Architecture firm Lake | Flato’s adaptive reuse project embodies sustainability​

• Solar PV analysis: 15 min vs. scripts
• First TX firm certified B Corp
• Courtyard usable near 100°F

Lake|Flato chose Autodesk Forma and Revit to bring real-time environmental analysis into the renovation of its own headquarters, replacing a slower, disconnected workflow. Daniel Stine, the firm's Director of Design Technology, explained the shift: "We can stream authoritative layers and see them inside the live massing model, then immediately test daylight, sun hours, wind, noise, and microclimate as we iterate. We're no longer bouncing between static maps and separate analyses; we're designing with real-time context and performance side-by-side."

Revit played a parallel role: a laser scan of the existing 1920s building produced a 3D point cloud the team used to plan material reuse and salvage, and HoloLens walkthroughs of the Revit model let staff experience proposed changes, such as window removal, before construction. Design Performance Manager Kate Sector said the project reflected a broader shift in how the firm uses technology: "We used technology for our clients all the time. So using it for ourselves was kind of a big deal."

Lake|Flato's 311 Third Street headquarters is a three-story, 22,545-square-foot building built in 1920 as a car dealership. Historic-preservation constraints and the age of the structure limited what the firm could change, including forcing the removal of some existing windows, which raised daylighting concerns among staff.

The original courtyard massing also created wind problems, at times blocking helpful breezes or amplifying problem winds, before Forma's microclimate analysis caught the issue. The firm needed to validate shade structures, tree placement, and ceiling fans so the new open-air courtyard would stay usable even in Texas heat near 100°F.

Before adopting Forma, Lake|Flato's design team relied on static maps and separate analysis reports for site and environmental data, then used Grasshopper scripting in Rhino to generate climate diagrams and reformat the results for use in design software.

A similar disconnect existed on the Revit side. Director of Design Technology Dan Stine said the firm's earlier solar-analysis workflow meant exporting Revit files to run separate scripts: "At one point, we had this complicated method of exporting Revit files to run scripts for solar PVs. With the solar tool built into Revit to calculate PV potential, we can now do that in less than 15 minutes."

Two workflows became measurably faster once Forma and Revit were in place. Solar PV analysis, which used to mean exporting Revit files to run separate scripts, now takes under 15 minutes using Revit's built-in solar tool. And instead of bouncing between static maps and separate climate-analysis reports, the design team could test daylight, wind, and microclimate directly inside a live massing model.

That real-time analysis shaped the finished courtyard: shade structures, tree placement, and ceiling fans were validated against wind and heat data before construction, so the space stays usable even in Texas heat near 100°F. The renovation itself was framed as a sustainability strategy in its own right — reusing the existing 1920s building avoided the embodied carbon of new construction. In June 2023, Lake|Flato became the first Texas-based architecture firm certified as a B Corporation, and the firm holds 13 AIA Committee on the Environment awards, more than any other U.S. architecture firm.