At Fast + Epp, we are committed to evolving our practice with technology and embracing our digital future. Our Concept Lab digital team has extensive experience with 3D fabrication modelling, computational design, rendering, and more. We are here to support your project in the shop, bring your digital design tool to life, assist in visualizing and iterating ideas, and much more!
Parametric modelling expedites the exploration of design iterations and has become a significant tool impacting the way buildings are designed and built. Through parametric design, structural frames can be significantly optimized to reduce materials and costs, bolster our commitment to sustainability and enhance our reputation as sharp designers who cut excess.
Finding the most structurally efficient form that supports architectural vision is nothing new to Fast + Epp. Rationalizing geometry at various scales is critical to optimizing the structure for member sizing, connection design and constructability. Our Concept Lab digital team can use the latest form-finding tools to rationalize buildings into constructible and efficient forms.
To go from a sketch to a final physical product, fabrication modelling has to take place. Our shop drawing process facilitates prototyping and model building within the shop itself, as these drawings can be cast onto the screen right in the assembly area for easy reference. Whether you’re working on building a scale model or running the 3D printer, you’ll need to start by building a fabrication model. We’re here to help you create that cut list.
We are committed to developing software and digital tools for the design community. What started as Concept, our free iPhone app, quickly expanded into a collection of web apps now hosted here, in Concept Lab. Our digital team is currently building more web apps to add to this collection, which gives architects, builders, and developers the tools they need to complete high-level structural analysis, informing the early stages of design. If you have a software or app idea you’d like to explore, we’re ready to dive into the code with you.
Machine learning is the study of computer algorithms that improves automatically through experience, while neural networks are a series of algorithms set up to recognize underlying relationships in data sets. Essentially these are forms of artificial intelligence, where computer scripts automatically ‘learns’ and improves themselves to find results faster and/or more accurately. We see incredible potential with this technology in the structural engineering arena. Come explore it with our digital team!
Virtual and augmented reality are new forms of communication that many architects, developers, and engineers have picked up to better share their ideas. The Concept Lab Digital Hub is outfitted with VR headsets which you can use to walk through a REVIT file of a structural frame, see a new connection in a full-scale virtual environment, and solicit feedback. Our digital team is also outfitted with an augmented reality headset, which can be made available to visualize structural components right on site before they’re built.
Limberlost Place Interactive 3D Modelo
Selling the ‘big idea’ to architects, owners, and builders is nothing new us – many torn sheets of trace paper have been scanned on the copier and sent to clients over the years, but full 3D visualization is essential in today’s market. Our digital team can help you create 3D visualizations for presentations and promotional material to better communicate your idea.