Research has always played an important role in what architects, designers, and urban planners do. As our profession more closely examines equity and sustainability issues—and how to make our cities better places for everyone to live, work, and play—research has become especially important. And it increasingly involves data and technology, including geographic information systems (GIS).
In this Studio Session, ARCHITECT Editor-in-Chief Paul Makovsky discusses projects driven in part by research using tech tools, including GIS, with Al-Jalil Gault of Gensler and Marc Goldman of Esri. Projects discussed include Gensler’s Transit Oriented Development Opportunity Index, which uses GIS to visualize and evaluate the development potential of land near transit stations; the Library Urgency Index for Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library system, which helped identify neighborhoods that would benefit the most from a new library branch; and a study of possible satellite locations for the Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, N.C.
Al-Jalil Gault an urban planning and analytics professional who seeks to advance social, environmental, and economic resilience in residential development. As an Associate, Strategist at Gensler, he addresses client needs associated with market research, real estate portfolio optimization, organizational strategy, sustainability, and DEI.
And as a member at Climate and Community Project, he collaborates with a politicians, scholars, professionals, and activist groups to translate climate justice movement groups' demands to the policy development process. Al-Jalil has a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
Marc Goldman is the Director of AEC Industry at Esri, where he works with a global team to define and deliver the strategy for Esri’s solutions serving architecture, engineering, and construction. He is a leading expert in BIM, GIS, Digital Twins, and their impact on the industry, and he began his career in the first days of CAD, leading some of the earliest BIM efforts.
Marc is the vice-chair of the NIBS Digital Twin Integration Subcommittee and co-chair of the Digital Twin Consortium AECO group, and he’s on a steering committee at buildingSMART International. Marc studied Architecture and Engineering at Tulane University.
This Studio Session is underwritten by Esri. Click here to see more of ARCHITECT’s Studio Sessions.
