Autodesk IDEA Studio - Local Code: Real Estates

Among other marketing duties, Senior Marketing Manager, Kimberly Whinna, works with our IDEA Studio. The Autodesk IDEA Studio is a scholar-in-residence program located in San Francisco that supports researchers who are using Autodesk software in imaginative ways to solve real world problems. Our most recent project in the IDEA Studio is Local Code: Real Estates. The research is being conducted by:

• Nicholas de Monchaux, Assistant Professor, UC Berkeley
• Ben Golder, Research Assistant
• David Lung, Research Assistant

This team is working to create a repeatable workflow based in Autodesk software to visualize, analyze, and propose designs for urban sites that have been legally and socially abandoned, in an effort to transform these sites into resources that positively impact communities. They are developing this workflow through a case study of more than 4,000 abandoned sites in New York City that were discovered through GIS analysis in AutoCAD Map 3D. The team had previously completed a similar project for San Francisco.

In the IDEA Studio, these researchers initially explored using Autodesk Revit as the “home base” for their workflow but shifted to Autodesk Maya due to their preference for using its Python scripting to access information from their database of urban sites. They also explored bringing the Maya models into Autodesk Ecotect Analysis and back for the solar analysis portion of the workflow.

Research like this provides alternatives for city planners. For example, for about the same cost of expanding a city’s sewer system, it is possible to convert abandoned lots to green space and eliminate the need for larger sewer pipes. The green space traps the water and delays its runoff – reducing the peak capacity needed for the sewers.

Thanks to Kimberly Whinna who provided the background material for this blog posting.

Celebrating alternatives available in urban planning is alive in the lab.