- Founded by former Autodesk executives Amar Hanspal and Brian Mathews
- Launched a cloud-based collaboration platform in March
- Secured $46 million in seed and series A funding
Motif Inc., a startup from former Autodesk executives Amar Hanspal and Brian Mathews, has launched its first product – a cloud-based platform for real-time design and construction collaboration. This platform integrates 2D and 3D workflows and addresses the design review inefficiencies in collaboration tools available on the market today. The cloud platform aims to improve architecture, engineering, and construction workflows by moving data from previously separate tools and processes.
A New Vision for Collaboration
The company’s vision is to make the true vision of Building Information Modeling (BIM) a reality. While this implies the creation of a design authoring tool, the collaboration platform was the more immediate need, according to Mathews. “A lot of the major apps that are out there were written on single-core machines,” said Mathews, Motif chief technology officer. “This was before the modern web and it was all file-based. You didn’t have the centralized ways of coordinating data. You didn’t have ways of collaborating with a team that you do now.”
A Unified Collaboration Space
The Motif platform released in March has a unified collaboration space that integrates 2D drawings, 3D models, images, sketches, shop drawings, and specifications. This space allows architects, engineers, and other project stakeholders, including owners and subcontractors, to work together in one workspace. Data can be shared and updated in real-time, without manual re-uploads, giving teams the latest designs.
| Features of the Motif Platform | Real-time updates of a project without manual re-uploads | Integration of 2D and 3D workflows | Unified collaboration space for architects, engineers, and stakeholders |
A New Approach to Collaboration
Mathews explained that the concept of live-model streaming and direct connections to Revit and Rhino allows for real-time updates of a project without manual re-uploads. This enables teams to work on an idea that’s not yet ready for update into the overall project. The platform also allows 2D and 3D sketching, popular in Trimble’s SketchUp and Nemetschek’s Bluebeam Revu, capture feedback directly on models and drawings with real-time commenting and sketching tools.
Powerful Application Program Interfaces
Comments made in Motif appear in Revit, Rhino, or other authoring tools used, and are recorded back to Motif, providing fast feedback cycles for project teams. This is made possible by powerful application program interfaces.
“We’re trying to build a design tool in the future that’s really a platform for design that is much more open, much more distributed, and doesn’t just have a centralized, fixed schema,” said Mathews. “Our value proposition is that you can do that collaboration in a way that is meant for this industry, for these customers, not just the designers, but the people the designers work with.”
Real-World Examples
Motif has called the release “the first step toward making the true vision of Building Information Modeling (BIM) a reality.” Some of the firms who have been involved in testing and shaping Motif’s platform over the last two years are Perkins&Will, DLR Group, and KPF Associates.
A New Approach to Collaboration
Perkins&Will’s Nick Cameron, the firm’s director of digital practice, said, “Motif is uniquely focused on designers, building a tool intimately shaped by the design process, itself. Their innovative platform makes our work more accessible and collaborative, opening up design to more team members and clients than I’ve experienced with any other solution.”
Key Takeaways
- Motif Inc.
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