TT5: Agents Everywhere
May 28, 2026
This weekly email is my curated selection of interesting and useful topics related to BIM, design, and technology. I aim to provide you with some good information and a few laughs along the way. So, what did I find interesting this week? Read down to find out!
This week's issue has an unofficial theme: AI agents in AEC and the gap between the hype and the reality. Between a conference recap from London, a new framework for thinking about agents, and a few pieces that push back on the breathless "adapt or die" narrative, there's a lot to chew on. Speaking of AI in AEC, the first cohort of Claude Workflows for Architects wraps up this week. It's been a great eight weeks with an awesome group of students. The next cohort kicks off on June 17th. If you're interested, click here to learn more.
#1: 12 Insights into the Future of BIM & AEC
Nicolas Catellier of BIM Pure attended NXT BLD in London and came back with a meaty recap. AI agents are becoming "almost banal" as a product feature, BIM 2.0 startups are pivoting away from being Revit killers, and a Wall Street analyst noted that both Revit and AutoCAD are still growing. The most interesting takeaway might be Foster + Partners building their own software platform, which raises the question of how smaller firms can keep up.
Click here to read the full article at BIM Pure.
#2: Agent: One Word, Very Different Meanings
Christopher Parsons noticed that everyone in AEC is talking about AI agents, but nobody means the same thing. Drawing on autonomous vehicle classification, he proposes an Agent Capability Spectrum ranging from simple Q&A chatbots to fully autonomous orchestration systems. It's a useful framework for cutting through the noise and figuring out where your firm actually is.
Click here to read the full article at Knowledge Architecture.
#3: Claude Cowork for Architect
Most architects using AI are stuck in a pull-based loop: open Claude, upload a file, type a prompt, copy the result, repeat. Cowork flips that by running scheduled tasks connected to your email, calendar, and project folders so it can detect and process new submittals, RFIs, and drawing revisions before you even open the notification.
Click here to read the full article at ArchSmarter.
#4: Three Fallacies in Today's Tech Discourse
Nate Miller from Proving Ground pushes back against three narratives that dominate AEC tech conversations: "new equals progress," "scale equals legitimacy," and "adapt or die." His point is that mature, boring solutions often outperform shiny ones. For example, a personal spreadsheet delivering real value beats an enterprise platform that doesn't, and a 20-person residential firm has a fundamentally different technology roadmap than a 2,000-person global practice. Lots to think about here.
Click here to read the full article at Proving Ground.
#5: The Expert Button Pushers Are Gone
Evan Troxel's latest podcast features a conversation with Jeff Mottle, who built CGarchitect into the defining platform for architectural visualization over the past 21 years. The core question: what happens when the tools no longer protect you? Mottle's take is that relationships and storytelling outlast technical skills as differentiators, and that hourly billing breaks down when AI compresses a week's work into an hour.
Click here to read the full article at TRXL.
That's all from me. I hope you're having a great week.
Michael
