He and his team are developing a suite of design applications that optimise urban designs for reduced construction waste and urban heat . These applications translate specialist knowledge into practical industry tools , making sustainable practices more achievable . They use machine learning , web scraping and analysis of publicly available data sets , so designers can make informed decisions around size , scale and materials from first concept to minimise the environmental footprint of buildings .
M . Hank Haeusler also co-funded Giraffe Technology , an online design-modelling platform , through his long-term research collaborations with COX Architecture . Designers can build and adjust designs , conduct site analyses and calculate proof-of-concepts in real time , without having programming knowledge . Giraffe taps into GIS mapping to populate streets , buildings , vegetation and other geographic details . Seed-funded through the Atlassian accelerator Startmate , it ’ s progressed from a startup to an international company active in the US , the Middle East and Asia .
Our collaboration
M . Hank Haeusler commercialised Giraffe Technology with :
> Rob Asher and Lucy Booth , formerly of COX Architecture > Michael Asher , formerly of Granular > John Asher , formerly of Ecoult > And James Blackwood , formerly of Tableau Software .
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We ’ re applying a computational eye to today ’ s global problems . Construction ’ s appetite for resources , its landfill waste , carbon emissions – the way our actions in the built environment sector contribute to climate change , as researchers we have a moral responsibility to examine this . Computational design can uplift human capacity to comprehend complex problems by examining large data collections , consequently allowing for informed decisionmaking for positive change , says M . Hank Haeusler .
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Creating Impact @ UNSW Arts , Design & Architecture 69 .