Panel types based on geometric attributes for a canopy project.
Model cleanup up in Framing Repair, Partial torus geometry colored by similar quad panel types.
CORE , Thornton Tomasetti’s R&D incubator, includes CORE studio, CORE lab and CORE.AI. Our CORE groups manage our R&D efforts, working collectively to fulfill the firm’s commitment to being the global driver of change and innovation in our industry. We invest in continual learning, testing and innovation, uniquely positioning us to take on some of our clients’ – and the world's – most challenging engineering problems.
CORE studio brings together a diverse team, with expertise across a range of technologies, focused on developing new tools, workflows and methods to promote automation, collaboration and process enhancements. Our experience in working across all Thornton Tomasetti disciplines affords us unique insights into the needs of – and solutions for – our clients and our firm. Our analyses of yesterday’s and today’s practices allow us to create the optimized workflows of tomorrow.
Photogrammetry scan of an unnamed sculpture, performed as part of the installation process.
CORE STUDIO: PROCESS INNOVATION
CORE studio’s name derives from the union of computational modeling with research and development, which are at the core of our firm’s mission. As a firm-wide resource, CORE promotes innovation across all project types, practices and departments. Our team blends computational engineering and design, application development, BIM automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as knowledge and data expertise, to create integrated solutions for even the most challenging problems.
Working closely with Thornton Tomasetti’s multidisciplinary professionals, we create nextgeneration tools and methods that employ AI and data to optimize designs and predict outcomes and explore alternative delivery methods.
These custom tools draw on the firm’s deep reservoir of knowledge and experience to accelerate workflows, enhance the quality and consistency of deliverables, and free up time to focus on creative design solutions. Our specialized modeling expertise and integrated workflows enable project teams to design and deliver complex projects and cultivate lasting relationships with clients and stakeholders.
Through strategic partnerships – and events like AECtech – we foster industry-wide collaboration and craft transformative solutions that shape the future of the built environment.
Moynihan Connector Bridge 3D detail for fabricator.
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Our CORE.AI team uses deep domain knowledge and advanced data science techniques to create custom AI/ML models to automate engineering processes.
Computational Modeling
We apply parametric modeling tools to realize design, manage drawing production and facilitate fabrication.
Custom Software Development
We develop custom tools that augment or replace the functionality of commercially available software.
Data Analysis & Visualization
We provide insight by offering different modes of spatial data representation, mapping techniques and customized visualizations.
Education
Because teaching workflows is crucial to innovation, we make education a priority within Thornton Tomasetti and throughout the AEC industry.
Geometric Rationalization
We use 3D modeling and advanced form-finding techniques to optimize complex geometries for design intent, constructability and project-specific needs.
Integrated Building Analysis
We work with our sustainability staff, structural engineers and software developers to find better ways to analyze designs and prioritize solutions.
Interoperability
We specialize in managing BIM and analysis data to streamline design, analysis and documentation processes.
Research & Development
From incremental efficiency improvements to solving the most challenging engineering problems, we invest in inventing new technology.
CORE studio’s applicationdevelopment team builds custom software for Thornton Tomasetti and select corporate clients. We work at the intersection of design, computation and research and apply feedback from project teams working on world-class engineering and design problems to continuously improve our tools.
Built by engineers, for engineers.
Using KONSTRU to merge data from multiple analytic sources into your Revit model saves hours in creating your drawing set. Camber and studs from RAM? Steel sizes from SAP? No problem!
Pittsburgh’s new airport terminal: steel model 3D review via the web app, showing Color by Profile view.
Identifying and addressing poor frame endpoint connectivity with KONSTRU Framing Repair avoids headaches in your analysis model.
KONSTRU
Services: Custom Software Development, Interoperability CORE studio developed the KONSTRU data-centric interoperability cloud platform in 2011. And while it has since become an independent company, it remains Thornton Tomasetti’s go-to solution for structural engineering workflows in analysis, documentation and design-to-manufacturing modeling.
KONSTRU’s user-friendly data environment simplifies 3D BIM collaboration, using a proprietary data schema that is more reliable than any other interoperability platform or IFC-based workflow. It’s also the only interoperability tool that allows bidirectional transfer of model changes, translating data between applications so that models can be synchronized without being reworked.
KONSTRU lets you:
• Exchange design and analysis data between BIM and analysis tools like Revit, Grasshopper, Tekla, RAM, SAP2000, ETABS and Excel.
• Save custom data sets for analysis and machine learning.
• View, edit, synchronize, filter and transfer data between supported applications.
• Collaborate with team members, engineers, architects and clients across platforms.
• Merge changes from two applications (e.g., SAP2000 and RAM) into a third app, like Revit.
• Adjust permission settings to control access to all or part of a model.
• Perform QA/QC of models by using its powerful viewer to examine any model in 3D.
• Compare models and generate reports to track changes and evaluate progress.
• Color-code models based on attributes.
• Use version control to edit designs without archiving multiple versions of the same files.
• Customize inputs and outputs for digital twins.
Automated steel-connection design and modeling.
We used AutoStl to model roughly 23,000 tons of steel connections for Highmark Stadium, Orchard Park, New York.
Connection model and corresponding calculations.
For this confidential data center, AutoStl shortened a connection-design process that would have previously taken around 80 hours to less than an hour,
AutoStl – Tekla Toolbox
Services: Custom Software Development
Our construction engineers rely on Tekla for steel and concrete detailing and for collaborating with fabricators. CORE studio’s Tekla Toolbox, a suite of connection design and modeling tools, makes this work simpler and more efficient.
Thanks to AutoStl, a primary component of the toolbox, modeling steel connections for medium-to-largeframed structures is no longer a time-consuming task. AutoStl automates connection detailing using data from structural analysis apps that are synced with fabrication models through KONSTRU. Its user-friendly interface conceals a code-based connection-design library, which drives the connection-creation process. And users can see “under the hood” with transparent reporting for every connection created.
Our construction engineering team recently used AutoStl to model roughly 23,000 tons of simple connections for the 60,000-seat Highmark Stadium, the new home of the Buffalo Bills. We also used AutoStl to automate the modeling process for a confidential data center. During the project’s early stages, we used the plug-in to identify and correct issues.
In both projects, AutoStl allowed our modelers to focus on more complex connections, ensuring project deadlines were met and improving profitability.
Precision structural design –performed instantly.
DATA TRANSFER BACK TO ETABS REINFORCEMENT DETAIL IN SECTION DESIGNER
POST PROCESSING REPORTS DRAWINGS EXCEL
Vital makes concrete design fast, precise and cost-effective and provides instant CAD exports.
Real-time truss design optimization through the power of AI.
Truss Copilot performs real-time steel truss design and optimization.
Vital
Services: Custom Software Development
A powerful tool for structural engineers, pairing an ETABS plug-in with a stand-alone desktop application, Vital helps simplify the design of reinforced concrete structures like walls, columns, slabs, beams, footings, piles and pile caps. Vital lets you:
• Generate rebar schedules and export CAD drawings instantly.
• Produce comprehensive design reports for better analysis and documentation.
• Create and apply custom load combinations for tailored structural designs.
• Seamlessly transfer design data and rebar details into ETABS models.
Truss Copilot is the flagship model in our nextgeneration AI-powered applications for structural engineers, seamlessly blending machine learning with physics-based simulations driven by CORE.AI’s finite element analysis (FEA) solver. The app accelerates truss beam design while providing flexibility in selecting member size family and element clusters. Designed to keep engineers fully engaged in the design process, it's more than just a tool; it’s a copilot that enhances creativity, efficiency and reliability in structural design.
TT Toolbox 2 springs Grasshopper forward
by leaps and bounds.
Exporting geometry and attributes to a 3DM file
Turning curves into structural steel sections using Sweep Profile.
Populating an Excel table from Grasshopper.
TT Toolbox 2
Services: Custom Software Development
The second major release of our Grasshopper plug-in represents a comprehensive update to its workflows and tools for advanced geometric modeling and data processing. It introduces new capabilities for managing object attributes, including physics-based rendering (PBR) materials, appearance, document organization and custom user strings, enabling greater control of complex design scenarios. The release also expands file-format support, with streamlined methods for reading and writing DXF, 3DM, OBJ, STL and SVG files.
This upgrade also includes significant updates to the toolbox's classic components, enhancing their performance and usability. The Excel read-write components now feature a simplified interface and new data compilation options, as well as the ability to apply multiple conditional formatting rules to a worksheet. The updated Section Sweeper, inspired by Jon Mirtschin's StructDrawRhino plug-in, offers new options for selecting steel sections, sweeping boundary representation (BREP) and mesh geometry along guide curves.
Other improvements include a simplified unit converter with enhanced Rhino unit selection, a refreshed timeseries component that delivers more user-friendly outputs, and a revitalized brute-force solver with additional input options and faster performance. These enhancements, coupled with the overhaul of component visuals and user experience, make TT Toolbox 2 a powerful and refined set of tools for computational designers and AEC professionals.
Shear wall design & optimization at your fingertips.
SWAP's new "code checks" feature.
Interactive data visualization.
Screenshot depicting the app's upcoming SWAP-to-Revit workflow.
SWAP
Services: Custom Software Development, Data Analysis & Visualization, Integrated Building Analysis
Manual design of rebar placement requires frequent use of intuition-based starting points and capacity checks for specific configurations. SWAP (Shear Wall Automation Platform) automates much of this process behind a highly customizable web-based interface.
SWAP enables the rapid design, review and documentation of concrete shear walls in accordance with building code ACI 318, using demand forces on shear walls to aid in rebar placement. It can either check a given rebar configuration for the required capacity or suggest a configuration based on design constraints provided by the user.
SWAP allows users to quickly import ETABS models and optimize shear wall design for entire buildings. Its enhanced 3D and 2D viewers can display all relevant analysis, rebar and geometric information according to attribute lists and color-by-attribute options.
This year, we've added the ability to perform basic code checks for minimum reinforcement and rebar spacing requirements. And the improved ETABS exporter now allows for much faster export of models, as well as selective exporting of piers.
Among the features we're testing for future releases are addition of the latest building code (ACI 318-19) and further improvements to the ETABS exporter, including export of all design rebar data. We're also testing a new SWAP-to-Revit workflow that will automatically place detail components into a Revit model based on rebar configurations created in SWAP. Additional development goals include support for projects measured in metric units and the addition of seismic design provisions.
Your one-stop shop for CORE studio’s suite of innovative online tools.
Design option filtering.
Structural data visualization shared between 2D drawings and 3D models.
GIS mapping integration in Ellipse dashboards.
Ellipse
Services: Custom Software Development, Data Visualization, Interoperability
Our next-generation AEC data studio is a streamlined digital twin that connects project stakeholders, software platforms and data sources. Ellipse promotes vertical integration through industry-specific pages linked to a unified database that evolves throughout the project life cycle. This platform integrates models, drawings, BIM data and documents, enabling exploration, sharing and collaboration across a single, interconnected space.
Who can benefit from Ellipse?
• Architects. Ellipse’s combination of 3D models and 2D drawing visualizations enables crossmedia coordination and exploration from the first diagrams to final construction documents.
• Engineers. Visualize analytical and BIM data from the bolts to the complete building, merging data and geometry from multiple sources into purpose-specific workspaces.
• Specialists. From GIS maps to design iteration images, filter, sort and distill the value from diverse inputs and complex outputs to find the best combinations for project criteria.
• Facility Managers. Collaborate and contribute to a lightweight digital twin by commenting, tagging and attaching content to keep coordinated models and drawings up-to-date.
• Application Developers. Use Ellipse’s dashboard editor and API to build custom interfaces for AECspecific tools within your organization.
Smart structural sketching.
ForceSketch effortlessly creates structural models, just like sketching on paper.
We're making load takedown simpler.
Analyze load paths, visualize the results and get instant takedowns.
ForceSketch
Services: Custom Software Development
Our user-friendly solution for 2D structural analysis eliminates the complexities and steep learning curves typical of other analysis applications. Accessible on any tablet or browser, ForceSketch enables users to quickly draw a structure and obtain analysis results on the fly. Key features include an extensive section library with custom section and material creation, as well as options for saving and sharing, dimensioning and underlaying images. It also includes support for both metric and imperial units and convenient drawing and editing tools such as copy and paste, moving and multi-selection for batch modification and assignment of elements.
Column Load Takedown Tool
Services: Custom Software Development, Integrated Building Analysis
This new Grasshopper plug-in streamlines early structural analysis by performing preliminary load takedown assessments based on raw Revit models, speeding up the evaluation process. It's ideal for projects that lack a full analytical model. Capabilities include:
• Enabling initial load estimates, which are crucial for early structural analysis.
• Using raw Revit models to generate approximate load estimates, providing a reliable starting point for the analysis.
• Accelerating the assessment process, helping quickly establish a basis for more detailed analyses.
SAP2000, ETABS & SAFE model manipulation through Grasshopper.
streamlines the design process.
Lattice
Lattice
Services: Computational Modeling, Custom Software Development, Interoperability, Research & Development
Lattice is a powerful collection of Grasshopper components designed to streamline the creation and analysis of SAP2000, ETABS and SAFE structural models directly from the Rhino/Grasshopper environment. This integration allows structural engineers to bridge the gap between parametric modeling and advanced structural analysis, enhancing both productivity and flexibility in complex workflows.
With Lattice, our engineers can efficiently build and modify models, apply loads and retrieve results — all from within Grasshopper. Whether we're working with complex geometries or analyzing the effects of load cases, Lattice offers an intuitive way to interact with widely used structural engineering tools.
Structural engineering involves extensive data handling, which often includes importing, refining, analyzing, and visualizing data. Lattice’s Tables components simplify this process, allowing engineers to manage structural data in Grasshopper. They're especially useful when dealing with data from SAP2000, ETABS and SAFE models.
Whether we're building complex models or analyzing intricate load cases, Lattice combines the parametric modeling power of Grasshopper with the analytical capabilities of SAP2000, ETABS and SAFE, simplifies the data management process, and helps engineers design more effectively.
Our CORE Modeling service offers a wide range of custom solutions for any project, at any stage. It is available internally to everyone at Thornton Tomasetti, as well as to architects and other external clients. CORE Modeling works with project teams to integrate directly into their workflows, finding opportunities to assist, innovate and ensure success.
Rendering showing unit and relation to façade.
Deck camber as a heat map applied to the deck's upper surface.
Building Maintenance Unit (BMU) Simulation
Unnamed Location
Services: Computational Modeling, Data Analysis & Visualization
Client: Confidential
Our goal for this project was to create detailed visualizations showcasing the use of six-axis robotic arms to clean a façade. The intricate design involved modeling complex robotic arm geometries in Rhino, a challenging task due to the precision and complexity required to simulate the arms' range of motion. Managing the 3D geometry was particularly demanding because of the heavy file sizes and the need for seamless integration with the façade’s design. Despite these challenges, the resulting visualizations highlighted the robotic arms' precision in executing maintenance tasks. The Rhino model was especially useful for simulating scenarios where the arms would interact with the façade, ensuring both aesthetic and functional accuracy.
Orthotropic Deck Visualization
New York, New York
Services: Computational Modeling
Client: Thornton Tomasetti Transportation Practice
CORE modeling is often called on to create visualizations that help Thornton Tomasetti engineers tell their project's story. In the case of this orthotropic deck, the Transportation practice requested our assistance in creating a 3D image illustrating the placement and specific camber required by the design of its long-span panels. The images were developed in Rhinoceros from a set of shop drawings, and were intended to clarify the precise project requirements for the contractor.
of Cloud City sculpture.
Horizontal face with rainwater ponding
Valley between faces where rainwater collects
Detailed view of water flow and collection.
Layout of the steel structure and documentation.
Overview
Cloud City
Aalborg, Denmark
Services: Computational Modeling, Integrated Building Analysis
Client: Artcenter Spritten/Studio Tomás Saraceno
Connected to an art center that was once a liquor factory, Cloud City is a large public artwork created by Studio Tomás Saraceno in collaboration with Thornton Tomasetti and a team of consultants. Visitors can walk through and experience a variety of spaces within the sculpture.
The installation comprises 65 polyhedrons connected at matching faces in a cloud-like formation. When fully assembled, it will be one of the world’s largest permanent art structures, at 32.5 meters high, 48 meters long and 28 meters wide. The polyhedral module geometry provides the layout for the sculpture, with the steel structure set inward and cladding outward, allowing simple planar connections between the modules and a rational continuous cladding surface for the envelope.
Repetition in polyhedral modules and their faces allows some degree of repetition in the sculpture, facilitating fabrication; however, every face of each module and every edge of each face has been assigned an individual identifier to ease design, fabrication and installation.
We performed geometrical layout of the structural framing and cladding and worked closely with the artist to study a variety of materials, details and topologies.
Due to the complexity of the steel framing and the various steel-plate angles, we performed structural analysis modeling parametrically and used Lattice to transfer the geometry into SAP2000 for FE analysis.
CORE studio is supporting the planning documents, creating schedules of each panel and linking them to Revit for documentation and cost estimations.
We also studied the overall geometry for rainwater runoff and ponding.
A connected workflow is critical for delivering efficient projects. We use Lattice to link to analysis software, and KONSTRU to link to Revit.
Color by structural framing type.
3D view of museum straddling rocky headland.
Whale Museum
Andenes, Norway
Services: Computational Modeling
Client:
Dorte Mandrup
Dorte Mandrup's striking design presented CORE modeling with a geometric challenge. We chose to develop the structural design proposal for the museum's superstructure in Rhinoceros 3D, optimizing efficiency by creating a workflow that links the proposal to SAP2000 and the Revit model via KONSTRU. This enabled us to more easily manipulate the structure’s geometry to adapt to changes while allowing models to be exported into other platforms. Changes made in any linked platform are reflected in all linked platforms.
Under careful coordination with the design team, the initial profiles were drawn based on the architectural geometry of the roof. Further manipulation of the geometry produced a wire frame to be extracted for the SAP analysis model; we then used our Lattice Grasshopper plug-in to assign loads to the frames.
One particularly complex task was the modeling of the triangulated roof meshes for export into SAP for wind and snow load analysis. We imported the analysis outputs into the Rhino model through Grasshopper, updated the member sections, exported the final geometry into the Revit model, and then reimported it into Rhino for finer detailing of the section profiles. Overlaying the architectural model over the Rhino model helped us identify critical areas.
CORE.AI has been developing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications since 2015, focusing on automation to enhance design speed. Our current and future AI and ML applications will combine the automated processes of engineering models with the expertise of our brightest engineers, detailers and architects. Our goal is to give every Thornton Tomasetti engineer instant access to a host of proven solutions at every project phase, enabling virtual collaboration and the creative freedom to innovate.
Pioneering AI in structural engineering.
AI-powered steel bay designer for office buildings.
Shear wall design recommendations generated by an ML model trained on 80 million data points.
A full building material takedown comparing steel, concrete and timber.
Custom Structural ML Solutions
Services: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning , Custom Software Development
Our suite of AI-powered structural design apps enables engineers to optimize their workflows with speed and precision, enhancing decision-making at the earliest design stages. By integrating sustainability and performance considerations, they provide a faster, more efficient path to innovative building solutions that reduce both time and environmental impact.
• Steel Office/Lab Bay Design. This family of apps uses a trained ML model to predict steel framing sections for three to five continuous office or lab bays and incorporates strength and vibration considerations. The apps can be used as design checkers or schematic design tools.
• Shear Wall Design Optimization. Commercial engineering software used for shear wall design is tailored for use in development through the final design stages, making schematic-design optimization a time-consuming process. Our app accelerates it by allowing structural engineers to rapidly adjust design parameters. Powered by an ML model trained on more than 80 million designs, it boosts efficiency and innovation.
• Building System Optimization. This tool leverages CORE.AI's structural design engines to help engineers quickly explore and compare structural systems and materials for a full building design. It provides rapid insights into embodied carbon, enabling faster, more informed decisions to support sustainability and reduce carbon emissions.
Preserving and sharing knowledge through large language models.
During his lifetime, Mike (center) mentored generations of Thornton Tomasetti engineers.
A graph illustrates the distribution and similarity of technical exchanges Mike touched on during his career at Thornton Tomasetti.
Mike DeLashmit: LLMs Preserve a Legacy of Engineering Excellence
Services: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Custom Software Development
Thornton Tomasetti is built on the expertise and experience of its senior engineers. Throughout the firm's 75-year history, our experts have addressed the most complex challenges and solved seemingly insurmountable problems. Vice President Mike DeLashmit, who, sadly, passed away in March 2024, was one of many who contributed immensely to the firm’s massive well of knowledge.
Renowned for his work in metallurgy and steel construction, Mike mentored several generations of engineers. After his passing, CORE’s AI and knowledge teams collaborated to preserve his wealth of knowledge and make it available to current and future Thornton Tomasetti engineers.
Through the power of large language models (LLMs), at Mike's request and direction while he was still actively supporting Thornton Tomasetti engineering staff, we processed thousands of technical digital correspondences to devise a search system that can query them and summarize his advice on any topic. The AI-driven LLM agent has unlocked his decades of technical expertise, transforming it into a dynamic resource that is available to anyone at the firm.
This AI-powered knowledge base ensures that Mike’s legacy will live on, empowering future generations to benefit from his unique insights.
Asterisk accelerates concept and schematic design.
Asterisk ML outputs of three building design options with varying gravity-loading, lateral (wind and seismic) and soil conditions; vibration requirements; and material options (concrete, steel and timber) for the structural components.
Asterisk
Services: Custom Software Development
Asterisk is the second generation of CORE studiodeveloped structural design and optimization tools that use custom ML and generative AI models to help our engineers explore design options quickly and efficiently. The first-generation platform was developed in 2017 as a stand-alone tall-building ML application.
Since then, the CORE.AI team has developed predictive ML models for every major structural component in steel, concrete and mass-timber buildings, allowing users to apply specific design parameters to generate a wide variety of structural concepts with rapid member sizing, quantity takeoffs and embodied-carbon computations.
These options can be iterated and compared in real time, enabling faster decision-making during the early stages of design. The CORE.AI team has leveraged generative AI to predict a multitude of design options for various structural components.
Asterisk is designed for tasks like structural optioneering, which involves adjusting and testing structural parameters to optimize designs. Its AI enables it to automate much of this process, significantly reducing time spent on tasks that traditionally required manual calculation and coordination meetings and providing fast, smart design options for our clients.
Mimicking the human senses to monitor the safety of structures.
Early, continuous monitoring, along with preventive maintenance, can help extend infrastructure's service life. However, it generates data to analyze, often in real time.
AI can aid in post-processing data from monitoring systems to identify performance trends and can be trained to recognize changes in the structure’s behavior.
Inspection and monitoring data can be fed into AI algorithms to identify trends, help prioritize maintenance and repair work, and optimize maintenance and repair budgets.
Structural Health Monitoring
Services: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Data Analysis & Visualization, Integrated Building Analysis
Like physicians, who examine patients to diagnose and treat illness and issue prognoses, forensic engineers assess the health of structures, providing treatment when needed.
Traditionally, a structure’s health was verified after a problem had already occurred or the structure had reached a certain age. But what if a structure’s health problems could be diagnosed before a disorder manifests? What if the five senses humans use to collect and process information for decision-making could be replicated in buildings, bridges and other assets?
Current technology allows for autonomous, continuous and often wireless monitoring (or “sensing”) of structures' movements, as well as changes in material properties and/or environmental conditions. Monitoring devices can mimic the five human senses and measure and collect structures' health data for processing. Artificial intelligence and deep learning algorithms may, in turn, mimic the human neural system, process the collected data and identify triggers for further evaluation and testing of potential adverse conditions.
CORE studio is exploring opportunities to train ML algorithms to process data acquired through monitoring, study performance trends and identify warning signs to improve the reliability and safety of structures through early detection of anomalies.
Gizelle Vargas is our CORE R&D coordinator. Reach her at GVargas@ThorntonTomasetti.com.
David Mans is our vice president applications developer and director of AECtech. Reach him at DMans@ThorntonTomasetti.com.
CORE studio produces and hosts a complete calendar of events and outreach activities to educate and invigorate the AEC community.
EVENTS & OUTREACH
Presenters speak at the 2023 symposium roundtable.
Attendees view a project presentation at the 2023 hackathon.
AECtech
Each year, CORE studio welcomes architecture, engineering, construction, design and software professionals to the AECtech conference in New York City. Since its 2013 inception, AECtech has grown from a two-day event into a comprehensive six-day experience, offering professional-development workshops, expert speakers, roundtable discussions, networking opportunities, AEC tours and a 27-hour hackathon.
Our mission is to create a forum where diverse industries can collaborate and learn from each other, exploring the potential future of technology through processes, practices and projects. AECtech offers a professional space where innovators can converge to develop new technologies, acquire critical skills, foster meaningful connections, and inspire and effect change.
In 2023, AECtech achieved its largest attendance to date, with more than 400 participants representing 165 organizations across 19 countries. 2023 also marked our third consecutive year of presenting in a hybrid format, connecting hundreds of professionals, academics and students through both virtual and in-person offerings. This year also saw the expansion of the Tech Crawl, which invited participants to tour the offices of local AEC firms and learn about their processes and cultures. The symposium reached record attendance levels, while the hackathon set new participation and project development milestones with the most hackathon projects ever completed at an AECtech event.
Looking ahead, AECtech remains committed to offering an unequaled platform for knowledgesharing, innovation and collaboration that will shape the next generation of technological and professional advancements in the AEC fields.
Alexandra Pollock, senior director of CORE studio, moderates a panel at AIA24’s TAP Symposium.
Thornton Tomasetti Chief Technology Officer Robert Otani attends the 2023 AECtech Symposium in New York City.
CORE in the Media
CORE studio has appeared in a variety of media and publications and has contributed to a large number of books and technical papers, including:
“Thornton Tomasetti Develops a Digital Wind Tunnel App for Early Stage Design” by Naghman Khan based on interviews with Jeroen Janssen SimScale Blog, June 1, 2023
“Engineering the AI Revolution” by Seyedomid Sajedi and Sergey Pigach Avail, Confluence New York Brooklyn, New York, April 17, 2024
“Innovation in Practice: Practice in the Age of AI – An Approach to Technology” by Alexandra Pollock
American Institute of Architects, TAP Symposium at AIA24 Washington, D.C., June 5, 2024
“The AI Revolution in AEC” by Robert Otani Design Intelligence Media, July 31, 2024
“AI and the Future of Structural Engineering” by Robert Otani and Seyedomid Sajedi
Structural Engineers Association of New York, Programs Committee Event New York, New York, August 7, 2024
“Structural Design and Optioneering of Form and Function Leveraging Generative Deep Learning” by Sajedi Seyedomid, Alloy Kemp and Robert Otani
IASS 2024 Symposium, Technical Paper Zurich, Switzerland, August 29, 2024
Above: Rhino model of curved HSS steel structure of Sunny Isles Pedestrian Bridge, Sunny Isles, Florida.
Cover: A crinkle mesh created in Grasshopper.
Unnamed canopy project Photogrammetry model of brick façade processed to identify mortar seams.
