AECtech+ 2024 | Barcelona
Thank you to everyone who attended the 2024 AECtech Barcelona Hackathon!
On April 19-21, McNeel Europe and BIG Architects/ hosted the first AECtech+ Barcelona.
Workshops
The event began with a series of morning workshops led by KPF, BIG, McNeel, and CORE studio hosted at McNeel Europes offices.
McNeel | Scripting in Rhino 8
Pedro Cortes Nieves | Software Developer @McNeel
Luis E. Fraguada | Software Developer @McNeel
There is a new script editor that is consistent across Rhino and Grasshopper, and on Windows and macOS. It brings Python 3 and C# scripting to Rhino alongside the already existing IronPython. All languages support package management and debugging, both in Rhino and Grasshopper. Script editor can also generate Rhino or Grasshopper plugins from your scripts very easily. To explore all these features in this workshop, we will create scripts in Rhino and Grasshopper, run, debug, and generate Rhino Command and Grasshopper Components from our scripts.
KPF & CORE studio | Grasshopper on the Web: Creating Websites with Rhino.Compute, Vue, and Three.js.
Sophie Moore | Senior Applications Developer @ CORE studio
Justyna Szychowska | Senior Software Developer @ KPF
Learn to build a custom web interface for real-time control and display of Grasshopper definitions. In this workshop, you will learn how to prepare your Grasshopper scripts to run on the web with Rhino.Compute. You will also explore the basics of Vue.js, a user-friendly web framework, enabling you to create a beautiful and reusable web interfaces that can control your Grasshopper definition inputs. Additionally, you will gain experience with Three.js web geometry library to develop dynamic and custom 3D scenes in your website.
BIG Architects | Dynamically Drawing and Reacting to Things with GHPython
Anders Holden Deleuran | Senior Computational Design Specialist @BIG
There is more to running GHPython components in SDK Mode than compiling plugins. We will demonstrate, explore, and combine these overlooked features that are enabled once you step out of procedural mode. This includes full access to the Rhino display pipeline, enabling custom 2D and 3D drawing features (e.g. double-sided materials and other methods not exposed in vanilla Grasshopper), drawing into/above screen space for developing legends and heads up displays, and subscribing to Rhino events for developing dynamic geometry pipelines and mouse interaction. Although still in flux, everything we learn should be directly applicable to the IronPython mode of the Rhino 8 script editor.
Symposium
Friday afternoon concluded with a fantastic set of presentations from a mix of local and international Institutions, Software Companies, and AEC Firms.
CORE studio | Thornton Tomasetti
David Mans | Vice President Applications Developer
Robert McNeel & Associates
Vanessa Steeg | Product Designer - Tech & Trainer
KPF
Justyna Szychowska | Senior Software Developer
IaaC (Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia)
David Andres Leon | Director of MaCAD
Modelical
Begoña Gassó Palop | Digital Product Manager AEC
BIG Architects
German Otto Bodenbender | Design Technology Manager
Speckle
Jonathon Broughton | Head of Advocacy
011H
Sandra Regué López | Head of System for Innovation
Hackathon
Over the course of 24 hours, over 30 participants pitched ideas and competed in 5 teams for the Best Overall, Most Collaborative, and Most Open Source hackathon prizes.
Hackathon Team Presentation
Symposium Roundtable
Hackathon Awards Presentations
Hackathon Kickoff
Hackathon Winners
BEST OVERALL HACK
C
A sharable analysis application where designers push models and analysis from RHINO Software to Speckle. Speckle's new Automate picks up the model for further analysis and then the designer can browse, inspect and share direct links with stakeholders the results on a simple web page, no login required.
Team: Havard Hoiby, Autodesk / Ashkan Rezaee, Henning Larsen / Mrinalini Verma, OJB Landscape Architecture / Damian Granosik, Henning Larsen / Konrad Zaremba, Kolega.Space / Adrian Granosik
BEST COLLABORATIVE HACK
Bridges for Coffee
From just 2 points on a map to a 3d-printable bridge concept with design and production models, AI-enabled rendering and documentation in PDF. All so that you can get to your morning coffee faster
Team: Edwin Hernandez, Shapediver / Giovanni Consiglio, ACPV Architects / Kan Shindo, Waseda University / Kees Leemeijer, Vertico / Matthijs Beekman, VIKTOR / Pablo Nistal, INGECID / Sanjay Joshi, AFRY / Volodymyr Opanasiuk, REDD
Best Open Source
Tag It
Real time markups from PDF to BIM. Improving markups and collaboration.
Team: Ali Yerdel, Interior Architect / Elton Gjata, Perkins & Will / Jeroen Janssen, Thornton Tomasetti / Michele Pescatore, AIA Life Designers / Peng-An Chen, Strabag / Victor Wanderley Barbosa, Schmidt Hammer Lassen
A marketplace that clients and designers can upload their projects, and receive back transparent cost bidding from multiple suppliers, specific for that particular building part or contract, and review it within their design model.
Team: Andrew Blasdale, Gropyus / Ayse Esin Durmaz, Gropyus / Florencia Feldsberg / Xavier Garnavault / Sylvain van der Meer, VIKTOR / Saverio Camillo Saviello, ACPV
Simple web tool for running multiobjective optimization on GH models of a hot dog. Ability to dynamically plug-in a complex models to the web solver with segregation of the Design Space from the GA-Solver (cloud based) and integration of an external NSGA-II library into Shapediver AppBuilder.
Team: Mathieu Huard, Shapediver / Marijn Luijmes, LEVS architecten / Cristiano Piagnerelli, ACPV / Alexander Schiftner, Shapediver / Felix Wirth, Eller + Eller Architekten
Bi-directional Unity (Meta Quest 3) - Rhino + Grasshopper connection. Provide a real time tool, based on augmented reality, for 3D sketching and previewing scalable parametric models while allowing computational designers to update and modify their real-time streamed Grasshopper definitions.
Team: Orestis Pavlidis, Vertico / Victoria Fedorova, Vertigo / Alexander López / Leon Brohmann, Morph Estudio / Jon Tolosa, Morph Estudio / Sergio Rodríguez
A web app to make interactive, ‘intelligent’ tutorials based on your codebase and domain-specific knowledge. Write a minimal tutorial with general key points, add links to your codebase repo, and let SmartTutorial generate a complete and detailed tutorial based on your programming domain.
Team: Milovann Yanatchkov, BIMriver / Li Chen, BRG / Soroush Garivani, The Circular Factory
Judges
Hackathon entries were judged by an esteemed panel of industry & academic leaders
David Andres Leon / Director of MaCAD | IaaC
Luis E. Fraguada / Developer | Robert McNeel & Associates
Justyna Szychowska / Senior Software Developer | KPF
Oriol Carrasco / Senior Fabrication Expert | IaaC
Special Thanks
Thank you to the following who made the event possible and a great experience.
McNeel Europe | Hosting and Sponsoring the Workshops & Local Coordinations.
BIG Architects | Hosting and Sponsoring the Hackathon
And a special thank you to Pedro Cortes Nieves and Luis E. Fraguada for coordinating the venues and making the event possible.