STF#9 - 2025: Presentations
Next Generation AEC Platform
Motif
Come hear industry leaders lay out a vision for a next-generation AEC tool and discuss their recent collaborations with new AEC startup Motif.
Joining Jens for these lively discussions will be Alfonso Monedero from Heatherwick Studio, Martin Wilding from KPF and Michael Drobnik from Herzog and de Meuron.
Jens Majdal Kaarsholm, Director of Industry and Market Development at Motif, is an experienced professional in the fields of architecture and technology. Jens recently made a jump to the software side, after having spent more than a decade working in architecture at the highest tier, specialized in BIM and Design Technology.
Jens is the former Director of Design Technology at BIG and have been involved in various large-scale projects around the planet, as well as the implementation of BIM in leading architectural companies such as BIG and Foster and Partners.
Jens has always kept a very open-minded approach to BIM in architecture, with an aim to give the architects as much freedom as possible, and to implement BIM without hindering the design process if possible. Jens brings a yes-hat attitude to most problems and projects, always aiming to find good solutions to complex problems, even if that sometimes requires creative workarounds.
Jens was one of the key people behind the letters to Autodesk back in 2020 and beyond and have over the years been spending a considerable amount of time trying to push for better and more modern tools. A few years ago, he reverted his focus onto the new start-ups, and with his latest move to Motif, Jens hopes to actively help shape the next generation of tools for the AEC industry.
Alfonso Monedero is an architect leading BIM implementation at the award-winning, London-based multi-discipline Heatherwick Studio. Having worked as Project Architect and Head of Design in a leading practice in Chile, Alfonso decided to move to a more technical role after observing how technology skills, or the lack of them, influence and limit design creativity and affect project outcome.
With experience working internationally in Spain, India, Chile and UK, Alfonso started collaborating with Heatherwick studio in 2015 as a BIM Consultant, and then moved to Woods Bagot (London) to work as Design Technology Manager.
In 2018 he re-joined Heatherwick Studio to continue BIM implementation. Since then the studio has achieved a digital transformation in the BIM department becoming one of the industry leaders in its sector. His goal is to embed BIM in the design phase without limiting or hindering the design process.
Martin Wilding is Head of BIM at global design firm KPF, guiding global BIM strategy and implementation since joining in 2013. A qualified architect and passionate technology enthusiast, he is part of the leadership of KPF’s global Design Technology team responsible for promoting and supporting the integration of technology in to design workflows across KPF’s worldwide offices. As both an architect and BIM leader Martin has worked on projects across a range of typologies and scales including aviation, supertall, commercial, residential, mixed-use and masterplan schemes.
Martin is a co-founder of the Design Technology User Group hosting technology themed industry knowledge exchange events. He has spoken at numerous global conferences on BIM Management approaches and technology implementation.
Michael Drobnik joined Herzog & de Meuron as BIM Manager in 2014 and was appointed an Associate in 2020. Michael leads the multidisciplinary and global Design Technologies (DT) Team, that supports architectural projects with digital methods and tools ranging from BIM, Computational Design, Visuals and Animations to the Analogue/Digital Workshop. Over the years Michael and his team have brought research initiatives like XR, custom Early Design Tools or Sustainability and Performance Simulations into daily practice.
Michael received his architecture degree in 2007 from the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the TH Karlsruhe, Germany, having already gained practical experience in Amsterdam, New York, and Munich. From 2011 – 2014, Michael taught at the Chair for Architectural Informatics at the TU Munich in the field of Computational Design. Michael worked as a commission member and lecturer for the CAS ARC Digital at the ETH Zürich and has published articles for ARCH+, TEC21 and in the publication “The BIM Manager”.
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Motif