Construction foreman reviewing a digital site map with a drone pilot on an active jobsite

Geospatial Tech Is Rewriting Construction. Who Owns the Map?

  • Technology & Innovation
As geospatial data becomes central to modern construction workflows, a deeper question emerges: who owns the digital maps shaping the built world?

In construction, location used to be a constraint. Now, it’s increasingly the control panel.

Site selection, permitting, logistics, progress tracking and long-term operations are all leaning more heavily on geospatial data. While exact adoption rates are evolving, recent reports from KPMG and the Urban Land Institute confirm steady growth in GIS integration across public infrastructure and large-scale commercial projects.

But as this data becomes more central to project planning and delivery, one question is rising fast: Who owns it?

The ownership problem no one wants to touch

If a contractor uses drone scans to track progress and overlays those with GIS-based permitting zones and inspection logs, who controls that dataset after handover? If a city mandates spatial documentation for an infrastructure bid, what happens when a subcontractor dissolves or data access expires?

Some teams treat geospatial records like part of the project archive—valuable but informal. Others include them in formal deliverables. Few contracts define it clearly, and even fewer address long-term access rights, retention obligations or data reuse terms.

As more construction data gets tethered to physical coordinates—and tied to future performance—the question of who holds the geospatial record becomes not just operational, but legal, financial and strategic.

Where it’s working

Real-world examples show how geospatial workflows are producing tangible results across construction sectors.

In Singapore, the government used GIS-integrated permitting and logistics modeling to support a massive public housing buildout, delivering more than 20,000 new units between 2016 and 2020.

In the United Kingdom, a modular NHS hospital ward expansion leveraged site planning and GIS-based utility routing to complete construction in just seven weeks.

In San Luis Obispo County, California, a flood-damaged bridge replacement project employed GIS-driven span staging and traffic routing to reopen a 170-foot span in under 30 days.

And across multiple U.S. project sites, Cianbro has embedded drone-based photogrammetry into weekly progress models, integrating spatial verification directly into billing and layout workflows.

These are not pilots. They’re now part of the operating rhythm for firms that see spatial data as infrastructure, not just an overlay.

Why adoption still lags

Despite momentum, many teams remain stuck in partial or fragmented adoption.

Field leaders often lack the training or tools to interpret GIS data in real time. Systems remain siloed: drone scans, BIM files and as-builts live in separate platforms with limited interoperability. Fragmentation, combined with software costs and ambiguous handoff responsibilities, prevents spatial data from flowing cleanly across the project lifecycle.

A 2023 McKinsey study noted that lack of tool integration and change management discipline remain among the leading obstacles to construction digitization.

Standards: Still Optional

Spatial data standards—file formats, schemas, metadata tagging—are still inconsistently applied.

Teams regularly toggle between GIS formats (like GeoJSON or SHP) and design files (like IFC or RVT). But without schema alignment or shared reference systems, automation becomes unreliable. Machine learning tools can’t forecast risks or schedule slippage if spatial inputs are messy, misaligned or untagged.

Interoperability isn’t a luxury but a requirement for systems to scale.

What’s next—and what’s at stake

AI’s impact on construction will depend on the quality and clarity of its inputs. Forecasting models increasingly ingest time- and location-tagged records to anticipate risks, optimize schedules and inform jobsite logistics. A 2023 Dodge report found that firms using AI tools for scheduling and asset tracking were also the most likely to report benefits from location-based data.

Governments are responding. In the Netherlands, spatially structured environmental documentation is now standard in public-sector infrastructure bids. The European Union’s Data Act proposes standardized rules for access, reuse and retention of digital project data, including spatial records.

That regulatory shift won’t be optional for long.

Final word

Geospatial data is no longer a toggle-on layer, but it is the connective tissue linking what you build to how it’s permitted, inspected, maintained and, eventually, handed over.

The firms treating spatial data as core infrastructure—not just a project artifact—are delivering faster, reducing risk and building longer-term value. The rest are leaving leverage on the table every time a dataset is lost, a scan goes untagged or a map lives on one engineer’s desktop.

As regulation tightens and AI accelerates, one question will define who leads and who lags:

Who owns the map?

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Construction crew assembling CLT panels on a high-rise timber building in Bordeaux

Inside France’s Wooden Skyscraper Boom

  • Sustainability
From Bordeaux to Paris, France is stacking wood higher than ever—what does it mean for the future of cities?

Skyscrapers weren’t supposed to be made of wood.

Concrete and steel? Sure. That’s how we’ve built for more than a century. But in France, a different kind of skyline is emerging—one shaped by engineered timber, not poured concrete. And this isn’t just some greenwashed concept sketch. These towers are real, occupied and getting taller by the year.

From Bordeaux to Paris, France is betting big on mass timber—not as an experiment but as a mainstream material that’s fast to assemble, low-carbon by nature and increasingly cost-competitive. Spurred by tough national climate laws and a culture that values architectural ambition, the country is rewriting what’s possible with wood.

Bordeaux Quietly Leads the Timber Charge

You’d think Paris would take the lead on mass timber skyscrapers. But it’s Bordeaux that quietly stole the spotlight.

Start with Hyperion, a 17-story, 57-meter mixed-use tower completed in 2021. It remains France’s tallest wooden-framed residential building. Built by Eiffage Immobilier, Hyperion used approximately 1,400 cubic meters of engineered wood and stores around 1,000 metric tons of CO₂—the equivalent of nearly a decade of emissions from a typical apartment building.

More than 1,500 components were prefabricated off-site—including cross-laminated timber (CLT) floors, glulam beams and modular timber-framed walls—and then assembled on-site in just five months. The structure sits on a concrete base and core for seismic stability, but everything above is a showcase of wood engineering.

Next comes Silva Tower, scheduled to finish in late 2025. At 56 meters and 16 stories, Silva is Bordeaux’s second mass timber high-rise. More than 60% of the structure is made from wood, combining French pine CLT floors with spruce glulam beams sourced across Europe. According to developer Kaufman & Broad, Silva represents a “low-carbon trajectory”—and at this scale, that’s not just marketing spin.

Paris Is Building Bold—and Tall

Paris has joined the timber party with projects that balance density, detail and design ambition.

Take Wood Up, a 50-meter, 14-story tower in the city’s 13ᵗʰ arrondissement. Completed in 2024, it uses French beech from Normandy—shipped in by barge—along with Douglas fir columns and a glulam frame. The structural system relies on a three-story concrete podium and dual timber column rings: beech inside for strength, Douglas fir outside for stiffness.

Then there’s Le Berlier, another 50-meter residential project by Moreau Kusunoki. The design pairs clean, modern lines with a charred timber façade, blending texture and warmth. It’s composed of two volumes—one 15 stories, the other eight—forming a dense but elegant massing that aligns with the city’s push for sustainable, high-density timber housing.

Meanwhile, in the suburb of Villiers-sur-Marne, Stefano Boeri Architetti is planning Forêt Blanche, a 54-meter Vertical Forest wrapped in 2,000 trees, shrubs and plants. Equal parts high-rise and habitat, the tower’s green façade covers the surface area of a hectare of forest, marking a bold merger of biophilic design and climate-conscious urban planning.

The Policy Backdrop: France Isn’t Just Hoping—It’s Mandating

France’s shift to timber isn’t just a design choice—it’s legally backed.

The RE2020 regulation, rolled out in 2022, imposes some of the world’s strictest limits on lifecycle emissions for new buildings. Material choices are central. If you’re using concrete or steel, you’d better have a good reason, because mass timber has become the low-carbon benchmark.

The same year, a new sustainability law took it further: all state-funded public buildings must use at least 50% wood or other bio-based materials by weight. There’s no fine print. No room for loopholes. The target is mandatory, and the market is responding.

Starting May 2025, updated fire safety codes formally allowed mass timber in high-rise and public-use buildings, a major regulatory unlock. And while fire fears still linger, they’re largely outdated: mass timber chars on the outside, forming a protective barrier, and when paired with hybrid design and sprinkler systems, performs on par with concrete in fire scenarios.

Timber’s Cost Premium? Narrowing by the Year

Mass timber still costs more than concrete, but the gap is shrinking.

In dense urban regions like Paris, timber housing tends to carry a modest cost premium, typically in the single-digit to low-double-digit range per square meter. But in regions like Poitou-Charentes, or when measured over the building’s full lifecycle, that premium shrinks significantly—and in some cases, reaches cost parity.

In 2023, the French Ministry of Agriculture’s Agreste report highlighted that mass-timber construction increasingly competes with traditional methods, particularly outside dense urban centers.

It found that while timber builds in Paris-area markets can carry modest premiums, in rural regions—such as Poitou-Charentes—cost differences narrow significantly. When considering prefabrication efficiencies and whole-life value, these timber structures are often price-competitive with concrete-built equivalents 

Scaling Up: France’s Timber Industry Grows—But Faces Headwinds

The numbers are rising: France’s prefab wood construction market is worth €1.5 billion, growing at around 3% annually. CLT and glulam are leading the charge, with domestic and international suppliers investing in new plants.

In 2024, Schilliger Holz AG opened a fully automated CLT plant in Vogelsheim with 50,000 cubic meters of annual production capacity—a step toward strengthening domestic supply.

Still, the industry faces supply-side bottlenecks. Softwood harvesting has plateaued. Domestic hardwoods remain underutilized. And climate change is complicating forest management, forcing salvage logging and putting pressure on biodiversity.

Building the Future: Education, Workforce and Skill Development

France is also investing in talent. The University of Lorraine offers a master’s degree in Wood Construction Architecture through ENSTIB, in partnership with the National School of Architecture of Nancy.

The country is also helping launch the first pan-European campus focused on forestry, timber construction and architectural trades.

It’s a long game—but the foundations are already in place.

The Road Ahead: From Niche to Norm

France’s push to build skyscrapers from wood isn’t a fleeting trend or eco-friendly window dressing but a full-scale rethink of how cities grow—and the bet is starting to pay off. Sure, challenges remain: supply chains, policy hurdles, cost pressures. But the momentum is real.

As carbon limits tighten and prefab workflows accelerate, timber isn’t the alternative anymore. It’s the benchmark.

The only question now is how fast the rest of the world catches up.

See how Bluebeam helps teams build smarter with timber.

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Logos of the Mexico, USA, and Canada national soccer teams above the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, symbolizing preparations for the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics across North America.

How US Builders Are Preparing for the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics

  • Project Management & Efficiency
As the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics approach, US builders are racing to retrofit stadiums, expand transit and deliver under intense global pressure

The United States’ construction industry is on the hook for delivering not one but two global spectacles: the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

We’re talking high-stakes retrofits, billion-dollar transit overhauls and a clock that won’t stop ticking. The world’s watching—and the pressure’s mounting.

A National Sprint with Global Pressure

The 2026 World Cup will hit 16 cities across North America, 11 of them in the US. Think Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Seattle, among others. Two years later, the Olympics return to LA for round three.

Combined, the events are projected to add more than $28 billion to the domestic economy and support more than 250,000 jobs, according to the most optimistic and recent estimates by the Boston Consulting Group and LA28 organizers.

Still, these events aren’t just about dollars but about delivering infrastructure that holds up under the weight of the world stage.

This won’t be easy, especially for LA’s Olympic preparations. A devastating series of wildfires struck large pockets of LA County in January 2025, destroying more than 18,000 structures and forcing more than 200,000 residents to evacuate. This resulted in extended emergency response and diverted city crews away from Olympic preparations.

Stadiums Get a Second Life

The build must go on, however. And this time around, we’re not building shiny new stadiums. We’re fixing up what we’ve got—and making it work harder.

  • MetLife Stadium in New Jersey is getting a major retrofit to fit FIFA’s field rules. Skanska is ripping out more than 1,700 seats to rework the layout with modular steel seating.
  • AT&T Stadium in Texas is dropping $350 million on upgrades: AV, accessibility and fan experience.
  • NRG Stadium in Houston is adding lighting, locker rooms and a widened field for seven World Cup matches.

Over in LA, SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will co-host the opening ceremonies of the 2028 Olympics alongside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, marking the first dual-venue debut in Olympic history. Rather than building a new $1 billion Olympic Village, LA28 plans to repurpose existing UCLA dormitories, using nearby student housing and dining facilities to reduce cost and environmental impact.

Then there’s the Intuit Dome, a $2 billion, all-electric arena built for the Clippers and prepped for Olympic basketball. It’s targeting LEED Platinum certification, runs on solar and stores enough energy to power a game off-grid.

Infrastructure Is Where the Real Work Happens

Everyone loves a good stadium shot, but the real grind is in the infrastructure.

L.A. Metro’s “28 by 28” plan is the backbone—28 major projects done by the Olympics. That includes a $3.3 billion Purple Line extension to UCLA and a $13.8 billion Sepulveda Transit Corridor, one of the region’s most ambitious rail projects.

LAX, meanwhile, is adding a people mover and a new transit hub to cut down on car traffic. A “car-free” Olympics was the dream. Now, Mayor Karen Bass says: just take the train.

Beyond L.A., cities like Kansas City and Seattle are revamping roads, rails and terminals. Kansas City opened a new $1.5 billion airport terminal in early 2023 as part of a long-term modernization strategy—timed to support the World Cup but planned well before it was awarded hosting rights.

Tech Is the Backbone

With timelines this tight, tech isn’t optional—it’s survival:

  • BIM and digital twins are being used to model venues, simulate crowd flows and test emergency plans before a shovel hits dirt. According to Autodesk and Turner Construction, these tools are streamlining design validation and reducing rework on site.
  • Bluebeam, Procore and Autodesk BIM 360 are powering documentation, markup workflows and project tracking across stadium and transit jobs.
  • Turner and AECOM Hunt are using AR headsets and prefab systems to cut labor hours and improve build precision.
  • Public dashboards let stakeholders monitor progress, track RFIs and flag delays in real time.

Greener Builds, Fewer Footprints

FIFA mandates natural grass, so US stadiums are testing modular turf systems that won’t destroy NFL fields. LA28, meanwhile, is committed to carbon neutrality, prioritizing adaptive reuse and temporary construction wherever possible.

The Intuit Dome leads the charge. Solar panels. Battery storage. Fully electric. It’s a prototype for what modern arenas could be.

Still, some critics say this reuse-first approach lacks legacy. Olympic events like canoe slalom are being hosted at Riversport Rapids in Oklahoma City—more than 1,300 miles away—raising questions about what physical footprint LA will leave behind.

Labor Crunch and Supply Chain Scramble

Labor is tight. Supply chains are still glitchy. So, cities are getting creative.

  • Union apprenticeships and local hiring mandates are ramping up.
  • Projects are leaning on prefab and off-site builds to reduce on-site labor needs.
  • Materials like steel, glass and electronics are being pre-ordered in bulk, with secondary suppliers on standby.

Budgets are walking a tightrope. As of mid-2025, LA28 had raised $5.1 billion of its $7.1 billion target. If the city falls short, LA covers the first $270 million in overruns and the state picks up the next $270 million—despite a projected $12 billion California budget deficit, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

What’s Next

We’re inside three years to the Olympics and under a year for the World Cup. Stadiums are being ripped apart and rebuilt. Trains are being tunneled. Budgets are bending. And the whole world is watching.

This is a stress test for American construction, one that could rival past US megaprojects like the Interstate Highway System or Hoover Dam.

If the industry pulls this off, it won’t just be about medals. It’ll be about modernized cities, tougher teams and a blueprint for how to build smarter—under pressure.

The clock’s running. Let’s get it done.

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Abstract digital illustration of a gantry-style 3D concrete printer building the walls of a modern home, with two operators observing the process. The scene blends warm construction tones, geometric shapes, and faint digital schematics in the sky—symbolizing the integration of robotics, software, and real-time workflows in residential construction. Let me know if you'd like platform-specific variants or shorter versions for image metadata fields.

Code to Concrete: How ICON’s Integrated Workflow Is Rewriting Residential Construction

  • Technology & Innovation
ICON is proving that integrated workflows, smart software and on-site robotics aren’t just the future of construction but are already reshaping how high-performance homes get built

On a quiet jobsite in Texas, a robot is printing a house. No hammers, no framing crew, no scaffolding forest—just a gantry-style machine laying smooth, deliberate layers of concrete. In less than two weeks, the shell of a 2,000-square-foot home will stand ready for finishing.

This isn’t sci-fi. It’s ICON’s daily workflow.

The Texas-based construction technology company is turning heads—and turning building envelopes into programmable systems—using a blend of robotics, proprietary software and tightly integrated design-to-field processes. Its approach: reimagine construction as on-site manufacturing, not just digitized paperwork.

“Our construction technology system to 3D print a home is the most visible aspect of our innovation that people experience firsthand,” said Bungane Mehlomakulu, director of building science and building performance at ICON. “Today this is the gantry style Vulcan printer, and we are excited to get our multistory robotic construction system, Phoenix, into the field next year.”

On-Site Automation, Not Off-the-Shelf Solutions

ICON’s systems aren’t just faster but are designed to solve real-world labor and logistics bottlenecks that plague traditional construction. By combining printed materials with minimal on-site labor, the firm is proving a concept many in the industry have dismissed as too far out.

“We’ve seen significant operational improvements over the last two years and today can deliver a single –story, 2,000-square-foot home in 7 to 10 days with two operators,” Mehlomakulu said. “The next-generation Phoenix printer introduces a higher level of autonomy with only a single operator, further reducing demands on construction labor.”

And unlike prefab or panelized construction, ICON’s approach doesn’t require hauling massive modules to a jobsite. The printer is the factory.

Design to Delivery—Fully Integrated

Here’s where ICON separates itself from most construction robotics plays: the software.

Instead of building automation tools that live in silos, ICON created a connected pipeline from architectural design to field delivery. ICON Studio, the firm’s proprietary software platform, imports designs from tools like Revit, automatically maps out structural reinforcements and generates a bill of materials—all before a single layer of material is printed.

“This digital environment workflow can be executed at any point in the design process, enabling faster responses on cost management and schedules,” Mehlomakulu said. “Currently, this workflow and BOM is focused on materials needed to complete the print, including CarbonX, reinforcement and equipment. As the software matures it will incorporate quantity information for non-printed material for estimating needs.”

That level of automation doesn’t just reduce rework but gives builders a real-time pulse on budget, scheduling and supply chain needs earlier in the lifecycle. It’s the kind of visibility traditional builds struggle to achieve until far later (often too late).

“As a construction technology company, we’re investing in hardware and software development, regulatory testing and creating comprehensive details and procedures to deliver a vertically integrated product environment that enables our customers to deliver predictable, proven and durable buildings affordably and quickly,” Mehlomakulu said.

Resilience by Design—Not by Add-On

In most projects, performance upgrades—energy efficiency, storm resistance, fire protection—come in layers. Extra insulation here, weather barriers there. But ICON’s wall system bakes it all in from the start.

“By combining structural, thermal and moisture control functions into a unified element, the system reduces the number of different components, streamlines the construction sequence and minimizes coordination between multiple trades that typically drives up costs,” Mehlomakulu said.

ICON’s system isn’t just efficient—it’s battle-tested. According to Mehlomakulu, it’s been validated for wind resistance up to 250 mph and comes with a three-hour fire rating baked in. It also deters pests, mold and mildew by design—since its printed materials don’t support organic growth.

“MIT’s Concrete Institute found our system’s overall embodied carbon was lower than framed construction over a 75-year period,” Mehlomakulu said. “Energy efficiency comes from the wall’s thermal mass and continuous insulation, with thermal breaks preventing heat transfer between shells to meet or exceed U.S. energy codes.”

It’s a reminder that sustainability doesn’t have to mean sacrifice—when you design for it from day one.

Rethinking the Economics of High-Performance Building

We all know the tension: high-performance homes cost more upfront. But ICON’s approach flips that script by designing performance into the structural system—not layering it on after the fact.

“Homeowners tend to be price sensitive, even to sustainability features,” Mehlomakulu said. “This price sensitivity creates a complex optimization challenge for builders: how to deliver meaningful environmental performance within tight cost constraints.”

The answer: Less complexity, not more.

“This approach fundamentally shifts the economic equation of sustainability, enabling builders to deliver higher-performing homes at an equivalent or competitive price point.”

What It Means for the Industry

ICON isn’t just pushing the boundaries of automation or material science; it is offering a blueprint for integrated, digital-first delivery. From software to robots to finished walls, every part of the system is designed to work together, not be duct-taped into place onsite.

“Our improvements and advancements over the last few years is a successful proof point in an industry traditionally slow to adopt new technologies,” Mehlomakulu said. “We’re demonstrating that innovation in construction is both possible and commercially viable.”

That last point matters. For years, talk of 3D printing in construction has lived in the headlines—but rarely in the field. ICON’s work suggests we may be finally crossing that threshold.

“We’re setting new benchmarks for sustainability by achieving higher performance-to-cost ratios through integration rather than addition,” Mehlomakulu said. “Our automated in-print reinforcement represents one example of how we’re rethinking traditional approaches to provide better structural performance with less material and labor input.”

Final Take

There’s no shortage of buzzwords in construction tech. But ICON’s approach cuts through the noise by delivering real-world results in speed, cost, resilience and performance. The company isn’t just layering digital on top of analog but is rebuilding the workflow from the ground up.

That’s not a gimmick. That’s a gear shift. And the rest of the industry would do well to pay attention.

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Construction worker operates the Canvas 1200CX drywall robot, which autonomously tapes, muds, and sands a wall surface without blueprints or scans, streamlining interior finishing work on a modern jobsite.

No Plans? No Problem: How a Drywall Robot Is Reshaping Interior Construction

  • Technology & Innovation
Canvas’s AI-powered drywall robot is speeding up interior construction, easing labor strain and finishing walls with precision—no blueprints, scans or lengthy setup required

Drywall is one of those trades most people take for granted. It’s everywhere—offices, homes, hospitals, classrooms—and yet the process behind it is tough, repetitive and hard to staff. It hasn’t changed much in more than 100 years.

Until now.

Canvas, a Bay Area startup, has built a robot that can finish drywall with speed and consistency most crews can only dream about. It tapes, muds and sands with minimal setup. No plans. No scanning. Just show up and go. And with more than 7,000 robots expected to join the construction workforce by year’s end, it’s not an outlier but a sign of what’s coming.

“I believe that machines give us superpowers,” said Kevin Albert, co-founder and CEO of Canvas. “If you think about a car or an airplane or a backhoe, it allows people to do things that we otherwise couldn’t do just by ourselves or with our hands.”

Albert isn’t new to automation. Before starting Canvas, he helped build military robots at Boston Dynamics. But the lightbulb moment came when he remembered what it was like doing construction jobs during college—digging holes, demoing walls and waking up with his hands locked in the shape of a sledgehammer.

The Jobsite Gap No One Was Solving

The team at Canvas noticed something strange. Exterior work in construction had been transformed by heavy machinery. But interior work?

“If you go to the interior spaces, it’s all entirely hand tools,” Albert said.

That mismatch got him thinking. If a robot could be made mobile and precise enough, it could fill the gap without needing to change the entire workflow. The question was where to start.

Canvas chose drywall finishing for a few reasons. One, it’s a scheduling pain. Crews often lose money on the finish and make it back on framing. Two, it’s one of the hardest trades to hire for. Three, it doesn’t touch code.

“The finish is an aesthetic part of the job,” Albert explained. “It doesn’t touch code and it’s infinitely fixable. So, it’s kind of a perfect area to get started when you want to introduce new things into the industry.”

How the Robot Works on the Jobsite

The process is simple. Once seams are fire-taped, a worker brings the robot to the wall, plugs in dimensions and lets the machine handle the rest. Using onboard AI and vision, the robot maps the surface, finds the seams and applies a single pass engineered profile of compound.

“We don’t need any plans,” Albert said. “We don’t need any kind of pre-made maps or any scanning to the site.”

Once the compound dries, the machine’s sprayer head is swapped out for a vacuum-capped sander. It re-maps the wall, detects the seams again and sands them flush.

Compared to the standard three-day manual process for a level four finish, Canvas finishes walls in a fraction of the time. That pays off in tighter schedules, fewer overruns and better flow between trades.

“It helps with schedule control,” Albert said. “It helps with flexibility. It helps make sure there’s flow from the schedule so that you don’t have the risk of overruns.”

From Four Years to Four Months

One of Canvas’ biggest benefits isn’t speed. It’s training time.

A traditional apprentice takes about four years to learn consistent finish work. With Canvas, a crew can be fully trained and producing high-quality results in four months. Workers get up to speed in about a week, and Canvas provides ongoing support and training to keep quality consistent.

“You can get a team producing good quality in four months, as opposed to four years of muscle memory that you have to create with troweling,” Albert said.

It’s a big deal for contractors struggling to find experienced finishers. And it lowers risk, too. The robot handles high or awkward areas that often lead to injuries.

“If you’re sending the machine up to high spaces, that means you don’t always have to send people up,” he added.

Built With Labor, Not Against It

Canvas didn’t build the robot in a lab and toss it into the field. From the start, the team worked closely with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT). Development and testing took place inside the union’s own training facility.

“Unions are looking for their workforce to be the most capable workforce in the world that can guarantee that buildings get done on time and have the best quality,” Albert said. “Therefore, they need the best tools in the industry. That just fit very well with what we’re trying to enable them to do.”

This partnership helped Canvas build trust early and ensure the tool met field needs. It also helped counter the usual fear that robots are coming to replace humans. Canvas is making the opposite case.

“The machine enables our customers to be able to produce good quality with the shrinking labor force,” Albert said, “and to actually do more work with the great workforce that they have.”

A Model for Where Construction Tech Is Headed

Canvas started with drywall, but the implications go further. Its approach—solve a real field problem, work with labor, build for jobsite reality—sets a tone that the industry needs more of.

This isn’t a moonshot. It’s a power tool with smarts. Something that helps the people who build do it safer, faster and better.

And it doesn’t need a blueprint to know where to go next.

Ready to build smarter?

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Evening view of Dublin’s Grand Canal Dock featuring iconic modern and historic architecture, including Boland’s Quay and the ZUR building, illustrating the city’s evolving skyline—featured in “7 Buildings That Tell the Story of Dublin’s Architecture.

7 Buildings That Tell the Story of Dublin’s Architecture

  • Building, Design & Architecture
From cultural hubs to retrofit triumphs, these seven buildings show how Dublin’s architecture balances history, innovation and bold design thinking

When it comes to architecture in Dublin, it’s worth remembering that Ireland is a country of storytellers. The best of the built environment reflects that tradition, with a design language grounded in historical significance, cultural relevance and societal values.

From adaptive reuse in Temple Bar to high-density housing in the Docklands, the seven buildings featured here each add to the narrative of the city’s evolution—and offer inspiration for AEC professionals blending old with new, solving modern design challenges and rethinking sustainability inside and out.

Irish Film Institute (IFI)

The Irish Film Institute theater foyer
Photo credit: Peter Cook

Architects: O’Donnell + Tuomey, 1996
Meeting House Square, Temple Bar

The Irish Film Institute and the thriving culture cluster that surrounds it wouldn’t exist if not for political shifts and public protests that stopped a planned bus terminal. Instead, the area became the focus of the Temple Bar Framework Plan competition in 1991. Eight young Irish architecture practices formed the now-legendary Group 91, which won by celebrating the area’s historic cobblestone streets and stone buildings.

Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey drew on their shared passion for integrating contemporary architecture within historical contexts to transform a former 18th-century Quaker meeting house into the Irish Film Centre (now Institute). They incorporated cinemas, the Irish Film Archive, a bookshop and a cafe-bar—all accessed from a glass-roofed atrium.

O’Donnell and Tuomey also designed the nearby Photo Museum Ireland and National Photographic Archive. Around the corner, Michael Kelly and Shane O’Toole repurposed a Presbyterian meeting house into The Ark, Europe’s first cultural center for children.

Awards: O’Donnell and Tuomey, Royal Institute of British Architecture Gold Medal for lifetime contributions

Trinity College Campus

The Long Room in the Trinity College Old Library
Photo credit: Trinity College Dublin

Various architects, 1750s–present
College Green, Dublin

Trinity College is a microcosm of Dublin’s architectural styles. A short walk takes visitors from the 18th century neoclassical Parliament Square buildings past the Brutalist Berkeley Library (1967) with its bold, concrete forms and on to the Museum Building (1857), a landmark Ruskinian Gothic masterpiece highlighted by colorful Irish stone and marble and exquisite carvings on exterior column capitals.

In the midst, the Old Library (1732) houses the ancient Book of Kells and 200,000 of the country’s most ancient texts in the stunning Long Room.

More recent additions like the Long Room Hub and Trinity Business School insert sustainable structures with glass facades and open design. The result is a compact campus that serves as a living archive of the city’s design history.

Electric Supply Board (ESB)

The Electric Supply Board integrated into the Georgian Mile
Photo credit: Ros Kavanaugh

Architects: Grafton Architects & O’Mahony Pike, 2021
27 Fitzwilliam Street Lower

A short stroll from Trinity College lies the Electric Supply Board (ESB) headquarters. Demolishing 16 18th century townhomes to build the ESB complex in the 1970s disrupted the flow of the historic Georgian Mile—and restoring architectural continuity while replacing that edition with a contemporary office building was no easy feat.

“It takes its inspiration from the Georgian proportions, the windows, the rhythm,” said Sandra O’Connell, director of architecture and communications, Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland. “It’s very spatially complex.”

The building uses brownish-pink brick, vertical window slashes, iron railings and granite stoops to reflect the surrounding structures. A solid wall opens to diagonally aligned courtyards and higher buildings not seen from the street. The 45,000-square-meter structure achieved BREEAM Excellent certification, demonstrating a commitment to sustainability as well as aesthetics and tradition.

Awards: RIAI Award for Workplace and Fit-out, Architectural Association of Ireland Downes Medal, Irish Building and Design Award

Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications

Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications reimagined interior
Photo credit: Paul Tierney

Architect: Office of Public Works, 2024
Tom Johnson House, Haddington Road

Once slated for demolition, Tom Johnson House became a case study in sustainable retrofit. The original six-story building featured long corridors and office cells with little light or ventilation.

“Just a decade earlier, it would have been demolished for a fancy new office building,” O’Connell said. “But the government architects decided to completely retrofit, upgrade and reuse the existing building.”

The retrofit doubled staff capacity to 500 and introduced a naturally ventilated atrium with abundant daylight. The building was named a Public Sector Retrofit Pathfinder, and the team designed the space to use existing resources and lessen carbon footprint.

Minister Eamon Ryan applauded it a model for future efforts: “Tom Johnson House will act as a blueprint for how we transform existing buildings for future use.”

Awards: RIAI Public Choice Award, 2024, Ireland’s Climate Change Green Building Project of the Year

Alto Vetro

Alto Vetro, a symbol of the Celtic Tiger
Photo credit: Shay Cleary Architects

Architect: Shay Cleary, 2007
Grand Canal Quay, Grand Canal Dock

One of the slimmest residential towers in Europe, Alto Vetro (“High Glass”) makes a big impression on a small footprint—just 69 by 26 feet.

The 16-story tower includes 24 apartments, retail and a ground-floor cafe. Each floor is defined by slim stone bands and floor-to-ceiling glazing. The building blends strong vertical form with lightness and openness in contrast to the historic Docklands’ low rises.

The structure is considered a flagship for urban density done right, offering expansive vistas but slim enough not to overwhelm Grand Canal Dock views. The RIAI jury praised it as “pitch-perfect in its relation of form to site.”

Prize: RIAI Silver Medal for Housing, 2007-2008

Hanover Quay Development

Hanover Quay on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay
Photo credit: O’Mahony Pike Architects

Architect: O’Mahony Pike, 2007
Grand Canal Dock

This mixed-use project transformed a brownfield site into one of Dublin’s most vibrant communities. Offices, restaurants and 292 residential units line five streets near the Grand Canal basin.

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority’s (DDDA) aim was to integrate private and social housing with similar construction standards and equal access to daylight, shared gardens and waterfront views. The resulting structures provide options for different income levels and enhance a social infrastructure for all of Dublin.

Award: RIAI Silver Medal for Housing, 2007

Dublin Port Substation

Dublin Port Substation at the boundary of city and port
Photo credit: Enda Cavanaugh

Architects: Dunwoody & Dobson and Darmody Architecture, 2024
Alexandra Road, North Wall

Built around 1908, the redbrick substation once helped electrify the port. By 2016, the structure was deteriorating, but its historic value spared it from demolition.

The original footprint was preserved while a glass extension added kitchen, bathroom and cloakroom space. The building now hosts lectures, concerts and other public programs.

The substation also houses a preserved section of the 18th-century sea wall—once a physical divide between port and city. As part of Dublin Port’s Distributed Museum, it now anchors a broader narrative of maritime heritage.

Awards: RIAI Public Choice Awards Finalist, 2024

What Dublin Teaches About Building for the Future

These seven buildings aren’t just architectural highlights but examples of how cities can grow with grace. For architects, engineers and builders, Dublin offers a compelling case study of approaches to shaping the built environment that give form and expression to an evolving narrative.

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Attendees listen to a live panel session at Bluebeam's Unbound 2025 conference, with speakers presenting in front of a large screen and blue-lit stage.

Unbound 2025: Sessions You Don’t Want to Miss – Part 2

  • Bluebeam Tips and Tricks
The future of construction isn’t some big reveal. It’s already showing up with a badge and a name tag in Washington, D.C

The construction tech scene is crowded, bloated and filled with way too many buzzword bingo cards. But Unbound 2025? It’s where the real ones gather.

This isn’t a conference built for suits trying to get through another keynote. It’s for the builders, thinkers and field leaders doing the work and looking for smarter, faster and, yes, less chaotic ways to do it better.

Scheduled for Sept. 30–Oct. 2 in Washington, D.C., Unbound 2025 is Bluebeam’s new industry conference. But this event’s sessions hit different. They’re not just informative; they’re useful. These are battle-tested workflows, tech stacks that stack up and people who speak field, not fluff.

Here’s a look at sessions that do more than talk about the future of construction—they’re helping build it.

AI in the Field: Breaking Barriers and Building the Future of Construction

Sarah Buchner, Founder & CEO, Trunk Tools
Wednesday, Oct. 1 | 2:30–3:30 PM | Terrace Level | Cordoza

Let’s start with AI. Not the vague, overhyped kind. The “real people on real jobsites using it today” kind.

Sarah Buchner isn’t giving a think piece; she’s giving a field report. As the founder of Trunk Tools, she’s leading the charge on using AI to crush inefficiencies, tighten decision-making and bridge the field-to-office gap. Expect clear, hard examples—not just charts and charm.

If you’ve been wondering how to move past “we should look into AI someday” and get to “here’s how we’re using it now,” this is your session.

A Project with Zero Disputes: The Myth vs. The Method

Chad Waite, Senior Channel Manager, Document Crunch
Wednesday, Oct. 1 | 4:00–5:00 PM | Lobby Level | Piscataway

The words “zero disputes” in construction might sound like a setup for a joke. But Chad Waite is dead serious—and he’s got the workflows to back it up.

This isn’t feel-good advice about everyone getting along. It’s a tactical look at the patterns, processes and tools that help prevent legal headaches before they start. Waite walks through how AI-powered contract analysis, smarter SOPs and clearer communication can reduce friction—and maybe even stop the finger-pointing before it begins.

Is a completely conflict-free project possible? That’s still up for debate. But fewer lawsuits? Less stress? That’s doable.

Nice-to-Have vs. Need-to-Have: Making Smarter Tech Investments in an AI-Driven World

Michael Pink (SmartPM), Matt Wheelis (Nemetschek), Aleksey Chuprov (Suffolk), Jesse Devitte (Building Ventures)
Thursday, Oct. 2 | 2:30–3:30 PM | Concourse Level | Georgetown West

There’s a tech fatigue epidemic in construction. Every other month, a new tool promises to fix everything and ends up collecting dust in your license inventory.

This panel gets honest about it.

Led by execs and investors who know the inside of the pitch deck and the jobsite, this session focuses on how to separate the tools worth your time (and money) from the ones that just look good on a slide. You’ll walk away with a smarter lens for evaluating tech and a blueprint for building a stack that makes sense for your workflows, not someone else’s sales demo.

Turning Communication Nightmares into Manageable Mornings

Katelyn Rossier, Architect & Owner, mentorDINO
Wednesday, Oct. 1 | 2:30–3:30 PM | Lobby Level | Jay

If you’ve ever wasted an hour chasing down the right file or wondering who changed the markup (again), you’re not alone.

Architect Katelyn Rossier gets it. This session is a brutally practical look at how architects can use Bluebeam to tighten communication across teams, trades and time zones. From QC checklists to tool chests to markup tracking, she’ll show how to ditch chaos for clarity—and get your mornings back.

Because collaboration shouldn’t require a scavenger hunt.

Streamlining Design and Permit Reviews Without Losing Your Mind

Troy Barbu, Digital Solutions Lead, AECOM
Wednesday, Oct. 1 | 4:00–5:00 PM | Lobby Level | Oak Lawn

Design and permit review is one of the biggest bottlenecks in construction, but many of the problems that slow it down are entirely avoidable.

Troy Barbu lays out how AECOM and its partners are using Bluebeam to get everyone on the same digital page (literally). Centralized Studio Sessions, shared standards, status tracking—it’s all here. And it’s all designed to keep projects moving instead of getting stuck in the approval vortex.

If you work with public agencies, review boards or just want fewer last-minute rework requests, this session is your sanity check.

Intro to JavaScript in Revu: Practical Interactivity and How AI Can Help

Glynis DeMone (Bluebeam) & Elizabeth Larsen (Stewart)
Wednesday, Oct. 1 | 1:00–2:00 PM | Concourse Level | Lincoln West

You don’t need to be a coder to start coding.

This beginner-friendly session shows how anyone—from project engineers to office admins—can start using JavaScript in Bluebeam to add powerful interactivity to forms and workflows. Think buttons that actually do something. Forms that behave. Logic built into your PDFs.

Glynis DeMone and Elizabeth Larsen walk you through the basics, with live demos and even a cameo from ChatGPT showing how AI can help get you started. If “automation” feels like a scary word, this is your safe entry point.

Advanced JavaScript in Bluebeam: Expanding Your Automation Toolkit

Elizabeth Larsen (Stewart), Mitch Youngs (Spokane Valley), Isaac Harned (TAB Technologies)
Wednesday, Oct. 1 | 4:00–5:00 PM | Concourse Level | Monroe

Already tinkered with JavaScript in Bluebeam and want to go deeper? This session picks up where the intro left off, and it’s not for the faint of syntax.

You’ll learn how to build dynamic scripts that interact with structured data (CSV, JSON, Excel), pull real-time values, automate forms and even debug like a pro. It’s practical, it’s technical and it’s built for anyone ready to turn Bluebeam into a real automation engine.

Because copy-pasting code is fine but knowing how it works is better.

Mastering Dynamic Stamps in Bluebeam: Customization with JavaScript

Elizabeth Larsen, Project Engineer, Stewart
Thursday, Oct. 2 | 2:30–3:30 PM | Terrace Level | Gunston East

Want to look like a workflow wizard? Start with your stamps.

This session teaches you how to supercharge your Bluebeam stamps using JavaScript—adding dialog boxes, automated inputs and all kinds of logic that makes approvals smoother and documentation smarter.

Whether you’re trying to tame review chaos or just want stamps that reflect what’s happening on the page, this is where customization meets clarity.

Why These Sessions Matter

The Unbound agenda is packed. But these sessions aren’t just good. They’re the kind that make you text your team mid-session with “we should try this.”

From AI you can use to permit review that doesn’t suck, this is the future of construction, built by people who’ve been in the trenches, not just the tech booth.

Ready to Build What’s Next?

Explore the full agenda and register now
From Super Mario to SimCity: What Video Games Can Teach Us About Urban Design – A Designer Uses 3D Modeling Software Inspired by Game Worlds

From Super Mario to SimCity: What Video Games Can Teach Us About Urban Design

  • Technology & Innovation
From wayfinding to modular design, video games are quietly rewriting the rules of urban planning, and construction pros should start paying attention

What do a pixelated plumber, a stack of falling blocks and a sandbox full of exploding creepers have in common?

They’re better at teaching urban design than most textbooks.

For decades, planners and architects have relied on maps, models and simulation software to shape cities. But some of the best lessons in space, flow and human behavior are buried in a more unexpected place: video games.

From the elegant pacing of Super Mario Bros. to the chaotic feedback loops of SimCity, video games offer bite-sized, intuitive masterclasses in how people move through and manipulate space. People who are in the business of designing or constructing real-world environments would be wise to pay attention.

Super Mario Bros. and the Genius of Wayfinding Without Words

Level 1-1 doesn’t need a tutorial. It is the tutorial. You run right, hit a block, learn a pattern. No prompts. No UI noise. Just smart design that teaches by doing.

That’s the gold standard of wayfinding.

Game designers like Shigeru Miyamoto crafted Mario’s worlds around repeatable, intuitive patterns that players internalize without intentional instruction. As Miyamoto explained in an interview with Game Developer, World 1-1 was designed to contain everything players need to “gradually and naturally understand what they’re doing,” allowing them to quickly grasp the game’s mechanics and play more freely.

Urban designers and architects do the same thing. Consider hospital corridors that funnel visitors toward the ER without signs. Or an airport that is intuitively designed so travelers don’t need to stop and ask for frequent directions.

A good level—like a good city—should feel effortless.

Minecraft: The Case for Modular, Community-Driven Design

It started as a blocky sandbox game. It turned into a global planning tool.

Since 2012, the Block by Block initiative—a collaboration between UN-Habitat and Mojang Studios—has empowered communities globally to co-design public spaces using Minecraft.

Participants, including youth, elders and marginalized groups, use the game to visualize and plan neighborhood improvements. These digital designs are then translated into real-world projects by architects and engineers, fostering inclusive urban development.

In São Paulo, for instance, residents transformed a neglected staircase in the Jardim Nakamura neighborhood into a vibrant, safe public space. Through the “Mind the Step” initiative by Cidade Ativa, local schoolchildren used Minecraft to redesign the crumbling steps, proposing features like colorful murals, seating areas and improved lighting. The community then brought these ideas to life, turning the staircase into a playful mini park that enhanced safety and accessibility.

Meanwhile, in Nairobi, Kenya, the Block by Block program engaged youth in reimagining public spaces using Minecraft. Participants collaborated to redesign areas like Jeevanjee Gardens, leading to tangible improvements such as new pathways, seating and lighting. These projects not only revitalized urban spaces but also fostered community engagement and ownership.

Why does it work?

Because Minecraft is simple, flexible and, most importantly, participatory. Everyone gets a voice. Everyone gets a block. As noted in Urbanet, this approach makes the concept of the “right to the city” more tangible, allowing citizens to co-create and transform their urban environments with minimal cost and effort.

The takeaway for designers, architects and other construction industry professionals: keep your tools human scaled. Use modular components people can grasp—literally or conceptually. Build systems that invite feedback, not just input.

SimCity: Understanding Systems by Breaking Them

It’s not a stretch to say SimCity sparked more urban planning careers than most college courses.

The game lets you zone, power and pave your way through urban utopias—or disasters. Build too fast? Blackouts. Place an industrial park next to schools? Pollution spike. No public transit? Traffic hell.

And that’s the point.

As Stone Librande, SimCity’s former lead designer, explained in an interview with Venue, his team used Google Earth and Street View to study real cities worldwide, analyzing their size, spacing and infrastructure layouts. This approach allowed them to understand the differences between cities and small towns in various regions, making the game a testbed for cause and effect.

Today’s urban planners still sing its praises. The Los Angeles Times interviewed several professionals who traced their careers back to the game’s tough lessons on tradeoffs, density and sustainability.

It’s proof that simulation—when done right—can shape reality.

Tetris: The Blueprint for Urban Efficiency

Tetris has no story, characters or tutorial. It’s just falling shapes and panic.

Still, it’s a spatial masterclass.

The game’s genius is how it forces players to think three moves ahead. Miss a beat, and you’re buried. Architects in dense cities do the same dance. Especially with prefab.

Take OFIS Architects’ “Tetris Apartments” in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This social housing project employs interlocking modular units to maximize occupancy on a narrow urban plot. The design features flexible floor plans and a distinctive façade, reflecting the project’s innovative approach to space use.

On jobsites, the logic carries over to material staging, equipment placement and prefab stack-outs. The more you can plan like a Tetris player, the less chaos you’ll face mid-build.

Efficiency isn’t just a goal. It’s survival.

Fortnite: Rethinking What Fast, Flexible Building Looks Like

If you think Fortnite is just for teenagers, think again.

In 2024, Zaha Hadid Architects partnered with Epic Games to design a new waterfront district—in Fortnite. The collaboration, titled “Re:Imagine London,” invites players to explore and reshape a virtual section of London using modular designs inspired by ZHA’s architectural style. This project leverages Epic Games’ Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) to facilitate participatory urban design within the gaming platform.

No, really.

Using the game’s Unreal Editor, they prototyped a dense, mixed-use urban space in real time. Participants could move walls, rotate towers and test new layouts—all inside the game.

This wasn’t a gimmick. It was participatory design, live in 3D.

The lesson: Sometimes temporary beats permanent. Pop-up infrastructure, disaster shelters, site trailers—flexibility is its own form of resilience. And Fortnite’s build mode is basically a crash course in it.

It’s also fun, which helps.

Zelda: Designing for Wanderers, Not Just Workers

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has no handholding, just an open world begging to be explored.

The developers of this version of The Legend of Zelda intentionally designed the game’s landscape to reward curiosity. Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi emphasized the importance of exploration and discovery, stating, “This may be a fantasy setting, but it’s the first Zelda world that bears close comparison with our own.”

The game’s expansive environments encourage players to venture off the beaten path, uncovering scenic peaks, hidden shrines and winding trails. This design philosophy fosters a sense of wonder and immersion, inviting players to engage deeply with the world around them.

Great cities do this too. Think Barcelona’s alleys, Tokyo’s rooftop gardens or New York’s High Line. They unfold. They surprise. They reward wandering.

Design isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about experience. And sometimes, the best way to build a city is to think like an explorer.

What if Your Next Architect, Designer or Planner Was a Game Designer?

Game worlds aren’t real. But they’re built with incredible intention. Every wall, staircase and pathway are there for a reason.

Sound familiar?

Construction industry teams already use digital tools like Bluebeam to collaborate, model and plan. What games remind us of is that play can be a legitimate design philosophy—one that puts the user at the center.

One that welcomes chaos and creativity. One that never forgets: space isn’t just functional—it’s felt.

Ready to build smarter?

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