that meet our clients needs and enhance our design efficiency and quality. This class will give you a global view of our internal BIM program for bridge by presenting our design solutions and project applications. The ambition of this program is to increase the efficiency of our engineers and the robustness of our design when creating the bridge assets and is aiming to provide to our client a digital twin of their infrastructure that is fitted for use during operation and maintenance. You will see how our bridge experts have embraced BIM in their design workflows from early stage to construction design using applications such as "BIM in One Click" for linear infrastructures or CABLOA for pre-stressing design.We will also share our feedback on 3D reinforcement design using Revit and its Sofistik plugin for rebar detailing and how to increase the efficiency using design automation. The end of the presentation will be dedicated to looking ahead, exchanging thoughts around application of AI or generative design to bridge, and sharing our initiatives on how to use BIM models for operation and maintenance purposes using our HYPERASSET solution.

As main contractors on The UCD Dublin BIM Level 2 project, we are required to deliver a digital twin of the physical building prior to construction. This digital twin will contain accurate geometry and asset information relevant to FM, including drawings, manuals, and warranties. The UCD Student Residences masterplan consists of 3 phases. Phase 1 consists of 3 separate buildings, 2 student accommodation blocks and a student centre building with accommodation over to the northeast. Phase 2 consists of 3 separate residential buildings to the centre spanning northwest of the site. Phase 3 consists of surface car parking to the south associated with Roebuck Hall Residences and a building centred on Roebuck Castle (a protected structure to the south). The proposed 3-phase development will increase student residential accommodation by 3,006 bed spaces and provide ancillary and complementary facilities to create a living campus community in a new residential village connected to and integrated with existing residential village.