I’m excited to share that a brand-new free course I developed for Autodesk is now live: Design Performance and Sustainability with Autodesk Forma, Revit, and Insight.
The timing couldn’t be better—Autodesk University 2025 in Nashville was full of energy and inspiring announcements, especially around Autodesk Forma and its critical role in the future of the AEC industry. I was also fortunate to present another session on Forma this year, continuing an ongoing conversation about how these tools are reshaping practice.
This new course is designed primarily for students, though professionals will also find value in it. Through engaging video lessons, hands-on exercises, and real-world examples, learners will explore how Forma, Revit, and Insight can be used to design with measurable impact—integrating performance analysis, sustainability, and outcome-based BIM practices from the start. And best of all, it’s free for everyone.
keep reading to learn more...
Here are the details... please share and help get the word out! :)
Course overview
In an evolving design landscape where sustainability and data-driven decision-making are reshaping the built environment, conceptual building designs can be used for measurable impact using AI and with cutting-edge tools like Autodesk Forma, Insight, and Revit.
Through video instruction, immersive practice and challenge exercises, and performance-based analysis, this course offers essential principles and practice for sustainable design and performance using these powerful Autodesk tools. Using a real-world example throughout the course, you’ll have the opportunity to experiment with real data for your project.
Whether you're studying architecture or already working in the field, you’ll gain the skills to thrive in a future where design excellence and environmental responsibility go hand in hand.
Course Outline
Each of the following modules contains several videos with accompanying questions and exercises.
Outcome-based BIM and sustainable design foundations
- What is outcome-based BIM?
- The role of sustainability in modern AEC projects
- Architects Tackling Carbon: Good for Business and the Environment
Getting started with Autodesk Forma for conceptual design
- Learn to use the Forma interface and features
- Explore Forma analysis results in a sample project
- Set up a new Forma project
- Explore massing, contextual data, and quick metrics
- Create a new Autodesk Forma project
Evaluating environmental performance in early design with Forma
- Maximize natural light using daylight and sun hour analysis
- Shape comfortable spaces with wind flow analysis
- Explore how site-specific climate impacts with micro-climate analysis
- Design with sound in mind using traffic noise analysis
- Analyze an Autodesk Forma project
Performance-driven design with Revit and Autodesk Insight
- Create an energy analysis model (EAM) in Revit
- Simulate energy performance with Insight and EnergyPlus
- Map embodied carbon from Revit to Insight
- Visualize and compare design options with Insight dashboards
- Create an EAM and view results in Insight
Link to Course
The fictitious two-block urban project is set in downtown Austin, Texas, along the Colorado River (aka Lady Bird Lake), as shown in the following image.
Realistic Context
In addition to Forma naturally being set in a georeferenced location on Earth, this course is developed in the context of client requirements, a program (brief), and occasionally references the Austin zoning ordinances (e.g., the FAR constraints).
Teaching supplements
Teach this course in the classroom or assign it to students as homework. Download the provided instructor guide for teaching the course content in the classroom, with learning objectives and estimated times for demonstration and practice.
Additionally, lecture slides, a guide to assigning software licenses, a curriculum prerequisites/alignments chart, and the grading rubric for the course challenge are provided. Students can either work in teams or solve the challenge on their own.
Want to create custom learning playlists to share with your students?
Share modules and courses using Lists. Once you create a List, share the URL with your students and they can sign into their Autodesk Account to access.
Thanks
Thanks to the fantastic Autodesk team and the academic SMEs who reviewed the course and provided invaluable feedback. And, thanks to my colleague Miguel Elizardo, Lake Flato Design Technologist, for capturing some fantastic drone footage of the real site for the fictitious project!
