Confluence

Carl Veillette, Chief Product Officer at Newforma, joins Evan Troxel and Randall Stevens to talk about the data problem hiding underneath every project. Anchored by the new Confluence Tech Stack Survey, where the tool count per project jumped from about 15 a few years ago to 84, Veillette argues the real issue is not the number of tools but the broken connections between them. He makes the case th...

Michael Jansen and Dr. Prasanta Bose join Evan Troxel and Randall Stevens to talk about what it takes to put an intelligence layer on top of a digital twin. Bose traces the idea back through reinforcement learning, Lockheed Martin satellites, and Starbucks before explaining why a real twin needs both a sensing layer and a cognitive one. They get specific about the decisions behind TwinMaster: refu...

Welcome to season 3 of the Confluence podcast! In this episode, AECOM’s Matthew Anderle joins Randall Stevens and Evan Troxel to break down how AECOM is pushing reality capture forward with custom-built robotics—rovers for “old dirty basements,” pipe crawlers for long culverts, and aquatic platforms for below-water inspections. They discuss layering environmental sensing on top of LiDAR point clou...

In the final episode of season 2 of the Confluence podcast, Brent Seales of University of Kentucky joins the show to talk about his groundbreaking work using AI and CT scanning to digitally unwrap ancient Herculaneum scrolls buried by Mount Vesuvius, making previously unreadable texts accessible. The conversation includes insights on collaboration with Nat Friedman, the Vesuvius Challenge, and the...

Richard Harpham of Skema joins the podcast to talk about his insights from decades of experience in AEC technology. From witnessing the early days of BIM adoption to leading new software development initiatives, Harpham discusses the industry's evolution and current transformation. He explores how emerging technologies are reshaping architectural workflows, the challenges of market education, and...

In this episode of the Confluence podcast, hosts Randall Stevens and Evan Troxel welcome John Cerone, Principal at SHoP Architects. John discusses his journey with SHoP Architects, emphasizing the integration of technology and design in architecture. He shares insights into SHoP’s use of 3D modeling, digital twins, and collaborative processes to streamline construction, reduce costs, and deliver b...

Rob Sinclair of Wade Trim joins hosts Randall Stevens and Evan Troxel on the Confluence podcast to talk about how their innovative AI initiatives and their strategic partnership with Yegatech has evolved their business. Rob shares insights on the firm's AI journey, from establishing an AI task force to developing enterprise-level chatbots and automated image recognition tools. The episode also hig...

In this episode of the Confluence Podcast, hosts Randall Stephens and Evan Troxel are joined by special guest Christy Chapman from the University of Kentucky to discuss how AI has unlocked antiquity. The discussion focuses on the origins of the Vesuvius Challenge, highlighting its key figure, Brent Seales, a research professor at the University of Kentucky. Christy, who works closely with Brent, s...

Robert Otani of CORE Studio at Thornton Tomasetti joins the show to talk about about his journey from a structural engineer in the 90s to leading the CORE Studio at Thornton Tomasetti. This episode covers the importance of computational design, BIM, and the impact of AI and machine learning in the engineering and architecture industries. Rob also shares insights from their recent AEC hackathon, th...

Join us in this episode with special guest Aaron Vorwerk from Egnyte. Today Aaron tells us about Egnyte's role in AI and machine learning within the AEC industry. He shares his background, discusses data governance, the evolution of cloud platforms, and Egnyte's focus on cybersecurity. Listen as we explore how Egnyte enhances workflow efficiencies and manages content lifecycle, making it an indisp...

In this episode of the Confluence podcast, hosts Randall Stevens and Evan Troxel sit down with Phillip Miller from Chaos Group. The discussion navigates through Phil's extensive background in the 3D technology and AEC industry, highlighting his contributions to Autodesk, Adobe, and NVIDIA. Phil introduces Chaos Group’s latest product, Envision, a standalone real-time ray tracing tool designed for...

Carl Veillette of Newforma joins the Confluence podcast to talk about the transformation and integration of BIM Track with Newforma to revolutionize project management in the AEC industry, while bringing it all to the cloud for collaboration. In this episode, Carl shares his journey from architecture to leading product development and the challenges of merging two powerful platforms. Dive into the...

Charles Portelli of Perkins&Will joins the show to talk about the themes presented in his talk at the Confluence event in Brooklyn, New York, focusing on the application of AI and machine learning in architectural practice. Key discussion points include strategies for handling unstructured data, the practical implications of AI for project management and design, and how emerging technologies c...

Jesse Vander Does and Adrian Hatch of Sitelink join the Confluence podcast to talk about their work in the construction tech industry. Sitelink is developing a location-aware augmented reality (AR) BIM viewer for iOS devices. This tool helps general contractors and field workers access and interact with information rich building information models in real-world construction environments. Today we...

Christopher Parsons of Knowledge Architecture joins the show to talk about In this episode of the Confluence podcast, Chris Parsons of Knowledge Architecture joins us to discuss bringing AI to their Synthesis intranet platform. He takes us behind the scenes showing various functionalities including activity streams, document libraries, and project directories, with a focus on the upcoming integrat...

In this Confluence podcast episode, host Randall Stephens talks with Reg Prentice from TonicDM to discuss the development and evolution of architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) technology. Reg shares his journey from working with Frank Gehry and dabbling in amateur coding, to developing a project management web app called iShare at Gehry's office, which laid the groundwork for TonicDM...

Benjamin Guler of EvolveLab joins the show to talk about Veras, the AI rendering tool for Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, Vectorworks, and most recently Autodesk Forma that is used for creating stunning architectural diffusion-based visualizations. Ben takes us behind the scenes to give us a glimpse into its unique features, its development process, and the team's ambition to further innovate it. EPISODE...

Corey Rubadue of ArchVision joins the show to talk about Fovea, a tool that simplifies the process of translating and sharing 3d content across different 3d platforms and 3d file formats. In other words, it allows users to import data from various sources, process it, and then export it in a format that can be easily used in other applications. This eliminates the need for manual file conversions...

Steve Germano of IMEG joins the show to talk about developing an in-house AI assistant named Meg, which functions as a conversational chatbot and search engine for company data running within Microsoft Teams. We talk about the goals and capabilities of the first release and how the dev team is considering adding workflows to Meg's capabilities. We also discuss the platform they have chosen to buil...

Christopher Parsons of Knowledge Architecture joins the show to talk about the major overhaul of their Synthesis intranet platform that’s been recently released for AEC firms. Chris talks us through the transition from building previous versions on top of Microsoft SharePoint to building their own platform, and emphasizes the importance of tackling big projects with ease and joy while maintaining...

Sam Zolfagharian of YegaTech joins the show to talk about In this episode, hosts Randall Stevens and Evan Troxel are joined by special guest Sam Zolfagharian in a comprehensive overview of AI (Artificial Intelligence) governance and ethics in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry. Sam is the CTO at YegaTech and is an AEC Data & AI Strategy Consultant. Today we explore...

Adam Chernick of Amazon Web Services (AWS) joins the show to talk about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in AEC. Exciting developments include Luma Labs' scanning application for 3D Gaussian Splatting (G-splats), XR headsets including the Apple Vision Pro, and the use of LLMs (large language models) to connect and streamline architectural processes with spatial computing. We also talk...

Joel Pennington of VIM joins the show to talk about the use of PowerBI as the front end for VIM to enable real-time, interactive analytics of BIM data. Watch this episode on YouTube or Spotify . ----- The Confluence podcast is a collaboration between TRXL and AVAIL, and is produced by TRXL Media. Learn more about them at https://trxl.co/media and https://getavail.com Learn more about the Confluenc...

Paul Aubin and Harlan Brumm join hosts Randall Stevens and Evan Troxel to share their experiences and insights into the creation of a new, long awaited sample project for Revit 2024. The conversation revolves around the backstory and development process of the project, as well as the goals and challenges they encountered along the way. Episode Links: Twinmotion for Revit  (the video with the...

Randall Stevens of AVAIL joins Evan Troxel in this episode to discuss the development process behind AVAIL’s new channel groups feature, including its evolution and the tools used behind the scenes for team communication and project management. Watch this episode on YouTube or Spotify . ----- The Confluence podcast is a collaboration between TRXL and AVAIL, and is produced by TRXL Media. Learn mor...