A Deep Dive into Digital Twins for Architecture
Gaming engines are helping to create digital twins for buildings and entire communities
Gaming engines were originally designed to build digital worlds that can be explored virtually, rendering graphics, sound, and physics in ways that mirror the real world. These engines are now finding roles in architecture, enabling designers to merge BIM data with scan and operational data from IoT sensors to create digital twins for buildings and entire communities. David Weir-McCall helps architecture and construction companies model, simulate, analyze, and optimize their designs using the Unreal Engine to close the gap between design intent and usage once the structure is built. This allows data from all sources to be placed in a meaningful context, so that we can design and manage buildings better.
About the speaker
With a background in architecture and technology, David Weir-McCall is currently a business development manager at Epic Games spearheading initiatives that integrate the Unreal Engine for partners in architecture, engineering, and construction. Throughout his career, his focus has been on the adoption of new design tools for architectural workflows.
Related learning
Want to learn more about the possibilities of digital twins in architecture? Check out this related content:
My First Digital Twin: A Real-Time Rendering Story
David Weir-McCall takes you through the steps of creating an architectural digital twin using the Unreal Engine. Learn the process for linking Revit models to sensor data and visualizing the output. Also look at a few successful digital twin use cases.
Digital Twin: Bringing MEP Models to Life
David Andrew Fink provides a general introduction to digital twins and discusses the process of converting MEP models to digital twins using Internet of Things (IoT) devices—specifically, how to connect MEP models and sensors together using cloud technology, Dynamo, and Revit 2020 software.
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