As maker culture seeps into more and more of what the AEC industry does, spaces with the sole purpose of being used to do and create will become increasingly important. With this in mind, Autodesk has created an industrial workshop and innovation studio with a focus on making things in the built environment.
The Boston-based Building, Innovation, Learning, and Design (BUILD) Space will host teams from academia, industry, and practice doing work in fields including digital fabrication, design robotics, and industrialized construction. At no cost to the teams, the BUILD space will provide them with access to an appropriate workspace, advanced training, equipment, Autodesk personnel and executives, and other industry leaders in order to help them best accomplish their project goals, whatever they may be. The trade-off for the use of the space at no cost is that Autodesk gains a better understanding of how their construction customers and the broader business ecosystem will work in the future.
Courtesy of Autodesk
The BUILD Space is a sprawling 34,000-sf facility with space and equipment to support work with steel, wood, stone, concrete, ceramics, glass, and composites such as carbon fiber. Among its 60 pieces of large-format equipment are six industrial robots; 11 dedicated workshops for wood, metal fabrication, composites, 3D printing, laser cutting, and a large-format Computer Numerical Control router and waterjet; and a five-ton bridge crane for large fabrication projects and moving equipment and materials between floors.
Pillar Technologies, a company that uses on-site sensors to monitor for destructive environmental conditions such as fire outbreaks, high humidity exposure, and mold growth, was one of the first companies to join the Autodesk BUILD Space startup incubator. The company needed a space where it could continue to develop and improve their technology and chose the Autodesk BUILD Space because it allowed it to accomplish this goal in just a few weeks with minimal cost.
“This is so valuable because as a startup company, our scarcest resources are time and money,” says Alex Schwarzkopf, Co-Founder, Pillar Technologies, in a press release.
Autodesk chose Boston as the city for its BUILD Space due to its vibrant startup community, world-class universities and colleges, and large talent pool.
Courtesy of Autodesk
Courtesy of Autodesk
Related Stories
| Oct 18, 2013
Meet the winners of BD+C's $5,000 Vision U40 Competition
Fifteen teams competed last week in the first annual Vision U40 Competition at BD+C's Under 40 Leadership Summit in San Francisco. Here are the five winning teams, including the $3,000 grand prize honorees.
| Oct 15, 2013
Sustainable design trends in windows, doors and door hardware [AIA course]
Architects and fenestration experts are looking for windows and doors for their projects that emphasize speed to the project site, a fair price, resilient and sustainable performance, and no callbacks.
| Oct 7, 2013
10 award-winning metal building projects
The FDNY Fireboat Firehouse in New York and the Cirrus Logic Building in Austin, Texas, are among nine projects named winners of the 2013 Chairman’s Award by the Metal Construction Association for outstanding design and construction.
| Sep 24, 2013
8 grand green roofs (and walls)
A dramatic interior green wall at Drexel University and a massive, 4.4-acre vegetated roof at the Kauffman Performing Arts Center in Kansas City are among the projects honored in the 2013 Green Roof and Wall Awards of Excellence.
| Sep 20, 2013
Perimeter roof edge: The first line of defense in a wind event [AIA course]
Aside from the roof membrane itself, the perimeter roof edge is the most critical component of the roofing system. As such, it warrants more scrutiny when designing a roof system.
| Sep 19, 2013
What we can learn from the world’s greenest buildings
Renowned green building author, Jerry Yudelson, offers five valuable lessons for designers, contractors, and building owners, based on a study of 55 high-performance projects from around the world.
| Sep 19, 2013
Roof renovation tips: Making the choice between overlayment and tear-off
When embarking upon a roofing renovation project, one of the first decisions for the Building Team is whether to tear off and replace the existing roof or to overlay the new roof right on top of the old one. Roofing experts offer guidance on making this assessment.
| Sep 19, 2013
BIM 2.0 and Google Glass: Science fiction or coming attractions for a job site near you?
Todd Wynne of Rogers-O’Brien Construction is one of only 8,000 people around the globe granted a pair of Google Glass for testing. Here's what he's been up to with the technology.
| Sep 17, 2013
World's first 'invisible' tower planned in South Korea
The 1,476-foot-tall structure will showcase Korean cloaking technology that utilizes an LED façade fitted with optical cameras that will display the landscape directly behind the building, thus making it invisible.
| Sep 16, 2013
Study analyzes effectiveness of reflective ceilings
Engineers at Brinjac quantify the illuminance and energy consumption levels achieved by increasing the ceiling’s light reflectance.
