Exploration - Knowledge Architecture IntraNet inside Revit

Lake Flato uses Knowledge Architecture Synthesis 6 as our intranet platform - we call this site FlakeNet (btw, our summer outing is called Flake Lato:)). S6 is designed for AEC and can easily connect to Deltek and OpenAsset to see client and project data and project and staff photos.

Using a bit of a hack, I wanted to test the idea of presenting FlakeNet directly within Revit as a start screen with the goal of deeper knowledge penetration and access to support resources for our designers.

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Enscape Impact -- Sensitivity Review

In this post, I ran a Lake|Flato project through Enscape Impact, then made some design changes, and dropped it into three other climate zones to test the sensitivity of the changes... are they what I expected? Read on to find out:)

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Tesla Referral - Save up to $2k

If you are considering buying a Tesla you can use my referral link to save up to $2,000.

https://ts.la/dan444761

For more details on the program: https://www.tesla.com/support/refer-and-earn

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For BIM Chapters updates, connect on LinkedIn

Lighting design professionals: check out my Revit & ElumTools training https://bit.ly/3NJjhCV

Revit Curtainwall - Angled Mullion (curtain grid) Challenge

I can't help noticing real-world things that Revit cannot create without a workaround or using another program. This is often stairs and curvy stuff... but here is a storefront that looks simple, but Revit cannot create it (update: well, maybe it can:))!

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UTSA Presentation and Design Crit Last Week

Last week, I had the opportunity to present to Interior design students (Monday) and also participate in a design studio crit (Friday) with architecture students at UTSA. Here is a quick share on that in today's post.

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Autodesk Forma Noise Analysis Ground Truth Test

I was eating lunch in an outdoor seating area near a rather noisy freeway and decided to do a ground truth "traffic noise" test with Autodesk Forma.

Learn about the process and the results in this post.

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AIA Houston Presentation - Full day of Continuing Education by COTE - 12 December 2024

I will present in person next month at the AIA Houston's Architecture Center Houston space on circularity and sustainable design!

See the agenda... and, a brief intro to an exhibit AIA-H has on the history of redlining in Houston in today's post.

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AIA Austin 2024 Building Enclosure Council (BEC) Recap

Last week, I attended the AIA Austin 2024 Building Enclosure Council (BEC) symposium... in today's post, I will share highlights from the daylong event that include presentations from Lake|Flato, SOM, MASS Design, JE Dunn, and more.

Random share (with related photo in post): I drove on the road with the highest speed limit in America to attend this event.

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AIA San Antonio 2024 People + Places Awards

The 2024 AIA San Antonio People + Places Awards was a night to remember last week, celebrating the individuals and projects that shape the city's vibrant architectural landscape. I was honored to receive the AIA Trailblazer Award, recognizing local innovative contributions to the industry.

Lake|Flato also won three project awards for various project types: Higher Education, Hospitality (with Gensler), and Residential.

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AIA California Webinar - Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

Next week, I will participate in an AIA California panel discussion on sustainability and firm culture! I am excited to share what we are doing at Lake|Flato and hear about the activities and initiatives others are having success with.

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AU 2024 Recordings Available Online - Including My Two Sessions!

The Autodesk University 2024 recordings are now available online! Here are links to the two sessions I participated in...

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IES Light for Life®: Developments in BIM Symposium

Next month, the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) BIM Standards Committee that I Chair will be leading a 4-hour symposium featuring our updated TM-32-24 BIM Standards as well as highlighting the value of BIM for lighting designers.

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UTSA Technology in Practice (TAP) Panel Discussion - Last Week

Last week, I had the opportunity to sit on a panel at the University of Texas - San Antonio (UTSA) with another practitioner from Overland Partners and two UTSA professors and talk about Technology in Practice (TAP) with architecture students. It was fun to share some of what we are doing at Lake|Flato and answer questions from the students.

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AIA Austin - BEC Symposium: Next Gen Building Enclosures

I will attend and present at the upcoming AIA Austin - Building Enclosure Council (BEC) Symposium in November!

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UpCodes Presentation Featuring Adam Martin from Lake|Flato

We recently participated in a webinar about how Lake|Flato uses UpCodes.

Adam Martin, Lake|Flato Architect and Project Manager, starts with a great overview of regulations of the built environment and then shares how we leverage the Project Management tool and AI features within UpCodes.

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Autodesk University 2024 Recap

Last week, I attended and presented at Autodesk University 2024 in San Diego, California. I will share the highlights of that busy but fun week in this post!

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Recap of the Texas Society of Architects (TxA) 2024 Conference in Houston

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend and present at the annual Texas Society of Architects (TxA) conference, hosted in Houston, Texas.

It was another great TxA conference. In this post I will share some of my experiences and highlight Lake|Flato people, projects, and sessions:)

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AIA California - Circular Construction Webinar - Next Week

I get to present on circular construction next week with an amazing lineup of experts in this area. I will be sharing some policy topics as well as Lake|Flato research and project work on this topic!

Keep reading to learn more...

Zoomtopia 2024 - I'm Presenting!

Later this week, I will be presenting on how Lake|Flato leverages the array of Zoom Workspace tools, from video meetings, whiteboards, phones, and Rooms to AI-based meeting minutes and mindmaps.

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Webinar - Optimizing Building Envelope Design

Next week, I will present a webinar with Autodesk and FenestraPro on optimizing the building envelope design within Autodesk Forma!

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AIA San Antonio Trailblazer Award - I Won!

I am honored to have been awarded the AIA San Antonio 2024 Trailblazer People Award!

Thanks to the nominator, letters of support (all mentioned below) and to Lake|Flato for the continued support, providing the opportunities, challenges, and platform to engage and make a noticeable difference in our industry!

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WIN Wednesday Lecture at UTSA

I had the opportunity to present with my colleague Heather Holdridge, Director of Design Performance at Lake|Flato, last week at UTSA! In this industry speakers series called WIN Wednesdays, we share the work of Lake|Flato and some fun details about our career paths.

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Testing Future Weather Data (fTMY) in Autodesk Forma

Sharing a quick test using projected future weather data (fTMY) in Autodesk Forma (for wind analysis) in today's post.

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NDSU - First Week of School - Fall 2024

The first week of another school year has begun at NDSU in Fargo, North Dakota, USA. I have taught this design technology seminar for several years in their graduate architecture program!

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My New Autodesk Article - Architects Tackling Carbon: Good for Business and the Environment

I wrote an article for Autodesk on the architect's business case for tackling carbon through design and business practices.

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Autodesk Revit Schedules - Tips and Tricks

I created a 40-minute video highlighting several tips and tricks for using Revit schedules.

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IES Recognition for Leadership on TM-32-34 Update

Earlier this month, at the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) annual conference I was recognized for my leadership on the recently released TM-32-24!

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TECH+ Dallas September 2024

Next month, I will present at the TECH+ event in Dallas, Texas. It is hosted by The Architect's Newspaper and AEC+Tech. My session is on technology in practice and will highlight Lake|Flato's sustainability work, including Autodesk Forma.

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Autodesk Series - AEC on AEC Conversations

I am excited to share I was one of the first guests on Autodesk's new "AEC on AEC Conversations" series.

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Enscape + VR - A Step by Step Video

I created a video showing how to use an Enscape EXE file to do VR using a Meta Quest 2 (similar steps for a Quest 3).

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My Lighting Design Session for Architects coming up at the Texas Society of Architects (TxA) Conference 2024 in Houston

I will be presenting at the annual Texas Society of Architects (TxA) conference again this year in Houston. My session is on lighting design for architects, covering both daylight and electric lighting simulations using a range of tools (used by Lake|Flato), including:

• Revit
• ElumTools (Electric lighting)
• Rhino
• Climate Studio (Annual Daylighting)
• Roast (POE)

On a related note, I am the chair of a national IES committee and will be presenting later today on our new technical memorandum (IES TM-32-24) aimed at standardizing BIM parameters used by lighting designers. Learn more about that here.

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IES Webinar: BIM Standards IES-TM32-24 – Intro, Updates, and Adoption Benefits

Illuminating Engineering Society TM-32-24 Lighting Parameters for Building Information Modeling is finally published! It is a big update from TM-32-19 that the IES BIM Committee, which I Chair, has been working very hard on over the past few years.

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Recap - Chaos Connect Day '24

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Chaos office in Sofia, Bulgaria, to attend #ChaosConnectDay 2024.

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Limited Time Promo Alert - NicheBIM 2024 - 25% off!

Are you considering joining us for NicheBIM 2024 in Connecticut this September? Maybe a 25% off incentive will help:)

Plus, I will be giving away a copy of my new Residential Revit 2025 textbook.

See below for my discount code and details on the event, including my presentation on how Lake|Flato uses Revit on residential projects.

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Zoom Customer Story Featuring Lake|Flato

Lake|Flato has been all-in on Zoom for a while now. It is an important part of the robust design technology layer integrated throughout our office remodel, completed last year. 

Zoom noticed this and created a customer story featuring some of the unique things we are doing to support hybrid work as well as creativity, inclusivity, and efficiency in the office of the future:)

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3Dconnexion SpaceMouse - Bluetooth Edition!

I recently got my hands on a new 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse Bluetooth Edition 3D mouse! Today's post is a quick share out on it.

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NicheBIM 2024 one-day conference - Join Us!

I am SUPER excited to be participating in this small laser-focused event in September. If you work on custom single-family homes, you must come!

Learn more about this unique, affordable event, five expert speakers, and the unparalleled networking opportunities in today's post!

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I'm Presenting at Autodesk University 2024

This October, I will present two sessions on Autodesk Forma at Autodesk University! One is a case study on Lake|Flato's office remodel, and the other is focused on its use in academia.

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Creating Accurate Toposolids in Revit 2025 - My New Enscape Blog Post

My latest Enscape blog post is live... this topic will be interesting to anyone who creates toposolids or work with surfaces within Revit. I cover how to create them accurately in this post, including getting the elevation and contours correct in Revit based on the Civil CAD file.

I also created a video detailing the process of creating a toposolid from an AutoCAD Civil 3D surface.

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IIDA Texas Oklahoma Chapter Reception and Tour of Lake Flato - Last Night

Last evening, Jamie Sartory, AIA, LEED AP BD+C and I hosted the IIDA Texas Oklahoma chapter at our office for a reception, office presentation, and tour.

It was a lot of fun showing off Lake|Flato's office to interior designers and hearing their thoughts on the spaces. In today's post, I wanted to share a few photos.

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AIA24 Recap - National AIA Conference on Architecture

Last week, I attended and presented at the national American Institute of Architects 2024 Conference on Architecture in Washington DC. It was a whirlwind event ranging from Lake|Flato's founding partners receiving the 2024 AIA Gold Medal award, three project awards, my three presentations, and many evening events.

Today's post will recap the experience from my perspective!

Photo: Lake Flato evening reception celebrating the 2024 AIA Gold Medal Award

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My Free YouTube Playlists - 70+ Professional Development Revit Videos

I have shared 70+ videos covering various topics, from MEP and Civil coordination to visualization and design performance, in five YouTube playlists. Today's post highlights these all in one place.

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Autodesk Forma Boards

A quick post sharing a newer feature in Autodesk Forma called Boards!

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Autodesk Forma Series Recap

While I will surely share more on this topic, the sponsored part of my Autodesk Forma series has concluded. In this post, I will recap and share all the links in one place!

This post also includes the recently created Autodesk Customer Storey featuring Lake|Flato and our use of Forma.

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Revit Face Based Families and Reference Planes

Sharing a short video on how Revit face-based families can host to reference planes and a few related tips and tricks.

For example, do you know why these two lighting fixtures point in different directions?

Or, do you know how to move a face-based family between two reference planes that are vertically offset without moving the fixture in plan?

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Hempcrete Presentation by BIOBUILD Last Week at Lake|Flato!

Last week, guest speaker Caroline Dunn from BIOBUILD in Austin, Texas, led our monthly Lake|Flato Sustainability Champions meeting. She presented on hempcrete and highlighted a new Hemp Lime Illustrated detail booklet she co-authored.

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AIA Public Policy & Position Statements Update - Architects Are Environmentally Responsible

The sustainability section of the AIA Public Policy & Position Statements was recently updated. I was on the team that crafted these updates, participated in listening sessions, and presented the proposed changes to various groups.

I am grateful for Lake|Flato's support of my position on the AIA National Committee on the Environment (COTE) Leadership, where my participation leads to opportunities like this.

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AIA Architect: Return to office: How it started and how it's going

I was recently interviewed by Wanda Lau for AIA Architect, along with a few other firms, to share how Lake|Flato's return to the office has evolved post-pandemic. Sharing that and a little more about our desk checkout system in today's post.

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Design for Deconstruction Presentation - Northeastern University - Integrated Building Systems

Last week I had to opportunity to present (remotely) to architecture students at Northeastern University taught by my friend Lori Ferriss!

I presented some of the work Lake|Flato is doing related to Design for Deconstruction. 

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BIM Pure - Autodesk Forma Bootcamp - Follow Up Post

I enjoyed hanging out with Nicolas Catellier on his BIM Pure YouTube channel today. We covered many of the Autodesk Forma tools and workflows... including the new Board beature, which is like Miro/Mural/Zoom Whiteboards... and the generative AI Explore tool that auto-magically creates several design options based on the selected site extents (as shown in the image below).

In this post, you can access the recording and get links to a few items I shared.

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BIM Pure Live Tomorrow - Forma Bootcamp with Giveaways

Tomorrow I am live with Nicolas Catellier on his BIM Pure YouTube channel. We will cover many of the Autodesk Forma tools and workflows... including yet another new feature that has not been announced yet!

Plus... we have a few AEC-focused giveaways live during the show (more details below)!

• Veras by EvolveLabs - 1 winner
• Keyboard by 3DCONNEXION - 5 winners

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Revit 2025 Updates Enscape Users Should Know About

My latest Escape blog post is live... which covers Autodesk Revit 2025 updates that Enscape users will want to know about. Plus, I touched on an Enscape 4.0 enhancement related to multiple users working on the same workshared Revit project.

I also mentioned something super important to watch out for in Revit 2024 related to project files becoming corrupted.

Check out the post here on Enscape's official blog:

https://blog.enscape3d.com/enscape-for-revit-2025

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For BIM Chapters updates, follow @DanStine_MN on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn

Lighting design professionals: check out my Revit & ElumTools training https://bit.ly/3NJjhCV