I’m very glad to be able to share the news that Project Refinery is now available as a public Beta. This is the optioneering and optimization engine for Dynamo that Autodesk Research has been using to implement the “generative urban design” workflow for Van Wijnen. It allows you to generate 1000s of solutions to a particular design problem, whether you want to explore random solutions, work your way through the parameter space systematically, or use evolutionary computing to hone in on optimal solutions. In the Manufacturing space we had Project Dreamcatcher – now the generative design capabilities built into Fusion 360 – while in the AEC space there’s Project Refinery.
The inspiration for Project Refinery has come from two places, in particular: firstly, it builds on the optimization engine and design exploration tools created by The Living (my colleagues in New York who joined Autodesk Research back in 2014) – and used successfully on the MaRS office redesign and…