Technology in Architectural Practice

TL;DR - Can anyone recommend software products that automate structural framing in (early) design phase?

With my naive belief that structural framing in *typical* buildings is rather formulaic (or maybe at the conceptual phase), I'd imagine I could provide a building type and a desirable span to some algorithm that could give me the appropriate loads, layout and rudimentary sizing.

Over the years my designer colleagues have echoed the same sentiment. So are there products that can skip the heavy-punchers like SAP or ETABS? Can conceptual phase framing be done by a tool like parking by TestFit, for example? Something simpler and cheaper but still tested, appropriate for fast, iterative designs. I've once seen TT CORE showing off Asterisk. Has anyone had any experience with it? It looks like it's in open Beta perhaps

Original Message:
Sent: 6/6/2023 9:32:00 PM
From: Zichu W. Wang
Subject: looking for structural software

TL;DR - Can anyone recommend software products that automate structural framing in (early) design phase?

With my naive belief that structural framing in *typical* buildings is rather formulaic (or maybe at the conceptual phase), I'd imagine I could provide a building type and a desirable span to some algorithm that could give me the appropriate loads, layout and rudimentary sizing.

Over the years my designer colleagues have echoed the same sentiment. So are there products that can skip the heavy-punchers like SAP or ETABS? Can conceptual phase framing be done by a tool like parking by TestFit, for example? Something simpler and cheaper but still tested, appropriate for fast, iterative designs. I've once seen TT CORE showing off Asterisk. Has anyone had any experience with it? It looks like it's in open Beta perhaps

------------------------------
Zichu Wang
EDG Architecture and Engineering
Scarsdale NY
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TL;DR - Can anyone recommend software products that automate structural framing in (early) design phase?

With my naive belief that structural framing in *typical* buildings is rather formulaic (or maybe at the conceptual phase), I'd imagine I could provide a building type and a desirable span to some algorithm that could give me the appropriate loads, layout and rudimentary sizing.

Over the years my designer colleagues have echoed the same sentiment. So are there products that can skip the heavy-punchers like SAP or ETABS? Can conceptual phase framing be done by a tool like parking by TestFit, for example? Something simpler and cheaper but still tested, appropriate for fast, iterative designs. I've once seen TT CORE showing off Asterisk. Has anyone had any experience with it? It looks like it's in open Beta perhaps

Hi Zichu,

Have you looked into Clear Calcs at https://clearcalcs.com/. They are probably what you are looking for. Architects use them to get a basic idea on the structural portion of their design concepts, etc. In graduate school I used Visual Analysis which is way easier than SAP, ETABS, and/or Risa. 

Best,

------------------------------
Daniel Guich, NCARB, CDT, LEED ap

Original Message:
Sent: 06-06-2023 09:32 PM
From: Zichu W. Wang
Subject: looking for structural software

TL;DR - Can anyone recommend software products that automate structural framing in (early) design phase?

With my naive belief that structural framing in *typical* buildings is rather formulaic (or maybe at the conceptual phase), I'd imagine I could provide a building type and a desirable span to some algorithm that could give me the appropriate loads, layout and rudimentary sizing.

Over the years my designer colleagues have echoed the same sentiment. So are there products that can skip the heavy-punchers like SAP or ETABS? Can conceptual phase framing be done by a tool like parking by TestFit, for example? Something simpler and cheaper but still tested, appropriate for fast, iterative designs. I've once seen TT CORE showing off Asterisk. Has anyone had any experience with it? It looks like it's in open Beta perhaps

------------------------------
Zichu Wang
EDG Architecture and Engineering
Scarsdale NY
------------------------------

Thank you Daniel. Yes it's definitely something I could use. I do remember the pains of navigating RISA. A consistent feature of these tools is that they are good at analyzing a known frame. I wonder if there are tools that can take a massing model and recommend a framing. Perhaps the tech isn't there yet. 

Original Message:
Sent: 06-19-2023 05:38 PM
From: Daniel A. Guich Jr
Subject: looking for structural software

Hi Zichu,

Have you looked into Clear Calcs at https://clearcalcs.com/. They are probably what you are looking for. Architects use them to get a basic idea on the structural portion of their design concepts, etc. In graduate school I used Visual Analysis which is way easier than SAP, ETABS, and/or Risa. 

Best,

------------------------------
Daniel Guich, NCARB, CDT, LEED ap

Original Message:
Sent: 06-06-2023 09:32 PM
From: Zichu W. Wang
Subject: looking for structural software

TL;DR - Can anyone recommend software products that automate structural framing in (early) design phase?

With my naive belief that structural framing in *typical* buildings is rather formulaic (or maybe at the conceptual phase), I'd imagine I could provide a building type and a desirable span to some algorithm that could give me the appropriate loads, layout and rudimentary sizing.

Over the years my designer colleagues have echoed the same sentiment. So are there products that can skip the heavy-punchers like SAP or ETABS? Can conceptual phase framing be done by a tool like parking by TestFit, for example? Something simpler and cheaper but still tested, appropriate for fast, iterative designs. I've once seen TT CORE showing off Asterisk. Has anyone had any experience with it? It looks like it's in open Beta perhaps

------------------------------
Zichu Wang
EDG Architecture and Engineering
Scarsdale NY
------------------------------

TL;DR - Can anyone recommend software products that automate structural framing in (early) design phase?

With my naive belief that structural framing in *typical* buildings is rather formulaic (or maybe at the conceptual phase), I'd imagine I could provide a building type and a desirable span to some algorithm that could give me the appropriate loads, layout and rudimentary sizing.

Over the years my designer colleagues have echoed the same sentiment. So are there products that can skip the heavy-punchers like SAP or ETABS? Can conceptual phase framing be done by a tool like parking by TestFit, for example? Something simpler and cheaper but still tested, appropriate for fast, iterative designs. I've once seen TT CORE showing off Asterisk. Has anyone had any experience with it? It looks like it's in open Beta perhaps

No experience with this. But have you seen what the guys over at Hypar are doing? They have created a platform where you can write in words what you are looking for and AI will generate a full model (Arch and Struct) for what you are describing. Obviously take it with consideration, but may be the starting point you are looking for. I believe it is free to try and use as well. 

Video showing what it can do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDQmoIfZc4E

Link to their website: https://hypar.io/

TL;DR - Can anyone recommend software products that automate structural framing in (early) design phase?

With my naive belief that structural framing in *typical* buildings is rather formulaic (or maybe at the conceptual phase), I'd imagine I could provide a building type and a desirable span to some algorithm that could give me the appropriate loads, layout and rudimentary sizing.

Over the years my designer colleagues have echoed the same sentiment. So are there products that can skip the heavy-punchers like SAP or ETABS? Can conceptual phase framing be done by a tool like parking by TestFit, for example? Something simpler and cheaper but still tested, appropriate for fast, iterative designs. I've once seen TT CORE showing off Asterisk. Has anyone had any experience with it? It looks like it's in open Beta perhaps

No experience with this. But have you seen what the guys over at Hypar are doing? They have created a platform where you can write in words what you are looking for and AI will generate a full model (Arch and Struct) for what you are describing. Obviously take it with consideration, but may be the starting point you are looking for. I believe it is free to try and use as well. 

Video showing what it can do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDQmoIfZc4E

Link to their website: https://hypar.io/

------------------------------
Joshua Hostetler Assoc. AIA
AECOM
Columbus OH
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-06-2023 09:32 PM
From: Zichu W. Wang
Subject: looking for structural software

TL;DR - Can anyone recommend software products that automate structural framing in (early) design phase?

With my naive belief that structural framing in *typical* buildings is rather formulaic (or maybe at the conceptual phase), I'd imagine I could provide a building type and a desirable span to some algorithm that could give me the appropriate loads, layout and rudimentary sizing.

Over the years my designer colleagues have echoed the same sentiment. So are there products that can skip the heavy-punchers like SAP or ETABS? Can conceptual phase framing be done by a tool like parking by TestFit, for example? Something simpler and cheaper but still tested, appropriate for fast, iterative designs. I've once seen TT CORE showing off Asterisk. Has anyone had any experience with it? It looks like it's in open Beta perhaps

------------------------------
Zichu Wang
EDG Architecture and Engineering
Scarsdale NY
------------------------------