Symposium, Workshops, and Hackathon

Thornton Tomasetti | CORE studio in partnership with McNeel Europe and BIG Architects is excited to announce AECtech+ Barcelona.

Friday April 19th - Sunday April 21st in Barcelona, Spain


morning Workshops

Friday, April 19th / 9:30 am - 1:00 pm (CET) | @ Mcneel Europe | In person

Join your peers for a half day of Workshops hosted by design innovators and software pioneers developed to introduce participants to a wide range of powerful new workflows that enable new ways of working and enhance existing design processes. Class sizes are small with only 10 seats per section.

AGENDA

9:30 am

10:00 am

1:00 pm

Registration & Coffee

Workshop Begins

Workshop Ends


 

McNeel | Scripting in Rhino 8

There is a new script editor that is consistent across Rhino and Grasshopper, and on Windows and macOS. It brings Python 3 and C# scripting to Rhino alongside the already existing IronPython. All languages support package management and debugging, both in Rhino and Grasshopper. Script editor can also generate Rhino or Grasshopper plugins from your scripts very easily. To explore all these features in this workshop, we will create scripts in Rhino and Grasshopper, run, debug, and generate Rhino Command and Grasshopper Components from our scripts.

  • Pedro Cortés is a developer and technical support specialist at McNeel Europe. Since he joined the company in 2021, he is involved in the development of several projects, including Rhino.Inside Revit. Pedro also has experience as a Rhino and Grasshopper trainer, coordinating the Training Course for Resellers and participating as a teacher in events and workshops.

    Pedro is characterized by a profound commitment to innovation, as evidenced by contributions to the development of applications on top of Rhino and Grasshopper. These tools are not just about automation; they empower designers to utilize cloud-based computation, facilitating collaboration and enabling the execution of computationally intensive tasks without specialized hardware.

  • Luis Fraguada is a software developer at Robert McNeel & Associates, specializing in AEC applications, interoperability, 3d on the web, and 3rd party developer support. Luis joined McNeel in 2015 and is currently developing on several projects, including rhino3dm, an open source library to read, write and create Rhino geometry and data. Luis also helps to manage the development of Food4Rhino, a platform for 3rd party developers to share their apps and resources with the Rhino community.

 

 

KPF & CORE studio | Grasshopper on the Web: Creating Websites with Rhino.Compute, Vue, and Three.js.

Learn to build a custom web interface for real-time control and display of Grasshopper definitions. In this workshop, you will learn how to prepare your Grasshopper scripts to run on the web with Rhino.Compute. You will also explore the basics of Vue.js, a user-friendly web framework, enabling you to create a beautiful and reusable web interfaces that can control your Grasshopper definition inputs. Additionally, you will gain experience with Three.js web geometry library to develop dynamic and custom 3D scenes in your website. 

Prerequisites: Basic Grasshopper knowledge, Basic programming knowledge

  • Sophie is an engineer at TT Core Studio focusing on web development. She has a background in structural engineering and computational design. Prior to joining Core Studio she worked as a facade engineer.

  • Justyna is a senior software developer at KPF Urban Interface, leading in-house development efforts. She has a background in architecture and computational design. Justyna is also a teaching faculty at Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and previously taught at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL and University of Westminster.

 

 

BIG Architects | Dynamically Drawing and Reacting to Things with GHPython

There is more to running GHPython components in SDK Mode than compiling plugins. We will demonstrate, explore, and combine these overlooked features that are enabled once you step out of procedural mode. This includes full access to the Rhino display pipeline, enabling custom 2D and 3D drawing features (e.g. double-sided materials and other methods not exposed in vanilla Grasshopper), drawing into/above screen space for developing legends and heads up displays, and subscribing to Rhino events for developing dynamic geometry pipelines and mouse interaction. Although still in flux, everything we learn should be directly applicable to the IronPython mode of the Rhino 8 script editor.

Prerequisites: Basic GHPython or other scripting experience

  • Anders writes code that generate and analyse architectural design. Currently as a senior computational design specialist at Bjarke Ingels Group in Copenhagen, responsible for computational geometry and modelling pipeline development across design stages, scales, and disciplines. And an overdue PhD fellow at CITA - Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture, investigating “dynamic multistage computational design modelling of complex material systems”. He previously worked for Aedas architects as a computational design researcher within their R&D group (SUPERSPACE at Woods Bagot post 2014), notably on “topological infrastructure analysis of the built environment”. And as a research assistant at CITA, working with collaborators such as Mark Burry and Philip Beesley on large scale installations. He has taught at CITA, RMIT, KTH Stockholm, TU Delft, UDK Berlin, ETH Zurich, Architectural Association, Aalborg University, Smart Geometry, and most recently inhouse at BIG.

 


Symposium

Friday, April 19th / 2:00 Pm - 6:30 pm (CET) | @ Talent Garden| In person

Be inspired by leaders in design and technology within the AEC industry. Join us for a series of presentations and discussions reflecting on the state of practice today and what is on the horizon.

AGENDA

2:00 pm

2:30 pm

Registration & Coffee

Welcome


 

2:40 pm

  • David Mans is a Vice President Applications Developer at Thornton Tomasetti | CORE studio where he focuses on Product Development for Web Visualization Platforms and is the AECtech manager. David has been an educator for over 15 years, teaching at Pratt Institute and CCNY fostering the next generation of computational designers. Prior to CORE studio, he was the Senior Computational Designer for Grimshaw Architects NYC and a Lead Designer on the Main Canopy of Terra, the Sustainability Pavilion for Dubai Expo 2020. He is also the author of over a dozen open-source plugins for Grasshopper 3d.

 

 

3:00 pm

  • Vanessa Steeg is an Industrial Designer, currently focused on creating Documentation and doing tech support for Rhino. She enjoys coming up with tailor-made workflows for modeling issues.

 

 

3:20 pm

KPF

  • Justyna is a senior software developer at KPF Urban Interface, leading in-house development efforts. She has a background in architecture and computational design. Justyna is also a teaching faculty at Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and previously taught at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL and University of Westminster.

 

 

3:40 pm

  • Currently the Director of the Master of Advanced Computation for Architecture and Design in the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia IAAC and private consultant for advanced digital technologies for AEC. Previously employed by McNeel to provide third party development support and researcher at the Centre for Information Technology and Architecture CITA

 

4:00 pm

4:20 pm

Group 1 | Q&A Panel

Coffee Break


 

4:40 pm

  • Since I started my career, I have constantly experimented and innovated to improve the way we design, build and manage our buildings and cities. I believe that technology is a great partner if we have a deep understanding of the problems and needs of our customers.

    Technology is the answer, but what is the question? Cedric Price 1966

    Throughout my career I have gradually evolved from an Architect with an interest in the digital world to Product Manager, a job that brings together all my interests, from the discovery of the client's needs to the design, development and commercialization process.

 

 

5:00 pm

  • Design Technology Manager at BIG focused in computational design and artificial intelligence workflows to drive innovation and efficiency in the architectural process. He has a strong background in BIM workflows, computational tools, and fabrication processes, and has been recognized as a top 40 under 40 in the industry. With a track record of implementing and managing cutting-edge technology solutions, German has successfully led teams in the development and deployment of computational design projects across a variety of architectural projects.

 

 

5:20 pm

  • Jonathon represents Speckle as its Head of Advocacy. He is a seasoned strategist, architect and master planner with over two decades of expertise in the AECO sector. His professional journey includes significant roles at renowned firms such as Rogers, Alsop Architects, Allies and Morrison, and GRFN, where he fostered multidisciplinary collaboration, steering master planning efforts, and driving forward technology strategies. As delivery architect for both post-games Olympic Park transformation and the exemplary King's Cross Central development, he leveraged Grasshopper's generative capabilities as a first-class analytical tool; extracting truths and insights from a miasma of good-bad-ugly data. At Speckle, Jonathon is applying his deep knowledge of data-driven design and virtual construction to advance digital innovation in the AECO industry. Speckle's commitment is to pioneering open, collaborative digital delivery, enhancing connectivity, collaboration, and automation across the sector.

 

 

5:40 pm

  • Passionate about sustainability and digital innovation, leading high-performance teams to revolutionize construction with cutting-edge technologies.

 

6:00 pm

6:20 pm

6:30 pm

Group 2 | Q&A Panel

Closing Statements

Happy Hour


 

SYMPOSIUM Location

Talent Garden Barcelona

Carrer de Ramon Turró, 169, A,

Barcelona, 08005 Spain

 

Hackathon

SAT, April 20TH / 9:00am - SUN, April 21ST / 3:00 pm (CET) | @BIG | IN PERSON

Create something incredible with a team of your peers during the 26-hour hackathon. Starting on Saturday morning and ending on Sunday afternoon. AEC Tech’s Hackathon is an event for all levels of programmers, developers, engineers, and others, additionally, it is aimed for attendees to collaborate, network, build new relationships, and generate new ideas and processes for the AEC community.

AGENDA

 

Saturday, April 20th 9:00 am

9:30 am

10:00 am

10:30 am

11:00 am

1:00 pm

7:00 pm

Sunday, April 21st 11:00 am

11:30 am

12:00 pm

2:00 pm

2:30 pm

Registration & Coffee

Hackathon Kickoff

Lightning Round

Team Formation

Hacking Begins!

Lunch

Dinner

Pencils Down

Submit Presentations / Lunch

Team Presentations

Hackathon Judging

Winners Announced

 

 

PRIZES

This year there are three awards for the best Hackathon entries.

  • Best Overall Hack

  • Best Open Source Hack

  • Best Collaborative Hack

Prizes are awarded to each team member.

Judges

Hackathon entries will be reviewed by a multidisciplinary panel of judges.

  • David Andres Leon / Director of MaCAD | IaaC

  • Luis E. Fraguada / Developer | Robert McNeel & Associates

  • Justyna Szychowska / Senior Software Developer | KPF

  • Oriol Carrasco / Senior Fabrication Expert | IaaC

 


Thank you to Our partners!

 

BIG Architects

Robert McNeel & Associates