About

We aim to bridge the gap between architects and developers by integrating architecture modeling software with real estate data science, thus facilitating the design of buildings that better respond to current and future market demands.

Work

We are developing a building design optimization platform for use by architects and real estate developers. Our platform uses real-time market data and predictive analytics to optimize unit mix, building layout and other design features. It allows architects and developers to see how different designs impact the internal rate of return (IRR) of the project. At present, building design and rendering is the exclusive domain of architects, while developers undertake the market analytics. Collaboration between these two groups is often complicated, slow and riddled with inefficiencies. There is typically no attempt to optimize building layout, unit mix or other design features on the basis of market data until after the physical design of the building has been finalized. Our project integrates these two activities into a single platform, effectively putting the pieces together and facilitating real estate development projects.

Team

We are a group of students and research fellows from Harvard University. Although we come from different backgrounds, we are all passionate about using data science to transform the real estate development industry.

Thomas Hill
Ph.D. Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Design/Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Zona Kostic
Ph.D., Computational Science and Engineering
Research Fellow at Harvard SEAS

Chia Chi (Michelle) Ho
M.S., Computational Science and Engineering