The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) is transforming workflows and decision-making processes. However, the success of AI-powered solutions depends heavily on standardized data to ensure seamless interoperability across platforms and tools. This article explores practical AI applications showcased at Digital Construction Week, highlights innovative solutions, and examines how standardized data enables AI to enhance collaboration, efficiency, and sustainability across every phase of a project.

Practical Impact on the AEC Industry

As AI investments accelerate across major organizations, the AEC industry is swiftly adopting advanced tools to enhance project delivery and decision-making. These solutions automate tasks like clash detection and design iterations, freeing professionals to focus on high-value activities such as design optimization, sustainability initiatives, and stakeholder collaboration.

The adoption of AI not only drives operational efficiency but also fosters collaborative innovation by integrating automation across platforms and processes. This evolution, driven by AI-enhanced planning tools and predictive analytics, positions the industry to meet the growing demand for smarter, faster, and more effective project delivery.

Standardised Data: The Backbone for AI Success

The success of AI implementation in the AEC industry depends heavily on high-quality, standardized data. AI and machine learning (ML) models learn from the data they are trained on, detecting patterns and relationships to generate predictions, automate processes, and deliver insights. Faulty or inconsistent data—such as errors, missing information, or duplicate entries—can introduce bias, skew results, and lead to flawed assumptions. These issues may cause misaligned sustainability goals, inefficient workflows, or resource waste. In more serious cases, poor data quality can result in structural design flaws, safety risks, and cost overruns.

Standardized data management practices are essential to maintain consistent input quality across tools, workflows, and teams. Open standards such as ISO 19650 enable AI systems to process clean, well-structured data efficiently. This ensures that AI tools perform as intended—delivering accurate predictions, identifying risks early, and automating tasks reliably.

Data standardization also promotes interoperability between BIM platforms, creating a unified data environment. With consistent data across all phases—design, construction, and operations—AI tools facilitate seamless collaboration and handoffs between stakeholders. This ensures that project teams work with synchronized information, enabling smooth transitions and reducing errors at every stage. Ultimately, standardized data enables AI systems to drive efficiency, enhance sustainability efforts, and support effective collaboration across the entire project lifecycle.

AI-Powered Tools Transforming the AEC Industry

The convergence of AI and BIM introduces new opportunities for innovation and efficiency. At the session “BIM in the AI Era” during Digital Construction Week, industry experts Alini Rosa and Jordana Rosa presented practical AI applications that benefit from standardized BIM workflows to drive collaboration:

  • AI Classifier by Perkins&Will: Ensures project consistency by automating naming conventions, reducing data inconsistencies, and improving coordination across multidisciplinary teams.
  • Text-to-BIM: Converts natural language descriptions into 3D models, enabling rapid design iterations. Standardized data ensures these models integrate seamlessly into BIM workflows, streamlining project updates and revisions.
  • AI Rendering: Solutions like Stable Diffusion generate photorealistic renderings from text prompts, providing fast, high-quality visualizations for client presentations.
  • Chatbots for BIM Management: AI-powered chatbots act as digital assistants, retrieving project data, calculating material quantities, and answering queries.

Hackathon AI Winners Driving Innovation

EcoMatics: Dynamo Hackathon Winner 2024

EcoMatics addresses the AEC industry’s responsibility for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions by automating sustainable material creation. This tool embeds carbon data into AI-generated materials and integrates them into Revit and Civil 3D, minimizing reliance on external libraries and ensuring interoperability across platforms. In doing so, it also addresses another challenge: data loss caused by differences in material schemas—a common issue when transferring data between software systems, especially those from different vendors. By automating material generation, EcoMatics empowers designers to make sustainability-focused decisions faster and with greater precision.

Team: Jordana de Castro Rosa, Enrique Garcia, Ayman Saleh

AI2Speckle: Speckleverse Hackathon Winner 2024

AI2Speckle bridges the gap between AI-generated visuals and actionable BIM models, revolutionizing design workflows. This tool automates the conversion of photorealistic renders into BIM elements (materials and 3D models), preserving design intent throughout the process.

By linking visual outputs with BIM data, AI2Speckle eliminates the need for manual searches for materials and 3D families, ensuring consistency across phases. Additionally, it addresses a major challenge in the AEC industry: interoperability. Built on top of Speckle, AI2Speckle enables seamless data flow between different programs, allowing users to bring AI-generated designs into any authoring tool of their choice—whether it’s Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, or others.

Team: Jordana de Castro Rosa, Josie Harrison, Marwan Elzainy, Abhishek Shinde

 

The Future of AI in the AEC Industry

AI’s integration with BIM unlocks new possibilities for sustainability, real-time insights, and predictive analytics. As AI capabilities advance, the convergence of automation and standardized data will foster more efficient, collaborative project environments, paving the way for long-term industry growth.

AI-powered solutions like EcoMatics and AI2Speckle exemplify the transformative potential of these technologies in streamlining design processes, driving sustainability, and enabling global collaboration. With standardized data as the foundation, these innovations empower AEC professionals to deliver impactful, sustainable projects while maintaining a focus on strategic design excellence.

By Alini Castro Rosa & Jordana de Castro Rosa

Jordana de Castro Rosa, Design Applications Tech, Perkins & Will (Atlanta Studio)

Jordana is currently part of the Digital Practice Team at Perkins&Will, where she develops and implements digital solutions for designers. She holds a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering, a Master’s in Global BIM Management, and has completed a Machine Learning short course from Stanford, as well as a short course on Generative AI from MIT. More recently, she is pursuing a Professional Education in Designing and Building AI Products and Services from MIT. Jordana also represents BIM processes and AI innovations at Perkins & Will, speaking at global conferences and winning hackathons projects.

 

Alini Castro Rosa, CEO,  Construtora Castro Ltda

Alini Castro Rosa is the CEO of Construtora Castro Ltda, a leading Brazilian construction firm. With a strong focus on optimizing project processes through cutting-edge technology, she leverages her expertise in civil engineering, BIM management, and construction quality management to drive innovation and excellence in the industry.