Agenda

TECH+ features a full day of industry-changing ideas, projects, tools, and demos from technology leaders.

Earn 6 AIA LU.

9:00 – 9:30 AM

Check-In and Networking

9:30 – 9:40 AM

Diana Darling

President

The Architect’s Newspaper

Niknaz Aftahi

Founder & CEO

aec+tech

9:40 – 10:30 AM

As designers and engineers, what assumptions do we make about building occupants when designing systems for them? How are these assumptions related to our own biases? Who decided that 72 °F was the perfect indoor temperature, anyway? This talk will explore how we design buildings for occupants, in particular to provide thermal comfort, from both a historical / cultural perspective and a scientific / physiological lens.

By understanding where some of our assumptions about design come from, including sometimes the misapplication of science, we can start to question some biases and – hopefully – design more inclusive and human-centric spaces. A key component is to understand new transient models of thermal comfort that are applicable to people moving between different environmental conditions, a common occurrence in urban settings, and how the predictions of these models can be applied to influence building design.

Nathaniel will share lessons learned from Arup’s research approaches and how we can more effectively create tools to measure what’s most important in modeling and designing inclusive spaces.

Nathaniel Jones

Senior Consultant

Arup

10:30 – 10:50 AM

Contemporary Architecture relies on technological advancements. As a developer of one of the first BIM Authoring Tools in the industry, Graphisoft remains dedicated to innovation and empowering teams to design great buildings. Our future forward solutions provide a proven method to create an intelligent building model – so that all stakeholders can collaborate and keep an accurate data set that opens the door to efficient, sustainable building practices.

Join Zoltan Toth in a discussion of the range of uses and solutions that Graphisoft offers.

Zoltan Toth

Head of Global Solutions Engineering

Graphisoft

10:50- 11:20 AM

Break coffee

11:20 – 11:30 AM

D5 Render is a leading AI-powered real-time rendering solution that revolutionizes architectural and design workflows. In this brief session, we’ll explore the competitive advantages of D5 Render, spotlighting its AI capabilities such as AI atmosphere match, AI-generated material texture maps and innovative features like scatter, alongside its vast library boasting over 10,000 assets, and more. Join us for a firsthand experience of how D5 Render enriches and empowers your design process!

Mustapha Benosman

GTM – Senior Sales Manager

D5 Render

11:30 AM – 12:20 PM

As Climate Change becomes a cornerstone of practice, new tools to account for carbon intensity of building materials, energy usage, and transparency of supply chains are evolving. Empowering designers, engineers, and architects at all stages of design and construction, these tools will support real-world impacts. Hear from technology leaders discuss the latest tools for climate impact in our design.

Kritika Kharbanda

Head of Sustainability

Henning Larsen

Jared Friedman

Senior Associate

Walter P Moore

Carlos Cerezo Davila

Director

KPF

12:20 – 12:30 PM

Join us for a brief presentation to discover how AI is transforming the AECO space. Learn about the latest AI tools from Autodesk and techniques that can help you streamline your workflows, improve design efficiency, and achieve better project outcomes. Discover how Microsol Resources can provide the expertise and support you need to harness the power of AI.rogwr

Roger Liucci

Senior BIM Specialist

Microsol Resources

12:30 – 12:40 PM

In this session, attendees will be introduced to the state-of-the-art building information modeling (BIM) and 3-D scanning technologies available to the AEC industry. Timothy O’Connor from Langan who will share his firm’s work to advance the burgeoning fields of digital modeling and 3-D scanning.

Timothy O’Connor, PLS

Senior Survey Project Manager

Langan

12:40 – 1:40 PM

Complimentary Networking Lunch restaurant

1:40 PM – 2:20 PM

In this roundtable session, technology leaders will discuss their firms’ efforts to stay up-to-date with the latest AEC technologies. The architectural design world is constantly getting pitched “new” software and products, but what is actually new and what is repackaged? The experts will walk you through their vetting processes and efforts to integrate existing systems with new products. Through successful collaboration with external partners, firms can optimize their workflow and expand the potential of their practice.

Nirva Fereshetian

Chief Information Officer

CBT Architects

Natasha Luthra

Design Technology Leader

CannonDesign

Jennifer Siqueira

Project Architect

Bernheimer Architects

2:20 – 2:30 PM

The MS Computational Design Practices program at Columbia GSAPP began in 2022, with the aim of creating a new pedagogy for designers and technologists to explore computational design practice of the built environment across scales. In this session, MS CDP Assistant Director Adam Vosburgh will provide an overview of the program, and a reflection on the value of computational design pedagogy today, with the benefit of hindsight from the first three years of the program.

Adam Vosburgh

Assistant Director / Computational Design Practices

Columbia GSAPP CDP

2:30 – 2:40 PM

Automating workflows has the potential to transform the building industry by increasing productivity and efficiency, improving quality of life, streamlining QA/QC, and reducing the potential for errors and accidents. This automation can arguably be seen as a foundational requirement for AI, driving industry wide change and provide the framework for greater creativity and more positive outcomes. In this session we’ll review some of the pertinent ways that IMAGINiT is working with our customers to automate their workflows and driving process improvements.

2:40 – 3:10 PM

Break coffee

3:10 – 4:00 PM

Innovators from AEC leading firms, owners, and Investors from VC’s will share how entrepreneurship and investment in technological innovation can revolutionize the AEC industry and the built world. Attendees will come away from this roundtable discussion with insights in the funding and innovation landscape for companies reshaping the construction and design industries.

Julieta Moradei

Managing Partner

Overlay Capital Build

Zenon Radewych

Principal

WZMH

Ravi Bhatia

Business Development Manager

Skanska

Victoria Smith

Investment Lead

Zacua Ventures

Niknaz Aftahi

Founder & CEO

aec+tech

4:00 – 4:50 PM

Digital design experts from industry-leading architecture firms will share their insights into the future integration of technology in architectural practice. They discuss how computational tools and data analysis have become integral to their firms’ practices and how firms are developing AI and machine learning technologies which are transforming the industry at large.

Ali T.Ghomi

Computational Design Consultant

GraphX

Ilkay C. Standard

Founder

GenX

Keyan Rahimzadeh

Founder

Formulate Ltd.

Andrew Manto

Cofounder

SumPoint

4:50 PM

Diana Darling

President

The Architect’s Newspaper

Niknaz Aftahi

Founder & CEO

aec+tech

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Join us for peer-learning and networking opportunities
to keep you at the forefront of practice.

EARN 6 AIA LU CREDITS