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<img src="https://aecplustech-files.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/61d0ceef-f5e6-476c-99ba-639f5cd60ebc.png" alt="" width="1080">
The client loves the scheme, then asks what the facade looks like in brick instead of stone, and the meeting stalls because the only honest answer is "let me render that and get back to you." Every architect knows that stall.&nbsp;
At AEC+Tech, we've watched the AEC tools we cover get very good at making the picture look real. What's changing now is where that picture sits in the process, moving from documentation into the decision itself.&nbsp;
For most of the last decade, progress in architectural visualization has been measured in image quality. Physically accurate lighting, richer material systems, and real-time ray tracing have closed much of the gap between a render and a photograph. What used to count as exceptional is now the baseline clients expect.
Rendering has improved fast. One part of the workflow has barely moved.
Design reviews still lean on static images, pre-rendered animations, and fixed camera paths. Those outputs record decisions well enough, but they sit outside the conversation. The moment a meeting turns toward a different material, a new lighting condition, or an alternate scheme, the presentation stalls while someone prepares fresh visuals elsewhere.
That gap matters more as practice becomes more collaborative. Clients, consultants, engineers, and developers now weigh in across the whole design process, not only at the end. Meetings have turned into working sessions where decisions take shape in the room. The way architecture gets presented has to keep up with that.
So visualization is starting to play a different part. Beyond the final picture, it is becoming a medium for discussion, comparison, and decisions made on the spot. The next step forward may be interaction as much as realism.
Every architect knows the moment a client asks to see it another way and the room goes quiet waiting on new visuals. D5 says 3.1 closes that gap, and will <a href="https://www.d5render.com/webinars/whats-new-in-d5-3-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prove it live on July 21</a>
<h2 dir="ltr">Answer "Can We See It Another Way?" On the Spot&nbsp;</h2>
This is the thinking behind <a href="https://bit.ly/d5-3-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">D5 3.1.</a>
Plenty of tools compete on how convincing the picture looks. Fewer ask what happens to it once a room full of stakeholders starts pushing back.&nbsp;
The release starts from a practical question: how does visualization stay useful once the meeting starts?
D5's answer is Interactive Presentation, a workflow that lets architects organize a review like a slide deck while keeping the live project open behind it.
<figure class="image"><img src="https://aecplustech-files.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/764404fa-3db9-4d3c-b9ec-9e36afea816e.png" alt="Interactive Presentation enables real-time scene switching with slides and 3D triggers." width="1080">
<figcaption>Interactive Presentation enables real-time scene switching with slides and 3D triggers.</figcaption>
</figure>
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<div>
Instead of preparing several image sets or separate animations ahead of time, teams can move between design schemes, materials, lighting, weather, viewpoints, and object visibility inside a single presentation. A question that used to interrupt the review can be explored right away. Real-time scene switching runs through slides and 3D triggers, so the flow of the meeting holds together.
The presentation becomes a working space for the design, one the team can steer as the discussion moves.
<h2 dir="ltr">Let Clients Walk the Space Before It Exists&nbsp;</h2>
Interactive Presentation sits inside a wider set of tools aimed at making review more interactive and easier to adapt to the room.
Stereoscopic Panorama brings depth-aware panoramic views to VR, which helps clients and project teams read scale, materials, and how spaces relate to one another. Better VR navigation and controller handling make VR walkthroughs steady enough for everyday reviews rather than occasional demos.
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Spatial Tour has moved along too, with faster scene generation, smoother transitions between indoor and outdoor spaces, and dollhouse views that make it simpler to move through a complicated project.
These tools sit alongside still renders and animations and widen the options, so a team can pick the right way to explore a design based on the audience, the project stage, and what the review needs to settle.
<h2 dir="ltr">Start Seeing the Design the Moment You Model It&nbsp;</h2>
The quality of any review depends on everything that happens before it.
As visualization gets pulled deeper into design work, architects increasingly want to test ideas while those ideas are still moving, instead of waiting for documentation to finish. In that sense, presentation begins earlier than the slide deck. It begins when a team first tries out form, light, material, atmosphere, and how a space feels to move through.
In practice, the visual thinking usually happens long before anyone opens presentation software, and tools have been slow to meet designers there.&nbsp;
That continuity reaches past D5 Render itself. After its earlier <a href="https://www.aecplustech.com/tools/sketchup">SketchUp</a> release, D5 Lite now works inside Rhino and <a href="https://www.aecplustech.com/tools/revit">Revit</a>, bringing real-time visualization into more of the tools architects already use. Designers can preview materials, lighting, and visual direction without leaving the modeling environment, which supports quicker exploration during concept work, massing studies, facade development, and iterative testing.
<figure class="image"><img src="https://aecplustech-files.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/faae324a-8c58-4578-aac2-06f9faac39b1.png" alt="D5 Lite: Visualize projects directly inside Rhino, Revit and Sketchup" width="1080">
<figcaption spellcheck="false" data-qb-tmp-id="lt-724231" data-gramm="false">
Start in D5 Lite, finish in D5 Render, without switching tools
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<div>
D5 Lite is built for that early work, making design decisions more visual from the start. When a project needs higher-end imagery, animation, or an interactive presentation, the work carries on into D5 Render. Paired with Cloud Collaboration, distributed teams can review and share work with less reliance on manual file swaps or local hardware, which keeps things continuous from concept through client review.
<h2 dir="ltr">Photoreal That Holds Up When Clients Look Closely&nbsp;</h2>
As presentations get more interactive, the visuals behind them matter even more. A live scene only works if it holds up when someone leans in.
D5 Render 3.1 adds a set of production-focused improvements that strengthen realism while keeping real-time response.&nbsp;
<figure class="image"><img src="https://aecplustech-files.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/84679fde-46df-4239-985d-65e93278fb1f.png" alt="ACEScg Color Space preserves richer HDR color detail and supports professional ACES workflows" width="1080">
<figcaption spellcheck="false" data-qb-tmp-id="lt-926652" data-gramm="false">ACEScg Color Space preserves richer HDR color detail and supports professional ACES workflows</figcaption>
</figure>
The move to an ACEScg working color space brings in a production-grade color pipeline, the kind used in film and visual effects, which improves color consistency across visualization and post-production. HeightField Tracing gives displacement materials richer surface relief without adding geometric weight, so brick, stone, and timber keep convincing physical depth even in large scenes.
<figure class="image"><img src="https://aecplustech-files.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/196052f2-45b2-4577-a1c1-32e97aa7bc83.png" alt="Seasonal Vegetation lets foliage and branch structure change by date, previewing all seasons in one scene" width="1080">
<figcaption spellcheck="false" data-qb-tmp-id="lt-626429" data-gramm="false">Seasonal Vegetation lets foliage and branch structure change by date, previewing all seasons in one scene</figcaption>
</figure>
Landscape work gains more nuance through Seasonal Vegetation, which lets foliage and branch structure change by date and previews a full year of a planting scheme in one scene. A run of smaller refinements rounds it out, including Custom Pivot, MeasureLine, improved City Generator controls, smarter Auto Exposure, and wider Gaussian Splatting support. Each one trims repetitive adjustments and keeps production moving.
It adds up to one point. An interactive presentation is only as good as the rendering underneath it, and that rendering has to hold both fidelity and speed at once.
<h2 dir="ltr">From Better Images to Better Decisions&nbsp;</h2>
Architectural visualization has spent years chasing realism. That work continues, though realism on its own no longer defines the field.
As projects get more collaborative, the ability to move between options, respond to feedback, and explain a design in context is becoming just as important. Presentations are becoming part of the design process itself.
<blockquote>
"The tools we end up writing about at AEC+Tech are rarely the ones with the longest feature list. They're the ones that change how a decision gets made."&nbsp; &mdash; Niknaz Aftahi&nbsp;
</blockquote>
D5 3.1 reflects that direction. It builds presentation into the design work, making visualization a place where ideas can be explored, compared, and refined with the people in the room.
Whether this turns out to be the next phase of the discipline is still an open question. The goal is clearly shifting, from producing better images toward better conversations about the work.
The biggest change in D5 3.1 sits outside the render itself. Visualization now stays in play through the whole conversation, long after the image is done.
<h2 dir="ltr">See it live&nbsp;</h2>
D5 will demonstrate the 3.1 workflow in a live webinar on Tuesday, July 21, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC, hosted by Jeff Espinoza, D5's Director of Customer Success and Services. The session covers D5 Lite for Rhino and Revit, Interactive Presentation, VR review, Stereoscopic Panorama, ACEScg, HeightField Tracing, and Seasonal Vegetation.
You can register using&nbsp;<a href="https://www.d5render.com/webinars/whats-new-in-d5-3-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this webinar page</a>, and anyone who registers but cannot attend will receive access to the recording.
To learn more about D5 Render, visit their <a href="../../../tools/d5-render" target="_blank" rel="noopener">page on aec+tech&nbsp;</a>or explore the latest features on the official <a class="_ymio1r31 _ypr0glyw _zcxs1o36 _mizu194a _1ah3dkaa _ra3xnqa1 _128mdkaa _1cvmnqa1 _4davt94y _4bfu18uv _1hms8stv _ajmmnqa1 _vchhusvi _kqswh2mm _ect4ttxp _syaz13af _1a3b18uv _4fpr8stv _5goinqa1 _f8pj13af _9oik18uv _1bnxglyw _jf4cnqa1 _30l313af _1nrm18uv _c2waglyw _1iohnqa1 _9h8h12zz _10531ra0 _1ien1ra0 _n0fx1ra0 _1vhv17z1" title="https://www.d5render.com/" href="https://www.d5render.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-renderer-mark="true" data-is-router-link="false" data-testid="link-with-safety">D5 Render website</a>.
<hr>
<img src="https://aecplustech-files.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/b02023eb-2713-4ea3-a35f-e0c2bb302c00.png" alt="" width="160" height="160">
Niknaz Aftahi is the founder of AEC+Tech. This article was produced with materials from D5 as part of a partnership, and independently edited for the AEC+Tech community.
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D5 Render 3.1 turns design reviews into live sessions. Interactive Presentation switches schemes, materials, and lighting on the spot; D5 Lite reaches Rhino and Revit. 

D5 3.1 Wants to End the "We'll Render It Tomorrow" Moment

<div><img src="https://aecplustech-files.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/5741b41d-2b98-40f9-9a96-00550e6d0a57.png" alt="InspectMind AI" width="1080"></div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Most conversations about AI in construction start with speed.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>&ldquo;How many hours did we save?&rdquo;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>&ldquo;How many pages could we review in minutes?"&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>But a recent aec+tech conversation on AI-driven plan review made a more useful point: the tools save time, but the real reason to adopt them is risk.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0nEGFxC7as">This conversation</a> brought together Colton Johnson, Principal Engineer at Flint Engineering Company; Aakash Prasad, Co-founder and CEO of InspectMind AI; and Simon G. Solorio, President of Solorio Inc. Much of the discussion centered on InspectMind AI's plan-checking tool, though the takeaways apply to any firm weighing this kind of software.&nbsp;
In this article you&rsquo;ll see where AI plan review helps, where it falls short, and why a firm with weak internal processes will not get much out of it no matter how good the software gets.
<h2 dir="ltr">Reading a Pictorial Language</h2>
Plan review is not just about reading text. Construction documents carry meaning through symbols, callouts, line weights, and schedules that change from one project type to the next. An industrial set does not look like a large residential set. Every new hire has to learn how to read that visual system before they can review anything in it.
<blockquote>
"Construction documents are a language, and on top of that they're a pictorial language. You're relying on graphic and visual cues to display the information, translating heavy analysis and code requirements into those pictures."
&mdash; Colton Johnson, Principal Engineer, Flint Engineering Company
</blockquote>
Solorio described the second half of the problem: volume.&nbsp;
Even with tools like <a href="https://www.aecplustech.com/tools/revit">Revit</a> and virtual walk-throughs on Meta Quest headsets, engineers still check ever-changing building codes by hand and coordinate across disciplines. Holding hundreds of pages of drawings against dense architectural, structural, mechanical, and civil specifications is a cognitive load that does not scale. There is only so much one person can keep straight at once, and plan sets keep getting bigger.
That is the gap AI steps into. Not the design work or the engineering judgment, but the slow, repetitive cross-checking that wears people down and still lets errors slip through.
A Third-Party Reviewer That Works Through Lunch
<figure class="image"><img src="https://aecplustech-files.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/bb52d8a0-3272-45e5-b6a9-e96e1717194f.png" alt="Errors missed in review surface on site, where fixes cost most." width="1080">
<figcaption spellcheck="false" data-qb-tmp-id="lt-8150" data-gramm="false">Fig 2) Errors missed in review surface on site, where fixes cost most.&nbsp;</figcaption>
</figure>
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<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
AI is a third-party reviewer. It&rsquo;s not a replacement for the engineer or the plan checker, but an extra set of eyes that never gets tired and never skips a page.
Prasad said InspectMind AI can typically review a 100- to 200-page project in one to two hours. In that window it catches discrepancies between drawings and specs, flags cross-discipline coordination issues, and checks against selected/applicable codes and references. It surfaces a prioritized set of findings while the team continues other work.&nbsp;
InspectMind AI has flagged a water main running straight into a 12-inch concrete pipe. It has caught a storm sewer drawn with no slope, which means it would never drain. These are the errors that hide on page 140 of a set and get expensive once they reach the field.&nbsp;
<blockquote>
"This isn't replacing your own diligence or your own quality of work. It's a useful automated review tool that helps you reduce risk and liability and improve quality overall."
&mdash; Aakash Prasad, Co-founder and CEO, InspectMind AI&nbsp;
</blockquote>
The discussion was honest about the limits, too. AI still struggles to read the purely graphical parts of a drawing when there are no words or numbers to anchor it. That should improve over the next few years, but for now InspectMind AI is strongest where drawings, specs, and code references can be grounded and cited. Purely graphical meaning, where the intent lives only in the picture, is still an area where human review matters.
<h2 dir="ltr">From Months of Back-and-Forth to Days&nbsp;</h2>
<div>
<figure class="image"><img src="https://aecplustech-files.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/c6175af5-f771-4066-a384-2d4991e7ce06.png" alt="InspectMind AI tags each finding by severity, discipline, and code." width="1080">
<figcaption>Fig 3) InspectMind AI tags each finding by severity, discipline, and code.&nbsp;</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
A minor discrepancy on a drawing is not just a quality problem. It is a liability problem. Prasad pointed to ADA compliance as an example. A ramp drawn with a 2.2 percent slope instead of the required 2 percent maximum is a small number on a sheet and a frequent target for litigation. Catching it before construction starts is worth far more than the hour it saved.
The same logic runs downstream. Errors that survive review become Requests for Information (RFIs) and change orders once contractors are on site. Each one costs time and money and strains the client relationship. The financial case lives in catching those errors early.&nbsp;
A church project in California shows how that plays out. The design firm ran its full drawing set (architecture, civil, structural, and specs) through InspectMind AI before submitting to the city. The AI flagged around 300 issues. The team fixed them first. When the city's review came back, the comments were mostly minor, and the firm closed them out in days rather than the weeks or months a project like this can take.
That is the payoff that matters. Not the hours saved running the review, but the weeks of back-and-forth with the jurisdiction that never happened, and the rework that never reached the field.
Garbage In, Garbage Out Still Applies
<figure class="image"><img src="https://aecplustech-files.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/88271371-af97-4945-8f3f-0a5ee2295ce9.png" alt="AI only reflects the inputs it gets." width="1080">
<figcaption spellcheck="false" data-qb-tmp-id="lt-415377" data-gramm="false">Fig 4) AI only reflects the inputs it gets.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
The strongest warning has always been against leaning on the tools too hard. The old 'garbage in, garbage out' rule still stands.
The software is powerful, but it sits on top of a firm's inputs, its standards, and the judgment of the people running it.
Solorio made the case for foundational knowledge. Junior engineers still need to learn the basics through hand calculations and free-body diagrams so they understand how loads travel and what a structural member is actually doing. Without that, an engineer cannot tell when the AI is wrong.
<blockquote>
"If you put in garbage, you're going to get out garbage, and that's still true with these new programs. If you put in something wrong, it gives you something wrong. You have to know the basics to know when it's giving you wrong information."
&mdash; Simon G. Solorio, President, Solorio Inc.
</blockquote>
Johnson framed the same idea as a sequence. He sees a working AI workflow as a three-tier system.&nbsp;
A firm establishes good internal processes first. Then it introduces standard automations. Only then does it put AI at what he called the tip of the spear. Skip the first two steps and there is nothing solid for the AI to stand on. When a firm's drawing standards and inputs are inconsistent, there is no realistic way to scale an AI workflow on top of them.
<h2 dir="ltr">Own the Output</h2>
Accountability is the other side of this. When an engineer signs off on a design, they own it, whatever tools helped produce it.
<blockquote>
"The motto we live by with AI is own the output. Just because you have a cool tool doesn't mean you get to say that the tool is the reason something was wrong. You own the output."
&mdash; Colton Johnson, Principal Engineer, Flint Engineering Company
</blockquote>
That has a practical edge. Johnson raised data security, pointing out that client information needs to stay protected under NDAs when a firm runs it through a third-party AI platform. Owning the output means owning the data path, too. Before uploading project documents, firms should evaluate the data path and the platform's NDA and security requirements. That is a question to settle before the first project goes up, not after.&nbsp;
<h2 dir="ltr">Built by the People Who Use It</h2>
The panel closed on what actually makes these tools better, and the answer was feedback from the field rather than anything happening in a lab. Solorio and Johnson both pointed to the value of a simple thumbs up or thumbs down on each flagged issue. That input teaches the model the difference between a real problem and an irrelevant false positive, which is the difference between a tool engineers trust and one they learn to ignore.
Because AEC technology moves quickly, the tools that respond to this feedback can change almost daily. Johnson offered an example from a job site. He floated the idea of having the plan checker automatically generate a targeted field observation checklist based on the specific materials and structural elements it found in the drawings. Within hours, the development team had piloted a connection between the plan checker and a site inspection app.
That speed of iteration is the point underneath the whole conversation.
The AI plan review tools that earn a place in AEC workflows will be the ones built and shaped by the people doing the work, not the ones that promise to do the thinking for them. The engineers on this panel were not looking for software to replace their judgment. They were looking for a reviewer that helps them protect it. That is a smaller promise than replacing an engineer, and a far more useful one.
&nbsp;
To learn more about InspectMind AI, visit InspectMind AI's <a href="../../../tools/inspectmind-ai" target="_blank" rel="noopener">page on aec+tech </a>or explore the latest features and request access on the InspectMind AI's <a class="_ymio1r31 _ypr0glyw _zcxs1o36 _mizu194a _1ah3dkaa _ra3xnqa1 _128mdkaa _1cvmnqa1 _4davt94y _4bfu18uv _1hms8stv _ajmmnqa1 _vchhusvi _kqswh2mm _ect4ttxp _syaz13af _1a3b18uv _4fpr8stv _5goinqa1 _f8pj13af _9oik18uv _1bnxglyw _jf4cnqa1 _30l313af _1nrm18uv _c2waglyw _1iohnqa1 _9h8h12zz _10531ra0 _1ien1ra0 _n0fx1ra0 _1vhv17z1" title="https://www.inspectmind.ai/" href="https://www.inspectmind.ai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-renderer-mark="true" data-is-router-link="false" data-testid="link-with-safety">website</a>.
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&nbsp;
Editor's Note
<img src="https://aecplustech-files.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/c3806924-0521-483d-b74d-a01f09ed330e.png" alt="Niknaz Aftahi" width="160" height="160">
This article was independently reviewed and edited by Niknaz Aftahi, Founder of AEC+Tech, drawing on InspectMind AI's product documentation, direct conversation with the panel participants, and hands-on knowledge of plan review and QA/QC workflows. Figures drawn from the panel rather than published material were checked before publishing.
&mdash; Niknaz Aftahi, Founder, AEC+Tech
&nbsp;
</div>

AI plan review saves hours, but engineers say the real payoff is fewer lawsuits, cleaner permit reviews, and errors caught before they reach the field.

AI Plan Review Isn't About Speed. It's About Staying Out of Court.

Trimble selected 15 AECO startups for its 2026 0-60 Challenge, supporting AI, robotics, and interoperability integrations across construction workflows.

The Next Generation of AECO Innovation: Meet the 2026 Trimble 0-60 Finalists

Learn how Ideate StyleManager, Explorer, and BIMLink reduce Revit inefficiencies with automated QA/QC workflows, cleanup tools, and bulk parameter editing.

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Kestrel Labs embeds AI code compliance in the BIM model, using computable codes and Revit workflows for traceable results, less rework, and faster permitting.

How Kestrel Labs Is Bringing Code Compliance Inside the BIM Model

Solibri, a Nemetschek Company, is the global leader in model quality, BIM validation, and digital quality assurance for the construction industry. Solibri helps architects, engineers, contractors, owners, infrastructure teams, and public-sector organizations ensure that digital building models are accurate, reliable, and ready for confident decision-making before construction begins.

Digital construction depends on trusted model data. As buildings and infrastructure projects become more complex, teams need more than visual model review. They need structured, repeatable quality assurance that verifies geometry, information, classification, coordination, and compliance across every project stage. Solibri embeds rule-based BIM validation into digital construction workflows, helping teams identify and resolve issues early, before they create costly rework, delays, or downstream risk.

With Solibri, project teams can check multidisciplinary BIM models systematically, detect clashes, validate data, review classifications, manage issues, and enforce project or organizational standards. This supports a more reliable model-based process where decisions are made using verified information rather than assumptions. By improving model quality before construction, Solibri helps teams strengthen collaboration, reduce financial exposure, protect schedules, and improve the quality of building information across the entire building lifecycle.

Solibri supports BIM quality assurance from design through long-term operations. 

- In design and architecture, teams can validate models early to prevent inconsistencies before coordination begins. 
- In BIM coordination, Solibri helps multidisciplinary teams detect clashes, verify standards, and align around trusted model data. 
- During construction and handover, validated BIM information supports contractors in planning, delivery, documentation, and project handover. 
- In operation and maintenance, accurate model data helps owners and facility managers maintain buildings and infrastructure more efficiently over time. 


The Solibri platform is available through a structured product portfolio designed for different levels of BIM maturity, team size, and validation needs. 

- Solibri Starter gives individual professionals and small teams reliable IFC model review, federation, visual inspection, and model-based communication. 
- Solibri Essential adds structured clash detection, predefined rule-based model checking, baseline information validation, BCF issue management, and CDE integrations for project teams formalizing coordination workflows. 
- Solibri Advanced enables organizations to enforce digital quality standards across projects with custom rules, clash detection matrix control, IDS workflows, Quantity and Information Takeoff, repeatable validation practices, and automation-ready workflows. 
- Solibri Premium supports portfolio-level governance, compliance assurance, scalable automation, point cloud checking, centralized validation frameworks, AI-powered assistance, and extended IDS management. 

For secure and regulated environments, Solibri Security+ provides fully offline, air-gapped validation for government, defense, and sovereign infrastructure use cases. 


Built on openBIM, interoperability, and decades of BIM quality assurance expertise, Solibri integrates into connected digital construction ecosystems and supports collaboration across disciplines, organizations, and project phases. Active in over 100 countries, Solibri serves construction developers, infrastructure projects, design and engineering teams, contractors, owners, and public authorities working with digital permitting and model-based project delivery.

By raising the standard for model quality and information reliability in BIM, Solibri helps the construction industry move from reactive issue resolution to proactive quality assurance. Solibri enables teams to reduce rework, improve collaboration, ensure compliance, and deliver better buildings and infrastructure through trusted digital models. 

Solibri

Solibri is a Nemetschek Company and the global leader in BIM model validation and digital construction quality assurance, helping project teams reduce rework, ensure compliance, and deliver better buildings through trusted digital models.

Peikko Group is a global operating specialist of fastening technology for concrete constructions and composite beams for slim floor structures.

Peikko Group

Peikko Group Corporation is a Finnish supplier of Slim Floor Structures, Wind Energy Applications and Connection Technology for Precast and Cast-in-situ.

Ichi is an AI-powered code compliance and automation platform built for architecture firms.
The platform helps architects navigate complex building codes, automate time-consuming construction administration tasks, and strengthen QA/QC across the entire project lifecycle&mdash;from early design through construction.
Designed specifically for the realities of architectural practice, Ichi augments professional expertise by automating previously manual processes, improving accuracy, and minimizing costly downstream rework. The platform supports both project-level execution and firm-wide knowledge sharing, helping teams work more efficiently while maintaining accountability and control.
Key Features
<ul>
<li dir="ltr">AI Code Compliance Reviews</li>
</ul>
Ichi enables architects to quickly search, interpret, and validate applicable building codes and jurisdictional requirements. AI-assisted guidance is presented alongside authoritative source language, allowing teams to confidently apply code requirements during design, documentation, and review&mdash;without relying on generic or unverified AI outputs.
<ul>
<li dir="ltr">Automated Construction Administration</li>
</ul>
The platform helps automate and support manual construction administration workflows, including navigating construction documents, responding to RFIs, and reviewing submittals. By reducing the time spent on repetitive coordination tasks, Ichi helps keep projects moving while easing the administrative burden on architectural teams.
<ul>
<li dir="ltr">QA/QC at Scale</li>
</ul>
Ichi strengthens QA/QC by assisting with plan set reviews, cross-sheet consistency checks, and document validation across large and complex drawing packages. This allows architects to identify issues earlier, improve document quality, and reduce risk prior to submission or construction.
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-weight: bold;">Institutional Knowledge Management</li>
</ul>
Ichi acts as a living knowledge base for architecture firms. Project-specific decisions, jurisdictional nuances, and internal best practices can be captured, shared, and reused across teams and over time&mdash;helping firms preserve institutional knowledge as staff, projects, and regulations change.
Who Should Use Ichi?
Ichi is designed for:
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" aria-level="1">
Architecture firms working across multiple jurisdictions
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" aria-level="1">
Design teams navigating complex or evolving code requirements
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" aria-level="1">
Firms seeking to reduce QA/QC risk and rework
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" aria-level="1">
Architects managing heavy construction administration workloads
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-size: 14px; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" aria-level="1">
Practices looking to capture and scale internal expertise
</li>
</ul>
While built with architects at the center, Ichi also supports collaboration with engineers and contractors by improving clarity, consistency, and access to critical project information.
Why Ichi?
Ichi is purpose-built for the architectural profession. Unlike general-purpose AI tools, it is designed to operate within the constraints of real-world practice&mdash;prioritizing accuracy, traceability, and professional responsibility.
By combining AI-driven code compliance, QA/QC automation, construction administration support, and firm-wide knowledge management in a single platform, Ichi helps architects spend less time on rote tasks and more time on high-value design and decision-making. The result is better documentation, smoother project delivery, and more resilient architectural practices.
Learn More
Ichi is helping architecture firms modernize how they manage code compliance, QA/QC, and knowledge across their projects, all on one platform.
👉 Visit https://www.ichiplan.com/ to schedule a demo or learn more about how Ichi is helping architects and other AECs build cities of the future.

Ichi

D5 Render is a leading real-time rendering solution that revolutionizes the architectural and design workflows. Powered by AI-driven and cutting-edge technologies, D5 empowers architects, designers, and visualization artists to work more efficiently and collaboratively, accelerating creation while ensuring consistently accurate and photorealistic results. -Best balance between speed and quality -Seamless integration with your favorite design workflow -User-friendly for designers, architects, visualizers, and archviz animation professionals alike -Free access and a cost-effective teams subscription option D5 Render is transforming the world of architectural visualization by bringing real-time rendering into everyday workflows&mdash;without sacrificing quality. Designed with architects, designers, and visual storytellers in mind, D5 combines high-speed GPU processing with an intuitive interface, allowing users to create photorealistic renderings, animations, and walkthroughs almost instantly. Unlike traditional rendering engines that require long wait times and technical know-how, D5 simplifies the process through real-time preview and rendering capabilities. Users can drag and drop assets, make lighting and material adjustments on the fly, and see results in seconds&mdash;all while working within a seamless, responsive environment. It also supports live sync with popular modeling tools like SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, and Archicad, streamlining the design-to-render workflow. What sets D5 apart is not just its speed, but also its ability to handle large, complex scenes with remarkable performance. Its AI-powered denoising engine and built-in library of assets&mdash;including vegetation, lighting, and materials&mdash;help elevate visualization without external plugins or post-production tools. Architects and design firms using D5 report significant time savings, improved client communication, and enhanced design decision-making. By eliminating the barrier between modeling and rendering, D5 allows teams to visualize concepts earlier and with greater clarity&mdash;ultimately leading to better outcomes. For firms working on tight deadlines or aiming to elevate their presentations, D5 offers a powerful solution that redefines what&rsquo;s possible in real-time rendering. It&rsquo;s not just a tool&mdash;it&rsquo;s becoming a core part of the modern architectural tech stack. Check out our latest article: https://www.aecplustech.com/blog/rendering-redefined-d5-real-time-revolution-architects-design-firms

D5 Render

Featuring D5 Render at the AEC Innovate Conference

Rendering Redefined: D5’s Real-Time Revolution

Tools Leading the Way in the AEC+Tech Community

Why Every Designer Needs Collaborative Rendering (Webinar)

Why Every Designer Needs Collaborative Rendering

One Click LCA is the world&rsquo;s leading end‑to‑end sustainability platform, purpose-built for the construction and manufacturing sectors. Founded in Helsinki in 2001, the company has grown to a team of over 200 professionals across all continents and now serves users in more than 170 countries  At its core, this cloud‑based platform offers streamlined, automated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), enabling users to scientifically measure and reduce environmental impacts of structures, infrastructure, renovations, and manufactured goods. Beyond LCA and EPDs, it also supports assessments of circularity, life‑cycle cost, and biodiversity. A standout feature is its extensive global database with over 250,000&ndash;300,000 datasets&mdash;covering supplier-specific and generic material data&mdash;fully verified and regularly updated. This empowers users to make informed, data‑driven decisions. The platform supports over 80 compliance standards, including LEED, BREEAM, GRESB, CALGreen, and various country‑specific regulations. One Click LCA seamlessly integrates with more than 20 leading BIM and design tools, such as Autodesk Revit, Tekla Structures, Bentley iTwin, Rhino, and Grasshopper. This allows for real‑time feedback and early‑phase embodied carbon optimization&mdash;notably through its Carbon Designer 3D tool, which enables quick, BIM‑integrated carbon hotspot analysis and comparison of design scenarios. In some cases, Carbon Designer 3D helps identify carbon footprint variations up to 50% during conceptual design. Leading global players&mdash;including Skanska, WSP, Foster+Partners, Turner, ArcelorMittal, Arcadis, ARUP, Geberit, and Saint‑Gobain, among others&mdash;rely on One Click LCA to drive their decarbonization efforts. AECOM, for instance, equipped its ScopeX&trade; platform with One Click LCA to target a 50% carbon reduction across its projects. Its visibility among industry analysts reflects its market leadership: One Click LCA was featured in Verdantix&rsquo;s 2025 Buyer&rsquo;s Guide for LCA tools and is the first platform validated by RICS under its Whole Life Carbon Assessment (WLCA) programme. One Click LCA also makes parts of its platform freely accessible via its Planetary embodied&ndash;carbon calculator&mdash;a tool for benchmarking cradle‑to‑gate carbon impacts across building designs and supporting EPD usage worldwide. In summary, One Click LCA stands out with its: - Massive, high-quality global dataset (250&ndash;300k records) - Broad compliance across 80+ standards - Deep BIM integrations for early and ongoing carbon management - Recognition by major firms and standards bodies It remains the go-to platform for turning sustainability goals into measurable, actionable outcomes across construction and manufacturing value chains.

One Click LCA

Featuring One Click LCA at the AEC Innovate Conference

Featuring One Click LCA  at the AEC Innovate Conference

AI, Sustainability & Latest Tools for AEC

Sustainability Tools to Watch Out For in 2025!

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Why choose Ideate BIMLink?
Linking Revit and Excel with Ideate BIMLink enables you to export data from Revit to Excel, streamlining data management tasks and dramatically reducing the time they take to perform. By creating a bidirectional connection between the model and a spreadsheet environment, teams can extract large volumes of element data, edit parameters in bulk, validate information, and apply changes using Excel&rsquo;s powerful sorting, filtering, and formula tools. This eliminates the need to manually open and edit individual elements in Revit, significantly reducing repetitive work and the risk of human error.
Importing data from Excel back into Revit means that your models are instantly updated with approved changes, helping ensure they remain clean, coordinated, and accurate. Ideate BIMLink provides access to nearly all instance and type parameters, including many that are difficult to manage efficiently using native Revit schedules alone. This expanded access gives teams greater control over project data, improves consistency across models, supports internal standards, simplifies model auditing, and strengthens overall data governance practices. It also enables collaboration with stakeholders who may not work directly in Revit but can safely contribute through structured Excel-based workflows.
Boost the Power of Ideate BIMLink with Ideate Automation
Add Ideate Automation to your subscription* to reduce the cost of repetitive BIM tasks by letting them run in the background while your staff focuses on higher-value work. This scripting solution can be run manually or scheduled to operate at convenient times, providing just-in-time insight into key Revit model metrics while automating essential workflows such as:
Producing document issue records Exporting PDFs Exporting health check data Preparing COBie data drops Generating quantity takeoff data
By automating these recurring processes, teams improve efficiency, strengthen data accuracy, increase consistency, reduce risk, and deliver more predictable project outcomes without interrupting daily production workflows across projects.
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Ideate BIMLink - Overview on Data Management

Ideate BIMLink

EGNYTE CONTENT CLOUD Unlock the full potential of your mission-critical content by simplifying collaboration, improving productivity with AI, and addressing information governance. PLATFORM The Egnyte Platform provides robust, secure, and compliant infrastructure that can be customized and scaled to match your business needs. Faster Time to Value Egnyte delivers immediate value with little or no customization but can tailor its offering to meet your business needs and integrate with your environment. Trusted by IT Leaders Thousand of IT leaders appreciate Egnyte&rsquo;s ease of deployment combined with a secure and compliant architecture. Loved by End-users End-users love working with Egnyte because of its accessibility from wherever they work, without forcing them to alter established processes and behavior. COLLABORATION Collaborate on mission-critical content with distributed teams working from an office, from home, or on the go. Collaborate Efficiently Empower teams to work efficiently and confidently, accelerating project timelines while protecting valuable content. Manage Complex Files Efficiently collaborate on mission-critical content and empower teams that work with large, complex files (up to 250 GB) in the cloud. Streamline Workflows Enhance workflows, improve productivity, drive project momentum, and ensure secure interactions across teams and partners. INTELLIGENCE Drive productivity and innovation with private and secure AI grounded in your company's data. Get fast answers, surface insights, create summaries, and perform actions via a simple, intuitive interface built into users&rsquo; workflows. Private Egnyte&rsquo;s AI respects your governance model and adheres to user-specific permissions, protecting your data with stringent privacy, compliance, and security standards. Purposeful Get accurate, relevant, and traceable answers from your data, with complete control over data sources and AI prompts. Practical Integrate AI seamlessly into existing workflows without moving data out of Egnyte, eliminating the need for new tools or special skills. GOVERNANCE Proactively Address Rapidly Evolving Cyberthreats and Manage Compliance Requirements Defend Against Ransomware Proactively manage the threat of ransomware; detect known ransomware artifacts; keep pace with rapidly-evolving ransomware variants; take immediate action when users experience attacks; and recover quickly from successful attacks using Snapshot Recovery. Protect Sensitive Content Identify and review sensitive content including Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) data, and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI); take immediate corrective action to protect exposed data; strengthen your compliance with global data privacy regulations such as GDPR and CPRA; and continuously improve sensitive data protection. Manage Regulatory Compliance Comply with cybersecurity and data privacy standards, such as CMMC, ISO 27001, and the CPRA; detect data that&rsquo;s subject to compliance and data privacy standards; keep pace with rapidly-evolving international privacy and cybersecurity standards; and benefit from Egnyte&rsquo;s deep compliance experience. Remediate Security Issues Mitigate risk associated with common security vulnerabilities like publicly exposed document links and potential ransomware; automatically respond to suspicious Egnyte login attempts; and enable your team to focus on threats most likely to significantly impact your company. Keep Data Confidential Create virtual data rooms (VDRs) for secure collaboration with external entities; generate Document Rooms in support of M&amp;A, asset sales, and investment fundraising initiatives; watermark previewed files to limit the risk of data breaches; gain real-time insights into users&rsquo; document access activity; and terminate external entities&rsquo; access when projects are completed, for peace of mind.

Egnyte Architecture Engineering and Construction Video

GBBN makes end users happier and more productive with Egnyte rollout

Egnyte

3 Ways Egnyte Helps AEC Firms Tap Into the Public Cloud 

Unlocking the Power of Cloud Data in Architectural Practice

Featuring Egnyte's aec+tech Talk: Unlocking the Power of Cloud Data in Architectural Practice

Featuring Egnyte’s article, case study, aec+tech event, and 2025 Egnyte’s Global Summit

Featuring Egnyte's Webinar: How to Find a Trusted AI Vendor

Featuring Egnyte at the AEC Innovate Conference

Egnyte's Article: A Practical, Purposeful, and Private Approach to AI Adoption in AEC; Article with Aaron Vorwerk

Speaking about Egnyte at the conference presentation

Zweig Group Article by aec+tech: Tools Leading the Way in the AEC+Tech Community

Featuring AIA Presentation: AI & AEC with Aaron Vorwerk

Featuring Egnyte: AI-powered Content Cloud Platform for AEC

MeltBid by MeltPlan is an AI bid leveling software built for general contractors in preconstruction. The traditional bid leveling process takes estimators hours of manual work &mdash; pulling numbers from PDFs, building spreadsheets by hand, hunting for buried exclusions, and hoping nothing slips through before you award. MeltBid compresses all of that into minutes.
The workflow is straightforward: upload your subcontractor proposals and MeltBid automatically structures them into a leveled comparison inside your own Excel template or a provided one. It works both in the browser and natively inside Excel via MeltPlan's Microsoft marketplace add-in, so estimators don't have to change how they work.
The value, though, goes well beyond speed. MeltBid surfaces five core capabilities:
Bid leveling in minutes. Upload multiple proposals &mdash; PDFs from each sub &mdash; and get a fully populated line-by-line comparison in your template in under 5 minutes. Bring your own format or start from MeltBid's.
Scope gap detection. Automatically identifies line items that one sub priced and others excluded or missed entirely. These gaps are the silent killers in preconstruction &mdash; they show up as change orders in the field, well after you've already awarded the contract.
Exclusions and qualifications flagging. Highlights non-obvious exclusions and qualifications buried deep in bid packages &mdash; things like "fire alarm devices excluded," "roof penetrations not included," or "price valid 30 days only, subject to material escalation." The cheapest number on paper becomes the most expensive one post-award when these get missed.
Full traceability. Every number in the leveled output links directly back to the source line in the original proposal. No black box &mdash; estimators can click any cell and see exactly which clause in which sub's PDF drove that value, with a "Mark as Reviewed" workflow to systematically work through the output.
Natural-language AI Q&amp;A. Ask plain-English questions directly against your leveled bids: "Who is the lowest bidder and by how much?" "What did Summit exclude?" "Where's the biggest spread across bidders on mechanical?" MeltBid answers in context, scoped to the exact run you're reviewing.
It's built for the way estimators actually work &mdash; in the browser or right inside Excel &mdash; and is aimed squarely at GCs who are tired of the bid leveling process eating their preconstruction capacity.

Melt Bid

Reer is&nbsp;an Intelligent Design Environment that brings AI directly into&nbsp;Rhino (&amp;Grasshopper), Revit, and more.
While most AI tools in AEC work on downstream point solutions like documentation, compliance, and visualization, Reer works upstream, directly at the source, the CAD and BIM model files where every project decision originates.
For decades, CAD and BIM platforms have been the backbone of AEC projects worldwide. They are powerful, deeply embedded, and not going anywhere. But the way professionals interact with them has barely changed. Most tasks remain manual, repetitive, and error-prone, requiring users to translate their intent into commands, scripts, and step-by-step operations rather than focusing on the work that actually requires their expertise.
Reer brings a true CAD-native AI collaborator directly into the tools we all rely on, fundamentally changing that interaction. The agent understands the context of your model, acts on your behalf, and handles the full range of workflows professionals deal with every day:
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<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Batch edits and parametric modeling</li>
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Data extraction and analysis</li>
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Object, layer, and file organization</li>
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Cross-platform coordination</li>
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Visualization and rendering</li>
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2">Construction documentation</li>
<li class="whitespace-normal break-words pl-2" style="font-style: italic;">And more for you to explore...</li>
</ul>
Beyond individual productivity, teams can build custom skills and modules on top of Reer, turning everyday interactions into reusable design intelligence that compounds over time.
The long-term vision is one intelligent environment across the entire AEC project lifecycle, from schematic design in Rhino through coordination in Revit and beyond.
Reer is currently in Free Beta in Rhino - <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.food4rhino.com/en/app/reer-ai">Try it now</a>
Revit coming in June!

Reer

Melt Code is the first building code research AI built for accuracy, transparency, and real compliance decision-making. Unlike generic AI tools that behave like black boxes, Melt Code doesn&rsquo;t just provide an answer &mdash; it shows the full research process so architects and engineers can verify every step and confidently defend their decisions.
Users can ask code questions in plain English and receive reliable, project-specific requirements with:
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Step-by-step reasoning with clear assumptions
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Direct citations to exact code sections for full traceability
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Compliance Paths, mapping multiple valid routes to compliance (based on occupancy, construction type, sprinkler conditions, height/area limits, ratings, etc.) so teams can choose the best design approach
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Exception and cross-reference handling, including circular references across multiple chapters
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Table and diagram understanding, ensuring accurate interpretation of code tables and figures
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Built-in calculations, such as occupant loads, egress sizing, travel distances, and fixture counts
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Personalized compliance illustrations, automatically generated to visually explain requirements for a specific project scenario
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Beyond research, Melt Code includes workflow tools that turn compliance into an organizational asset:
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Projects, where teams store project context (location, occupancy, construction type, sprinkler status, etc.) so every question becomes instantly project-aware
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Checklists, allowing firms to build, store, share, and export reusable compliance checklists across teams and project types
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The result is dramatically faster research, fewer senior escalations, reduced consultant dependence &mdash; and most importantly, confidence and peace of mind in every code decision.

Melt Code

Our first operational 3D printing Micro-Factory, installed on Peikko site in Lahti for two weeks. Hyperion's 260-square-meter Micro-Factory was set up in Finland's top-class environmental city and demonstrated how it is possible to improve the sustainability and productivity of the construction process with the help of automation. In our Micro-Factory, we printed 20 different fully reinforced concrete pad foundations. Representatives from different cities, universities and industry leaders came to visit us as well as our partners and investors.

Construction companies can learn from industry and agriculture success stories where productivity has been improved through automation. With automated construction processes, lead times are shortened, and at the same time, worker safety, material efficiency and ecological sustainability during the entire life cycle of the building can be improved. Hyperion's Micro-Factory is a comprehensive solution that combines Industrial Robots with patented hardware and software, and produces optimized reinforced concrete structures for construction projects with the help of automation.

Read more at: https://www.hyperionrobotics.com/projects/micro-factory-lahti

Hyperion Robotics 3D Concrete Printing Micro-factory Deployed in Lahti

Micro-factory Lahti

Hyperion Robotics is a Finnish technology company formed by experts in engineering, construction, 3D printing and robotics. To build a better future we need to rethink the way we build. ‍ Our mission is to bring automation and sustainable practices to the construction industry.

DESIGN & ENGINEERING OF 3D PRINTABLE OBJECTS

Result for “Finland”

Case Studies "1 result"

Micro-factory Lahti