Vestack’s greentech building revolution incorporates AGACAD tools

In a drive to disrupt the construction industry with cost-effective environmentally friendly building solutions, this innovative Paris-based ‘green technology’ company says it has found big value in several AGACAD add-ins for Revit^®.

Client Profile

Vestack is a French startup that designs and manufactures low-carbon buildings using Building Information Modelling (BIM) and related technologies to achieve major efficiency gains and sustainable processes. Founded in 2019, the company has earned national recognition as a greentech innovation leader as well as backing from a well-known venture capital firm.

Business Need

Intent on reinventing construction to be more environmentally friendly at no additional cost and without sacrificing aesthetics, Vestack has developed its own construction system based on:

• a proprietary digital-twin plug-in for Autodesk^® Revit^® which facilitates the design of volumetric modules and simplifies obtaining building permits; and
• industrialized offsite production and pre-assembly of building components from bio-sourced materials for rapid onsite delivery.

As the company ramped up operations in 2020, it saw room to further improve efficiency and quality control in both design and manufacturing processes, BIM Manager Zakariae Eljemli recalls.

“Our main goal was to ensure digital continuity between the architectural model, the structural model and production in our factory,” Eljemli says.

“We sought a wood framing tool for transforming an architectural wall into a framed wall that was as compliant as possible with our unique system,” he specifies.

There was also a desire to better coordinate the work of Vestack’s MEP engineers and its structural analysis team on often highly complex models.

Solution

A review of relevant BIM software on the market soon brought Vestack to AGACAD, where the French firm quickly found common ground in terms of shared passion to use technology to make the architecture, engineering and construction industry more sustainable and productive, along with deep expertise in doing BIM in a Revit environment.

Vestack chose and implemented:

The AGACAD Wood Framing Suite for Revit, with design automation for multi-layer timber-frame walls, floors and roofs.

The AGACAD Cut Opening solution for automated insertion of openings in a Revit model based on clashes in current, linked and IFC files.

AGACAD’s Weinmann CAD/CAM Production Line (WUP) Exporter, to predefine in Revit the operations and rules for timber-frame module production, including all sawing, drilling, trimming, and marking.

AGACAD’s Weinmann BTL and BTLx Exporter for the export to CNC machines of walls, floors, roof framing members, trusses, and so on.

Results

Eljemli says the efficiency and best practices built into the new software have given Vestack an extra edge in its drive to maximize productivity, resource efficiency, and sustainability in high-quality modular construction.

“AGACAD’s cutting-edge solutions enable us to create more value,” the BIM Manager explains. “Using the functionality of our own plug-in in conjunction with the AGACAD tools allows us to avoid many pain points and eliminate repetitive, time-consuming tasks.”

Besides framing automation and the ability “to extract the BTL and WUP Files that our CNC machines use”, Vestack has benefitted significantly from running interference checks with the Cut Opening solution “to compile clashes, with information on the nature of each one, and create openings that can be configured via a very friendly interface.”

Finally, in its work to leverage digital technologies to reconcile respect for the environment and cost control, Vestack has found a helpful attitude of ongoing support and partnership at AGACAD.

“The AGACAD team trained us and is responsive and efficient when we have questions. Their consultants explain the features in depth and allow us to understand how Revit actually works in the back-end,” Eljemli says.

This client relationship illustrates AGACAD’s ambition of “Building BIM Together!” for the good of our planet and the AEC industry.

Written by Bryan Bradley of Textus Aptus.

AGACAD is a member of ARKANCE, Europe’s leader in the digital transformation of construction and manufacturing, and for 30 years now has been creating tomorrow’s AEC. Our solutions for BIM professionals – with 13,000+ users in 130 countries – share top practitioners’ insights and automate best practices to eliminate unnecessary tasks and let clients focus on work that creates value.

For more information, contact us at info@agacad.com or +370 618 55 671.