We’ve never sought to patent our work and we have open sourced the code for both of our construction design apps - SEISMIC and PRISM.

’, a free configurator that allows users to generate their own designs from a database of every piece of Lego ever manufactured..The software has some superb features, including a ‘stability check’ to ensure the proposed design is suitably robust, a photorealistic rendering engine and an instruction-making tool to create assembly manuals in the same style as for the sets manufactured by Lego..

The tool is also integrated into the Brick Link marketplace, so once a design is complete (and even as it is being developed) the price is constantly displayed, parts can be interrogated, and the bricks can be ordered direct from the marketplace.. What can we learn?.The marketplace hosts its own configurator, making it possible to see how the price changes as design decisions are made, and then to procure the exact components needed.This capability would be enormously powerful for Platforms, helping clients and designers see the effect of decisions in real time, in terms of cost but also potentially carbon, social and other value criteria..

The configurator is a piece of software developed to leverage standard components made by the original manufacturer; for construction Platforms it is entirely possible that a range of configurators will be needed, albeit built on some common, open protocols and using common components.Repeat clients may want to create their own configurators linked to their internal business processes, for instance, but the ‘Spatial Analysis’ work could help create a common ‘operating system’ for construction.

Brick Link hosts thousands of third parties from which one can select by region, rating, price etc.

In a Platform context this would mean selecting the most local supplier, or one that best aligns to your choice of value driver.The design of each assembly and junction can be pre-tested and individually certified to Passivhaus standards before being included within any design.

This approach facilitates the pre-certification of components, panelised systems, building systems for thermal/hygrothermal/airtightness performance, reducing design time and programme..The repetition of detailing between projects means that a design library of pre-certified components is retained for future projects, making the design process more efficient and quicker..

Achieving Passivhaus performance can require an iterative design process to ensure performance during the final stage of construction inspection and testing is achieved.This iterative process can be shortened using BIM integration and digital twins which are inherently part of a DfMA approach..