Symposium, Workshops, and Hackathon
Thornton Tomasetti | CORE studio in partnership with McNeel Europe and BIG Architects is excited to announce the return of
AECtech+ Barcelona 2025
Friday June 13th - Sunday June 15th in Barcelona, Spain
morning Workshops
Friday, JUNE 13th / 9:30 am - 1:00 pm (CET) | @ TBD | 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.
AGENDA
9:30 am
10:00 am
1:00 pm
Registration & Coffee
Workshop Begins
Workshop Ends
Exploring Buildings as graphs| IaaC
Representing buildings as graphs enables efficient analysis of spatial relationships, navigation, and connectivity by abstracting their properties based on their relationships. This approach helps humans and computers understand buildings, enabling tasks like pathfinding, optimization, and simulation. The workshop will focus on the representation and visualization of buildings as graphs while exploring their opportunities. Participants will learn how to convert IFC files to graphs, visualize them in a web application to get insights, and query their properties using LLMs.
Prerequisites: basic level of programing of python or javascript
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David Andrés León is a private consultant for digital technologies for the AEC industry with particular focus on web development and user interfaces for AI. His goal is to empower designers with digital tools to leverage the design process. He is also currently Director of the Master of Advanced Computation for Architecture and Design (MaCAD) at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalunya (IAAC), and a member of the faculty of the Norman Foster Foundation and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). He has been involved in various research collaborations and co-authored numerous publications in the field of architectural research.
David holds a Master of Science Degree from the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) in Universitat Stuttgart and a Masters Degree in Advanced Design and Digital Architecture from the Escola Superior de Disseny i Enginyeria de Barcelona (Elisava). He has been involved in several research undertakings of which stand out his participation in German research platform FAT-LAB in Stuttgart and his collaboration as a research assistant in the Centre for Information Technology and Architecture (CITA) for the EU-Horizon 2020 Future and Emerging Technologies Proactive Action project Flora Robotica. David is also the co-author of various publications in the field of architectural research and robotics.
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Sophie is a senior applications developer at Thornton Tomasetti | CORE Studio where she develops tools to automate engineering and design workflows. With a background in structural and facade engineering, she brings practical expertise to her role.
Fundamentals of Parametric Geometry in C# | Ara3D
One of the great advantages of using code is that you don’t have to be an expert in trigonometry to create or transform shapes and 3D objects mathematically. This is possible because we can break down complex transformations and formulas into simple functions that can be easily modified and recombined.
In this workshop, we will teach you just enough C# so you can create complex 2D and 3D shapes—forms that would otherwise be extremely difficult to model and modify by hand—by combining these modular building blocks and plugging in simple mathematical formulas.
In addition to exploring classical discrete geometric data structures (for example, meshes, point clouds, and voxels), we will also venture into the fascinating realm of parametric geometry (for example, constructive solid geometry, signed distance fields, and parametric surfaces) and see how these approaches interrelate, opening up new possibilities in design.
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I am a software developer, entrepreneur, instructor, and technical communicator with over twenty five years of professional experience. My passion is solving software related problems, and making software more effective and accessible.
From Nodes to Code: Parametric Design for Beginners | Thornton Tomasetti CORE studio
This workshop is designed to cater to a broad range of Grasshopper users, from those in their early days of learning building modeling workflows to more seasoned users seeking a foundation in plugin development.
The two-part workshop begins with an introduction to establishing a parametric core-and-shell tower model. Participants will learn how to structure their Grasshopper definitions to efficiently generate clean core, slab, facade, and structural geometry and extract and visualize critical project data and metrics. This exploration of parametric design will culminate in a panel rationalization exercise using Kangaroo, where participants will analyze trade-offs arising from balancing practical design considerations.
Building upon this model, the second part of the workshop focuses on developing C# components to facilitate real-time, automated PDF documentation derived from a dynamic design model. Participants will gain proficiency in loading external libraries into Grasshopper to expand workflows and learn how to transition code from Grasshopper to Visual Studio to produce redistributable plugins for collaborative use.
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Description Coming Soon
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David Mans is the Director of AECtech at Thornton Tomasetti | CORE studio, and a member of application development team focusing on product development for web visualization platforms. Formerly, he was the senior computational designer for Grimshaw Architects NYC, working on projects including Terra, the Sustainability Pavilion for the 2020 Dubai Expo. He is also the author of over a dozen open-source plugins for Grasshopper 3d.
TBA | TBA
Description Coming Soon
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Description Coming Soon
WORKSHOP Location
Tech Talent Center - UPC School
Carrer de Badajoz, 73, Sant Martí
Barcelona, 08005 , Spain
Symposium
Friday, JUNE 13th / 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
3:40 pm
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Description Coming Soon
4:00 pm
4:20 pm
Group 1 | Q&A Panel
Coffee Break
5:00 pm
McNeel
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Description Coming Soon
5:20 pm
TBA
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Description Coming Soon
5:40 pm
TBA
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Description Coming Soon
6:00 pm
6:20 pm
6:30 pm
Group 2 | Q&A Panel
Closing Statements
Happy Hour
Hackathon
SAT, June 14TH / 9:00am - SUN, June 15th / 3:00 pm (CET) | @BIG Barcelona | 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 at allowing attendees to collaborate, network, build new relationships, and generate new ideas and processes for the AEC community.
AGENDA
Saturday, June 14th 9:00 am
9:30 am
10:00 am
10:30 am
11:00 am
1:00 pm
7:00 pm
Sunday, June 15th 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 Collaborative Hack
Hacker’s Choice
Prizes are awarded to each team member.
Judges
Hackathon entries will be reviewed by a multidisciplinary panel of judges.
TBA
Thank you to Our partners!
BIG Architects
Robert McNeel & Associates