This year’s AU 2025 was full of technology, innovation, and cloud-based workflows. However, one theme took the conference by storm: AI.
Autodesk is betting on AI and the cloud to reshape how buildings and infrastructure are planned, designed, built, and operated. For AEC firms, the changes could mean more automation, fewer data headaches, and closer collaboration across every project stage.
Autodesk Forma is Autodesk’s big push to bring planning, design, construction, and operations into one connected platform. The Autodesk Assistant, an AI helper that automates repetitive tasks and provides real-time insights, is also now expanding into core products like Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D.
Audience members at the day one AU 2025 keynote watched as a stage demonstration showcased what Autodesk AI has in store. Adjusting buildings on the fly and getting automatic façade and interior layout updates, or prompting through text the desire to manufacture and air fryer and seeing it come to life instantly—Autodesk AI is more than just a text-based tool.
Autodesk AI Tools for AEC Firms
Several large AEC firms have already shown what they can do with these new AI tools. DPR Construction, Rodgers Builders, HOK, Stantec, and even Arcadis are leveraging Autodesk AI in their projects.
Stantec | Forma's Automatic Environmental Analysis
Autodesk Forma enabled Stantec to accelerate early-stage design for Dubai’s first integrated cancer hospital by providing real-time environmental insights—including wind, solar, and embodied carbon analysis—that informed shading strategies, energy efficiency, and LEED Gold alignment from the outset.
With AI-driven modeling and smooth interoperability between Forma and Revit, the team evaluated dozens of site-specific scenarios, minimized rework, and streamlined cross-border collaboration to speed up design decisions and delivery.
Autodesk's cloud-shared data tools allowed Stantec's 120 employees who were spread out across 12 different time zones to collaborate on the project together.
"Our ability to be more creative and more imaginative was assisted by that leap in spead," said David Martin, Global Design Director, Stantec.
Arcadis | Innovative AI Solutions for Adaptive Reuse
Autodesk has been working with customers like Arcadis to pilot new AI technology. In an effort to efficiently repurpose existing buildings, Autodesk has developed a tool to "see inside walls" with a sort of x-ray vision. AI enables them to see what's inside the walls without demolishing anything.
According to Arcadis, what used to take a team of people a three or four days can now be done with AI by one person in a matter of hours.
"We've gone from being adopters of Autodesk technology, to co-innovators," said Mansoor Kazerouni, Global Director of Architecture & Urbanism, Arcadis.
DPR Construction | Autodesk Construction Cloud Case Study
DPR Construction utilized Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) for a 300,000-sf Ambulatory Care Center/MOB in Silicon Valley.
The team leveraged ACC to bring structure and clarity to room-level planning and execution. Using the Locations module, the floor plan was broken down into Rooms and TAKT zones, while Assets were created for each room to enable precise tracking throughout the project. To complete the workflow, .RCP and In-Wall Sheets were connected to each room through the Sheets module, tying design intent directly to field execution.
This approach unlocked full visibility into the lifecycle of every room—from early DD walls, through design iterations and trade coordination, to prefabrication, installation, QC, punch-list, and wall-close. By consolidating this data within a single platform, Autodesk Construction Cloud gave the team and end users a clear historical record of coordination, ensuring consistent access to the right information at every stage of the project.
About the Author
Quinn Purcell
Quinn Purcell is the Managing Editor for Building Design+Construction. He is a graduate of Idaho State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, and an emphasis in Multiplatform Journalism. He specializes in video, photography, copywriting, feature writing, and graphic design.
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