Four years ago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s City Form Lab launched Urban Network Analysis (UNA), a city-modeling software that facilitates a mathematical analysis of relationships among elements in a complex system, like a city. The unique feature of UNA is that it incorporates activities within buildings into its analysis.
This toolbox has been popular with planners and geographers, but it requires ArcGIS10 software with an ArcGIS Network Analysis Extension.
In April, City Form Lab expanded this software’s utility by introducing UNA for Rhino 3D, a modeling software for architects, engineers, and designers.
“Our toolbox helps planners and architects analyze these relationships and quantify how intensely different routes are likely to be utilized, how visible or connected public spaces are, or how conveniently one can get from one space to another,” says Andres Sevtsuk, the principal investigator at City Form Lab and developer of the UNA tool.
In layman’s terms, the software predicts where people are likely to go once they’ve decided upon an activity, like, say, going to an ATM machine or a park. The software provides users with some idea about which ATM or park that would be. As for movements to and within buildings, UNA takes into account employee head count, a building’s value, the surrounding population, and so forth.
This app’s toolbox also computes how urban design can affect—or even dictate—pedestrian movement. Sevtsuk notes, too, that the software can be scaled to account for the diversity of movement in different cities and towns.
Sevtsuk is encouraged by the sheer amount of spatial data available about urban areas, particularly in the U.S., where “you can go to any sizable city website and download data that is necessary to calibrate any of these models.” He’s confident that this software can be used to predict movement in public or semi-public spaces such as building lobbies or shopping centers.
Related Stories
| Sep 22, 2010
Satellier, Potential + Semac close investment deal
Satellier, a world leader in providing CAD and Building Information Modeling (BIM) outsourced services to the architecture, engineering and construction industry, announces a strategic minority investment from India-based top engineering firm Potential + Semac, ushering in the next evolution of the global architecture support industry.
| Sep 13, 2010
Data Centers Keeping Energy, Security in Check
Power consumption for data centers doubled from 2000 and 2006, and it is anticipated to double again by 2011, making these mission-critical facilities the nation's largest commercial user of electric power. With major technology companies investing heavily in new data centers, it's no wonder Building Teams see these mission-critical facilities as a golden opportunity, and why they are working hard to keep energy costs at data centers in check.
| Sep 13, 2010
3D Prototyping Goes Low-cost
Today’s less costly 3D color printers are attracting the attention of AEC firms looking to rapidly prototype designs and communicate design intent to clients.
| Aug 11, 2010
Nemetschek North America Announces New U.S. Partnership with Apple
Nemetschek North America (NNA) has entered a new partnership with Apple in the United States. Under the terms of this partnership, three of NNA's Vectorworks software products can now be purchased through the U.S. online Apple Store. Vectorworks and ArchiCAD, another Nemetschek product, are the only BIM programs available for the Mac platform.
| Aug 11, 2010
Turner edges out Perkins+Will for the top spot on BD+C's Top 200 Building Team LEED APs ranking
With 1,006 LEED Accredited Professionals on staff, Turner Construction took the top spot on Building Design+Construction’s 2009 ranking of AEC firms with the most LEED APs, published as part of the Giants 300 report. Turner added more than 580 LEED APs during the past year to surpass Perkins+Will, which held the top spot four years running.
| Aug 11, 2010
Guggenheim and Google team up on shelter design competition
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Google yesterday announced the launch of Design It: Shelter Competition, a global, online initiative that invites the public to use Google Earth and Google SketchUp to create and submit designs for virtual 3-D shelters for a location of their choice anywhere on Earth. The competition opened on June 8, 2009, in honor of Frank Lloyd Wright’s birthday, and closes to submissions on August 23.
| Aug 11, 2010
EwingCole to merge with healthcare specialist Robert D. Lynn Associates
EwingCole, a nationally recognized architectural, engineering, interior design, and planning firm with more than 320 professionals, today announced that it will combine its practice with Robert D. Lynn Associates of Philadelphia, a 40-person firm with a robust portfolio of healthcare projects. The combination will create the Delaware Valley¹s largest and most comprehensive firm with an emphasis on healthcare architecture, and a national scope and presence.
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, Arup, AECOM top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 75 largest international design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 International Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
BIM adoption rate exceeds 80% among nation’s largest AEC firms
The nation’s largest architecture, engineering, and construction companies are on the BIM bandwagon in a big way, according to Building Design+Construction’s premier Top 170 BIM Adopters ranking, published as part of the 2009 Giants 300 survey. Of the 320 AEC firms that participated in Giants survey, 83% report having at least one BIM seat license in house, and nearly a quarter (23%) have 100-plus seats.
