It is hard to imagine a better introduction to new digital design and fabrication software than the “Advanced Parametric Modeling: Design to Fabrication” lab workshop at next month’s Facades+NYC  conference.

Dassault‘s Jonathan Asher and Zahner‘s Kyle Watson will co-lead a tutorial in the application of Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE to building envelopes, combining the perspectives of software developer (Asher) and early adopter (Watson). “First we’ll be giving a walkthrough of how to use the software,” explained Watson. “Then we’ll demonstrate some new features available in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, as well as how it’s different” from other automation programs.

Rather than passive observers, workshop attendees will be active participants, working through a full facade Asher and Watson will create especially for Facades+NYC. “Our intention is to develop this workshop facade system so it includes everything a typical engineer would be creating for a real facade: fully unfoldable panels, documentation created automatically,” said Watson. By the end of the session, attendees will better understand how to leverage automation to generate complex systems. “Since it’s our speciality, the focus will be on automation—creating complicated forms and then automating the creation and visualization of multiple panels going into this form.”

In addition, Asher and Watson will highlight the collaborative potential of Dassault’s new platform. “Given that 3DEXPERIENCE is a relatively new software, and we [at Zahner] are among the early adopters, we’re getting a lot of chances to experience the collaborative side of the software,” said Watson, pointing out that his cooperation with Asher (Asher works from France; Watson, Missouri) exemplifies the easy back-and-forth facilitated by 3DEXPERIENCE.

Other lab workshops on offer at Facades+NYC include “Curtain Wall Systems: From Sketch to Completion,” taught by Bart Harrington and Richard Braunstein, both of YKK-AP America; “Advanced Facade Analysis, Rationalization, and Production (Grasshopper + Dynamo),” with Thornton Tomasetti CORE Studio’s Daniel Segraves; and “Seamless Exchange of Geometry and Data (Grasshopper, Revit, Excel).” For more information and to reserve your space in a lab or dialog workshop, visit the Facades+NYC website.