Revit-based design models can be exported to gbXML format and imported directly into Autodesk Ecotect for analysis throughout the design process. This visual feedback enables the software to communicate complex concepts and extensive datasets, and helps designers engage with multifaceted performance issues - at a time when the design is sufficiently 'plastic' and can be easily changed.

Built specifically by architects and focused on the building design process, Autodesk Ecotect is an environmental analysis tool that allows designers to simulate the performance of their building projects right from the earliest stages of conceptual design.Īcquired by Autodesk in June 2008, the software combines a wide array of analysis functions - including shadows, shading, solar, lighting, thermal, ventilation, and acoustics - with a highly visual and interactive display that presents analytical results directly within the context of the building model. To mitigate a building's impact on the environment, it's important to first understand how the environment will impact the building. This month's article explores another tool that architects can use to analyze their BIM-based designs and get early feedback on the performance of their building design: Autodesk Ecotect. My previous article in this column looked at Autodesk Green Building Studio, a web-based energy analysis service that can help architects and designers perform whole building analysis, optimize energy efficiency, and work toward carbon neutrality earlier in the design process. The location of the building on the site, its basic form and orientation, its internal layout and external materials selection, its fenestration - all of these factors are set very early on in the design process and often with no analysis data to support the decisions. BIM and Autodesk Ecotect (1-2-3 Revit Tutorial) 30 Nov, 2008 By: AIA, Rick Rundell How BIM and Autodesk Ecotect help architects understand their conceptual building design's performance.Įditor's note: This tutorial courtesy of Autodesk.įor most building projects, decisions made in the first few weeks of the design end up having the greatest impact on a building's performance.

Logo of Autodesk Ecotect Analysis