If there was one theme that emerged from the preceding year of change and uncertainty, it was adaptability. In 2021, in the face of fast digitalization and continual supply-chain issues, architecture, engineering, and construction organizations adjusted, recalibrated, and developed their working practices. They managed to sharpen their pencils and finish the job despite everything.
In 2022, the following architecture, engineering, and construction trends will be at the forefront.
1. Visualization
Collaboration—the where and how of teamwork and ideation—becomes much more crucial in a more remote, work-from-home society.
Interactive design visualization will overcome the physical gap between architects and engineers and offer up new possibilities.
Many in the business are well aware that the fast-paced world of extended reality (XR) is the new workplace.
Traditional AEC operations are enhanced by XR technologies, which make virtual environments more immersive and cost-effective. It simplifies project management and increases client buy-in for proposals.
2. Digital Twins
Data will give the solution to owners’ questions about how to reinvent, repurpose, or reuse their buildings and assets.
Owners and designers may gain great insights into what their next projects should look like using digital twins. It is digital representations of structures that capture and analyze all kinds of actual performance data.
Because of the usefulness of this technology, more owners will either pay outside businesses to provide this service. Or they may establish a bench of internal architects and engineers with experience with digital twins.
This is one aspect that will push design and engineering companies into a more operational role, resulting in new client connections and commercial prospects.
3. IoT (Internet of Things)
Climate change has increased the strain on infrastructure to perform, particularly in the case of building systems.
Architecture and construction are being urged to produce structures that are smarter, more efficient, and suited to escape the ravages of tomorrow’s climate. It’s a necessity in an era where infrastructure design must be rethought, and building rules must change for quickly altering surroundings.
Consider the enormous advancements in consumer technology that are presently available to track personal health by measuring heartbeats or delivering diagnoses: For buildings, IoT data will play a key role.
What went wrong with a building during an earthquake, and how could it be fixed? What is an apartment building’s air quality like?
Buildings, owners, and towns are all searching for technologies that will help them monitor and analyze performance, forecast and avoid problems, and better design smart buildings and cities in the future.
4. Embodied Carbon
Embodied carbon is becoming a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
Fortunately, one of the more encouraging themes to emerge from the United Nations’ COP26 climate meeting was the recognition that heavy industry and embodied carbon demand rapid attention and scalable solutions as part of a global emissions-reduction plan.
Many construction trades and material manufacturers have responded with detailed roadmaps, industry-wide promises to reduce emissions, and improvements of new industrial processes such as green steel and carbon-capture cement.
Small but inventive concepts like these, along with a greater acceptance by customers and the building sector, will have a global impact.
5. Automation
Automation will become a more important tool for designing around material and skilled worker shortages. It will alleviate design labor difficulties and supply-chain bottlenecks.
A large percentage of design labor becomes automated with investment in automation. It is especially important when faced with a dearth of engineers.
Designing 100 structures will result in 100 different visions. Design gets more efficient as well.
SYSTRA, a prominent European infrastructure company, employs Autodesk Revit’s 3D parametric modeling to automate bridge design.
In code-based design situations, these solutions will become more helpful, saving architects and engineers the time necessary to manually analyze project parameters and allowing them to focus more on the creative work that distinguishes each design.
These are the AEC trends that will show up in 2022. If you are an architectural firm or construction contractor, then these are the trends that you have to incorporate into your projects.
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