Detailed 3D model used as a reference in the automation of structural analysis files.
Shoring tower visualization for unnamed multi-tower building.
CORE , Thornton Tomasetti’s R&D incubator, includes Core.AI, Knowledge and Data, Design, Delivery, Modeling, Application Development, and CORE lab. Our CORE groups manage our R&D efforts, working collectively to fulfill the firm’s commitment to being the global driver of change and innovation in our industry. We invest in continual learning, testing and innovation, uniquely positioning us to take on some of our clients’ – and the world's – most challenging engineering problems.
CORE studio brings together a diverse team, with expertise across a range of technologies, focused on developing new tools, workflows and methods to promote automation, collaboration and process enhancements. Our experience in working across all Thornton Tomasetti disciplines affords us unique insights into the needs of – and solutions for – our clients and our firm. Our analyses of yesterday’s and today’s practices allow us to create the optimized workflows of tomorrow.
Detailed steel model used for construction sequence.
CORE STUDIO: PROCESS INNOVATION
CORE studio’s name derives from the union of computational modeling with research and development, which are at the core of our firm’s mission. As a firm-wide resource, CORE promotes innovation across all project types, practices and departments. Our team blends computational engineering and design, application development, BIM automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as knowledge and data expertise, to create integrated solutions for even the most challenging problems.
Working closely with Thornton Tomasetti’s multidisciplinary professionals, we create nextgeneration tools and methods that employ AI and data to optimize designs and predict outcomes and explore alternative delivery methods.
These custom tools draw on the firm’s deep reservoir of knowledge and experience to accelerate workflows, enhance the quality and consistency of deliverables, and free up time to focus on creative design solutions. Our specialized modeling expertise and integrated workflows enable project teams to design and deliver complex projects and cultivate lasting relationships with clients and stakeholders.
Through strategic partnerships and events like AECtech (www.aectech.us ), we foster industrywide collaboration and craft transformative solutions that shape the future of the built environment.
Branching transfer column concept for unnamed project.
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Our CORE.AI team uses deep domain knowledge and advanced data science techniques to create custom AI/ML models to automate engineering processes.
Computational Modeling
We apply parametric modeling tools to realize design, manage drawing production and facilitate fabrication.
Custom Software Development
We develop custom tools that augment or replace the functionality of commercially available software.
Data Analysis & Visualization
We provide insight by offering different modes of spatial data representation, mapping techniques and customized visualizations.
Education & Training
Because teaching workflows is crucial to innovation, we make education a priority within Thornton Tomasetti and throughout the AEC industry.
Geometric Rationalization
We use 3D modeling and advanced form-finding techniques to optimize complex geometries for design intent, constructability and project-specific needs.
Integrated Building Analysis
We work with our sustainability staff, structural engineers and software developers to find better ways to analyze designs and prioritize solutions.
Interoperability
We specialize in managing BIM and analysis data to streamline design, analysis and documentation processes.
Model-Based Delivery
From design to fabrication-ready models, our integrated approach streamlines workflows, accelerates decisionmaking and improves efficiency across project life cycles.
Research & Development
From incremental efficiency improvements to solving the most challenging engineering problems, we invest in inventing new technology.
CORE studio’s applicationdevelopment team builds custom software for Thornton Tomasetti and select corporate clients. We work at the intersection of design, computation and research and apply feedback from project teams working on world-class engineering and design problems to continuously improve our tools.
Web-based 3D KONSTRU view of 10 World Trade Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
This cloud-based interoperability platform is designed to keep structural engineering models connected and consistent throughout the project's life cycle. Created by CORE studio in 2011 and now operated independently, it remains a trusted backbone for Thornton Tomasetti’s workflows, from early analysis through documentation and fabrication-ready modeling.
Unlike traditional IFC exchanges, KONSTRU uses a proprietary data framework that ensures accuracy and stability across platforms. Its unique bidirectional syncing capability allows design changes to flow seamlessly between applications, eliminating the need for duplicate work and keeping every stakeholder aligned in real time.
KONSTRU lets you:
• Exchange design and analysis data between BIM and analysis tools like Revit, Grasshopper, Tekla, RAM, SAP2000, ETABS and Excel.
• Save custom datasets for analysis and machine learning.
• View, edit, synchronize, filter and transfer data between supported applications.
• Collaborate with team members, engineers, architects and clients across platforms.
• Merge changes from two applications (e.g., SAP2000 and RAM) into a third app, like Revit.
• Adjust permission settings to control access to all or part of a model.
• Perform QA/QC of models by using its powerful viewer to examine any model in 3D.
• Compare models and generate reports to track changes and evaluate progress.
• Color-code models based on attributes.
• Use version control to edit designs without archiving multiple versions of the same files.
• Customize inputs and outputs for digital twins.
Automated
steel-connection design and modeling.
We used AutoStl to shorten the connectiondesign process for Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport's air traffic control tower.
AutoStl helped shorten the connectiondesign process for 343 Madison Avenue in New York City.
AutoStl – Tekla Toolbox
Services: Custom Software Development
Our construction engineers rely on Tekla for steel and concrete detailing and for collaborating with fabricators. CORE studio’s Tekla Toolbox, a suite of connection design and modeling tools, makes this work simpler and more efficient.
Thanks to AutoStl, a primary component of the toolbox, modeling steel connections for medium-to-large-framed structures is no longer a time-consuming task.
AutoStl automates connection detailing using data from structural analysis apps that are synced with fabrication models through KONSTRU. Its user-friendly interface conceals a code-based connection-design library, which drives the connection-creation process. And users can see “under the hood” with transparent reporting for every connection created.
Our construction engineering team recently used AutoStl to model the connections for 343 Madison, a 900-foottall 46-story office building in midtown Manhattan. We also used AutoStl to automate the modeling process for a new FAA air traffic control tower at a regional airport in Lawton, Oklahoma.
In both projects, AutoStl allowed our modelers to focus on more complex connections, ensuring project deadlines were met and improving profitability.
RPA performs repetitive tasks – so our engineers don't have to.
COMPILANCE ACCURACY
REPETITION SCALABILITY
EMBEDDED INTELLIGENCE
Robotic process automation (RPA) streamlines repetitive manual tasks by using technology to execute defined steps quickly, accurately and efficiently.
RELIABILITY OPTIMIZATION
Robotic Process Automation
Services: Custom Software Development
Modern computing power has made it possible to automate work at scales and speeds that weren’t previously achievable. This enables us to rethink how we approach tasks, allowing designers to focus more on analysis, decision-making, creative problem-solving and exploration of options, and less on the handling of routine data.
Robotic process automation (RPA) uses technology to perform tasks that, ordinarily, are repetitive, manual and time-consuming. By programming a set of steps – whether powered through artificial intelligence or traditional algorithms – RPA follows clear rules to execute processes quickly and accurately, with built-in iterative optimization.
RPA works for a variety of processes, from data entry and file management to more complex workflows involving multiple systems. With today’s tools, we can find new ways to work that boost efficiency, reduce errors and make better use of human expertise.
By combining RPA with CORE.Matrix (Thornton Tomasetti’s Python-based GPU finite element analysis solver) and a 3D web viewer, we’re transforming static, spreadsheet-based workflows into tools that give our engineers near-real-time design calculations that would normally take hours – or even days.
RPA performs repetitive tasks – so our engineers don't have to.
Quickly explore multiple truss options in schematic design.
Early gusset plate design enables better estimates for weight, cost and coordination impacts.
Iteratively design and optimize braced frames in seconds instead of hours.
Robotic Process Automation (continued)
Services: Custom Software Development
Truss Copilot. This fast, user-friendly tool allows Thornton Tomasetti's engineers to explore a wide range of truss design options. In early-stage schematic design, time and resources are often limited, making it difficult to evaluate multiple scenarios. Truss Copilot streamlines this process by enabling rapid optimization of design parameters, delivering results for strength and deflection in seconds instead of hours.
Gusset Plate Designer. Although often deferred to the later stages of a project, gusset plate design can have a substantial impact on structural weight, space constraints and coordination with other building systems. Gusset Plate Designer combines Thornton Tomasetti’s best practices for gusset plate design with particle swarm optimization to quickly estimate gusset plate dimensions.
Concentric Braced Frames. Performs near-real-time design and optimization of concentric steel braced frames subjected to wind and seismic loads. Its user interface offers extensive flexibility, along with options to customize designs based on project-specific requirements and engineering intuition.
TT Toolbox 2 springs Grasshopper forward by leaps
and bounds.
Workflow using Sweep Profile to visualize analytical data being streamed to Excel.
Diagram showing the apps and file formats that TT Toolbox can import from, export to, read, and write.
TT Toolbox 2
Services: Custom Software Development
TT Toolbox 2 is a comprehensive update of CORE studio's original Grasshopper plug-in, which was initially developed to support parametric modeling and engineering tasks at Thornton Tomasetti. This latest update introduces a broad range of specialized features designed to improve computational design workflows in architecture, engineering and construction.
The plug-in includes updated utilities to accelerate parametric operations, such as unit conversion, GUID creation, time-series generation and geometry-cleaning tools that remove duplicates, sort curves and manage complex data structures.
Other enhancements include redesigned Excel interoperability for better usability and functionality, an enhanced brute-force solver that supports multiple data types, and upgraded steel profile selection and sweeping tools.
This second major release also adds support for reading and writing various file formats, including 3DM, DWG, OBJ, STL and SVG. New attribute management tools allow users to construct, deconstruct, retrieve and set object attributes like layers, materials and user strings, enabling smoother data transfer between Rhino and Grasshopper. Visual preview components offer more control, while utilities for baking, saving and updating attributes help streamline documentation workflows.
Combined with refreshed component visuals and an improved user experience, these upgrades make TT Toolbox 2 a powerful and refined tool kit for computational designers and AEC professionals.
Shear wall design & optimization at our fingertips.
SWAP's new "code checks" feature.
Interactive data visualization.
Screenshot depicting the app's upcoming SWAP-to-Revit workflow.
SWAP
Services: Custom Software Development, Data Analysis & Visualization, Integrated Building Analysis
Manual rebar placement design often relies on intuitionbased starting points and repeated capacity checks for specific configurations. SWAP (Shear Wall Automation Platform) automates much of this process behind a highly customizable web interface.
SWAP enables fast design, review and documentation of concrete shear walls, using demand forces to aid in rebar placement. It can either verify the capacity of a given configuration or propose one based on user-defined design constraints.
Users can quickly import ETABS models and optimize shear wall designs across entire buildings. The platform's enhanced 2D and 3D viewers can display and sort analysis results, rebar layouts and geometric data according to attribute lists and user-assigned attribute colors.
This year, we integrated ACI 318-19 into the design calculations and added support for metric units. Looking ahead, we plan to include building codes from Canada, India and the U.K. We're also collaborating with the BIM team to develop a SWAP-to-Revit workflow aimed at saving time and reducing the amount of effort required to produce design documentation.
Behind the scenes, we've migrated to a more reliable, off-the-shelf architecture using Rhino.Compute –developed and supported by the creators of Rhino –which allows us to focus on developing SWAP rather than on maintaining a remote computing infrastructure.
To increase adoption, we're expanding outreach efforts through workshops and focused sessions with project teams.
Your one-stop shop for CORE studio’s suite of innovative online tools.
Review object data through interactive 3D model views.
Large models? No problem! Ellipse is built for speed and size.
Drill down into individual objects to access specific data.
Ellipse
Services: Custom Software Development, Data Visualization, Interoperability
Our cloud-based AEC data platform unites teams, tools and information in a live project environment. It features interface pages tailored to different disciplines, drawing on a shared, continuously updated project hub that grows with your design and analysis. Integrated views bring together models, drawings, BIM data, analytics, charts and documents in one cohesive, interactive workspace.
Who can benefit from Ellipse?
• Architects. Explore linked 3D models, storyboard sequences and 2D drawings in a curated environment that supports every design phase.
• Engineers. Combine BIM geometry and analytical results in focused views with filtering and data overlays.
• Specialists. Bring together location data, visual assets and performance results to evaluate design options against project goals.
• Facility Managers. Keep models and drawings current through commenting, tagging and coordinated updates.
• Application Developers. Build custom dashboards and embed interactive tools using Ellipse’s editor, REST API and export features.
Smart structural sketching.
Easily view reactions, deflections, moment, shear and axial forces.
SRep makes short work of common connectivity errors.
Automatically generated tributary areas for each beam in a framing plan using SRep, color-coded by size for easy visualization.
ForceSketch
Services: Custom Software Development
ForceSketch is a web-based 2D structural analysis tool that removes the steep learning curve of traditional engineering software. Accessible via any tablet or browser, it lets users quickly sketch structures and view real-time analyses. Features include a section library, custom materials, image underlays, dimensioning and support for metric and imperial units, along with intuitive editing and batch tools.
This year, ForceSketch was used in educational settings like the ACE Mentor Program to teach structural design to high school students. A new game mode was also launched, challenging users to design the lightest structures within deflection and utilization limits.
SRep
Services: Custom Software Development
Disconnected or misaligned framing elements often hinder structural analyses. To address this, SRep – a graph theory-based library – helps users visualize and diagnose connectivity issues in structural models. It includes tools for joining adjacent members, trimming or extending elements to close gaps, merging nodes within a set tolerance and snapping nodes to reference geometry like planes or surfaces. SRep integrates smoothly with Revit, KONSTRU and Grasshopper, making it easy to adopt in existing workflows.
Beyond model cleanup, a new tributary area feature lets engineers efficiently define one- and two-way span directions – even in irregular bays – enabling fast, flexible load path calculations.
SAP2000, ETABS, SAFE & RAM Concept model manipulation through Grasshopper.
Services: Computational Modeling, Custom Software Development, Interoperability, Research & Development
Lattice is a powerful collection of Grasshopper components designed to streamline the creation and analysis of SAP2000, ETABS, SAFE and RAM Concept structural models directly from the Rhino/Grasshopper environment. This integration allows structural engineers to bridge the gap between parametric modeling and advanced structural analysis, enhancing both productivity and flexibility in complex workflows.
With Lattice, our engineers can efficiently build and modify models, apply loads and retrieve results – all from within Grasshopper. Whether we're working with complex geometries or analyzing the effects of load cases, Lattice offers an intuitive way to interact with widely used structural engineering tools.
Structural engineering involves extensive data handling, which often includes importing, refining, analyzing and visualizing data. Lattice’s tables components simplify this process, allowing engineers to manage structural data in Grasshopper. They're especially useful when dealing with data from SAP2000, ETABS, SAFE and RAM Concept models.
Whether we're building complex models or analyzing intricate load cases, Lattice combines the parametric modeling power of Grasshopper with the analytical capabilities of SAP2000, ETABS, SAFE and RAM Concept, simplifies the data management process, and helps engineers design more effectively.
Precision structural design –performed instantly.
Vital makes concrete design fast, precise and cost-effective and provides instant CAD exports.
Vital Services: Custom Software Development
Vital is a powerful desktop application that streamlines the design of reinforced concrete structures. It integrates modeling, analysis, QA/QC and design in one intuitive platform, significantly accelerating engineering workflows.
Seamlessly working with ETABS, Vital allows users to link to an active ETABS model, create a Vital project, then save and edit it independently – no ongoing ETABS connection needed. This flexibility supports efficient model review and redesign at any stage.
Vital enables engineers to design concrete walls, columns, slabs, beams, footings, piles and pile caps using a consistent interface. Key features include:
• Automated QA/QC checks on ETABS models.
• Custom load combinations from ETABS cases.
• Instant rebar schedules and CAD drawing generation.
• Multi-model comparison to identify and design for worst-case scenarios.
• Detailed design reports for review and coordination.
• Auto-transfer of wall reinforcement back to ETABS, including Section Designer definitions and D/C ratio comparisons.
• Live design feedback with real-time updates to PMM capacity and reinforcement quantities.
• Story-wise reinforcement quantity calculations to assess material usage.
Combining automation, flexibility and user-friendly design, Vital delivers a faster, smarter and more reliable workflow for reinforced concrete structures.
Our CORE Modeling service offers a wide range of custom solutions for any project, at any stage. It is available internally to everyone at Thornton Tomasetti, as well as to architects and other external clients. CORE Modeling works with project teams to integrate directly into their workflows, finding opportunities to assist, innovate and ensure success.
Structural work points dictated by existing conditions.
3D view showing foundation and stage truss.
Clean connections from Thornton Tomasetti's steel detailing experts.
Unnamed Canopy
Kansas City, Missouri
Services: Computational Modeling
Client: Confidential
A renovation proposal for a beloved outdoor venue included a new canopy structure that had to meet specific geometric constraints while also being visually striking and easy to assemble. In collaboration with the engineering and steel-detailing teams at Thornton Tomasetti’s Kansas City office, CORE Modeling delivered an efficient solution that satisfied all the project's requirements.
The site required two primary landing points at ground level, along with additional supports positioned higher up near the stage. The canopy’s leading edge was designed to follow the curve of the seating layout, while its rear edge (above the stage) was intended to align with the plan-view curvature of an existing lighting rig.
These parameters defined a set of fixed points that the structure’s edge beams needed to pass through. Between these nodes, a series of fabricatable and shippable arcs and line segments was generated to guide the bending of large-scale steel pipes. The infill framing was modeled with fabrication-level precision, including a consistent one-inch offset from the major structure’s centerline to allow for all-around welds.
This integration of parametric modeling, structural engineering and detailed steel design exemplifies the collaborative process CORE Modeling brings to every project.
Comparing two models and coloring by the comparison results.
UNIQUE RAKER HEIGHTS (ft)
A new data visualization for our sports group: stadium bowl raker slope uniqueness.
Demand capacity ratio visualization across 50 load cases.
Structural Data Visualization
Worldwide
Services: Computational Modeling
Client: Thornton Tomasetti
CORE Modeling is often called on to create custom data visualizations for clients and collaborators. We see this as a key service – combining technical tools, diverse data sources and visual communication expertise. Here are a few recent examples:
Unnamed Airport Terminal
Large-scale buildings bring large datasets. In the past, coordinating structural analysis and Revit models was manual and time-consuming – markups of forces and steel sizes had to be entered by hand. Now, with tools like KONSTRU and Speckle, entire models can be updated automatically. But automation introduces new quality-control challenges. To address this, CORE developed a “traffic light” visualization to show model coordination: gray (no update needed), red (no match in analysis model), green (matched elements) and blue checks (updated profiles or sizes).
Sports + Geometry + Data
When Thornton Tomasetti's sports group needed to assess a stadium bowl’s geometry, CORE created a script to analyze the slope of raker beams and generate a “uniqueness” index. This helped quickly determine how many distinct slopes must be accounted for in design.
Hot Spots
CORE developed a 3D visualization to highlight demandcapacity “hot spots,” identifying areas of greater strain in a stadium structure, based on more than 50 load cases. This helped engineers focus efforts where they matter most. The workflow is now a reusable project template.
CORE.AI has been developing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications since 2015, focusing on automation to enhance design speed. Our current and future AI and ML applications will combine the automated processes of engineering models with the expertise of our brightest engineers, detailers and architects. Our goal is to give every Thornton Tomasetti engineer instant access to a host of proven solutions at every project phase, enabling virtual collaboration and the creative freedom to innovate.
Pioneering AI in structural and façade engineering.
AI-powered steel bay designer for office and lab buildings.
for
wall design recommendations generated by an ML model trained on 80 million data points.
Shear
Quickly generate multiple glass buildup options
given design criteria.
Custom Structural ML Solutions
Services: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning , Custom Software Development
Our suite of AI-powered structural design apps enables engineers to optimize their workflows with speed and precision, enhancing decision-making at the earliest design stages. By integrating sustainability and performance considerations, they provide a faster, more efficient path to innovative building solutions that reduce both time and environmental impact.
• Steel Office/Lab Bay Design. This family of apps uses a trained ML model to predict steel framing sections for three to five continuous office or lab bays and incorporates strength and vibration considerations. The apps can be used as design checkers or schematic design tools.
• Glass Designer. This lightweight web-based machine-learning tool enables our façade engineers to quickly evaluate glass designs and answer questions like “How wide can our panels be if we use only one-quarter-inch glass in an insulated glass unit (IGU)?” It delivers near-real-time design results under wind loads and allows selection from various glass buildups based on predicted stresses, displacements and design capacity ratios (DCRs).
• Shear Wall Design Optimization. Commercial engineering software used for shear wall design is tailored for use in development through the final design stages, making schematic-design optimization a time-consuming process. Our app accelerates it by allowing structural engineers to rapidly adjust design parameters. Powered by an ML model trained on more than 80 million designs, it boosts efficiency and innovation.
Asterisk accelerates concept and schematic design.
Asterisk dashboard showing user inputs, model graphics and materialities, and data outputs (embodied carbon, material quantity takeoff and model export options).
Structural data attribute visualization.
3D model rendering and visual.
Asterisk
Services:
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Asterisk is the second generation of CORE studiodeveloped structural design and optimization tools that use custom ML and generative AI models to help our engineers explore design options quickly and efficiently. The first-generation platform was developed in 2017 as a stand-alone tall-building ML application.
Since then, the CORE.AI team has developed predictive ML models for every major structural component in buildings composed of steel, concrete, mass timber and combinations thereof, allowing users to apply specific design parameters to generate a wide variety of structural concepts with rapid member sizing, quantity takeoffs and embodied-carbon computations.
These options can be iterated and compared in real time, enabling faster decision-making during the early stages of design. The CORE.AI team has leveraged generative AI to predict a multitude of design options for various structural components.
Asterisk is designed for tasks like structural optioneering, which involves adjusting and testing structural parameters to optimize designs. Its AI enables it to automate much of this process, significantly reducing time spent on tasks that traditionally required manual calculation and coordination meetings and providing fast, smart design options for our clients.
Wood column and beam sizing –simplified.
Timber beam design optioneering in real time.
The AI-driven timber column stack designer integrates intelligent sizing with physics-based validation.
AI Timber Designer
Services: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Custom Software Development
Wood is an increasingly popular building material due to its low embodied energy, renewability, durability and ability to create warm, calming spaces. However, its natural anisotropic properties make design complex, as dimensions and strength can vary with environmental conditions. The wide range of species, sizes, grades and manufacturing methods – each with unique design tables – adds further challenges.
To streamline this process, CORE studio has developed a generative AI Timber Designer. Based on construction manuals and Thornton Tomasetti’s expertise, the tool quickly sizes timber columns and beams using just a few inputs. It helps engineers and architects compare design options in early phases and explore loading and fire scenarios.
While the generative AI tool rapidly creates design options, physics-based calculations enable engineers to validate and refine the results. Users can also visualize timber sections according to their performance and geometric characteristics, making interpretation easier and more intuitive. Plus, the tool allows for easy export of detailed reports, making it simpler to document work and collaborate with others across design teams.
We’re helping demystify machine learning for AEC applications.
Cortex serves as a back-end API for many other CORE tools.
Cortex model tracking and deployment UI.
Cortex API used for bay design.
Cortex
Services: Custom Software Development
Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) have helped drive innovation in a wide range of disciplines, including medicine, automotive, cybersecurity, advertising and many more. Architects and designers have been exploring AI for much of the last decade, but its widespread use has been hindered by the complexity inherent in training, evaluating and deploying machine-learning models.
Cortex is a centralized ML hub aimed at making machine-learning solutions more accessible to the AEC industry. It provides infrastructure for easily turning your AI experiments into lightweight microservices that can be securely accessed through a neat web user interface.
For developers, Cortex offers a seamless pipeline for turning ML models into scalable, cloud-based API endpoints ready to be incorporated into their applications. And data scientists will appreciate the wealth of tools for model tracking, hyperparameter logging, dataset storage and model evaluation.
Machine learning is paving the way for exciting innovations in the world of design and construction. And Cortex will help simplify and demystify it for a broader AEC audience.
Gizelle Vargas is our CORE R&D coordinator. Reach her at GVargas@ThorntonTomasetti.com.
David Mans is our director of AECtech. Reach him at DMans@ThorntonTomasetti.com.
CORE studio produces and hosts a complete calendar of events and outreach activities to educate and invigorate the AEC community.
Attendees at AECtech 2024 receive a guided tech tour hosted by Heatherwick Studio.
AECtech 2024 attendees participate in a tech crawl at NBBJ Architects.
AECtech
Since 2011, CORE studio has driven innovation in architecture, engineering and construction through its AECtech conference series. Launched in 2013, AECtech features symposiums, hackathons, workshops and cultural events for professionals, academics and tech enthusiasts. In 2019, it expanded through AECtech+ to host national and international events, partnering with AEC firms and academic institutions.
The AECtech symposium is a one-day event in which industry leaders use presentations and panels to share insights into digital design, computational methods and emerging technologies, promoting cross-disciplinary dialogue and innovation.
The hackathon is an intensive weekend during which architects, engineers and developers collaborate to prototype new tools and workflows using technologies like artificial intelligence, automation and data visualization. It emphasizes hands-on learning, experimentation and knowledge exchange.
Our workshop series offers interactive training led by experts, focusing on topics like computational workflows, digital tool building and data-driven design. Participants work with advanced software, gain practical skills and connect with peers who share a passion for innovation.
Regional tech tours and tech crawls blend cultural exploration with behind-the-scenes access to local AEC innovation, showcasing how technology and culture shape the built environment.
Together, AECtech’s programs create a vibrant platform for advancing digital practices and fostering collaboration across the AEC industry.
Alexandra Pollock, senior director of CORE studio, presents at the 2025 AEC Innovate conference in Austin, Texas.
Thornton Tomasetti Chief Technology Officer Robert Otani addresses attendees at the 2024 AECtech symposium in New York City.
CORE in the Media
CORE studio has appeared in a variety of media and publications and has contributed to a large number of books and technical papers, including:
“Simulation for Building & Cities: The Latest in the Rhino & Grasshopper Ecosystem” by Jeroen Janssen
SimScale Webinar Series, Virtual , December 3, 2024
“Artificial Intelligence Supervision Needed to Reap Technology’s Benefits” by David Jen
based on an interview with Robert Otani
American Society of Civil Engineers Online, December 20, 2024
“Building Reporting Tools in Grasshopper for Structural Analysis”
by David Mans, Sophie Moore and Pedro Cortes (McNeal) Shape to Fabrication Workshop London, United Kingdom, April 15, 2025
“Structural Engineering – From Analog to AI” by Robert Otani
Structural Engineers Association of New York, Honorary Member Lecture
New York, New York, April 24, 2025
“Accelerating AEC AI Adoption: Learning Labs, R&D Rollouts and More”
by Alexandra Pollock and Seyedomid Sajedi
Professional Services Management Journal, AEC Innovate Conference Austin, Texas, June 20, 2025
“Scaling Computational Design at Thornton Tomasetti” by ShapeDiver
based on an interview with Eesha Jain Shapediver.com, September 15, 2025
Above: 3D truss concept for curved hanger building.
Cover: Fitness landscape of CORE labs project submissions.
