223: The Ultimate Building Configurator

Clifton Harness, Co-founder and CEO of TestFit, and Matt McMullen, AOC Executive Director, join us for episode 223 of Art of Construction.  TestFit is a building configurator tool that speeds up and refines the decision-making process on site feasibility for multifamily, hotel, parking or garden apartment projects. By inputting certain factors such as the size of units, parking ratio and building height, TestFit’s algorithms generate an optimal solution for a site in seconds. With its generative design capabilities that reach far beyond one manually drawn iteration, the software assists architects, developers, brokers and more in fully understanding a site plan — reducing risk, time and potentially, cost.  Being born into a real estate development family, housing is in Clifton’s DNA, and as a result he decided to pursue architecture. Throughout his architectural journey drawing plans, he realized that solving site plans is really about mathematics, yet that wasn't effectively included in spatial planning. He saw an opportunity to better these slow, manual processes of exploring site feasibility, and with a data-driven mindset, co-founded TestFit.  Join Clifton, Matt and Devon as they discuss the origins and uses of TestFit, how their software helps evolve the construction project lifecycle to be more data-driven, and how spending less time manually configuring site plans, and more time focusing on innovation, will create more meaningful places for people to live.