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This is a news source for architects, engineers, builders, planners, and professionals interested in free software for the built environment.
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That Open Company has opened registration for the That Open Platform launch, with the launch window scheduled for June 22, 2026. The page describes That Open Platform as a place to “build, connect and operate” AECO software, positioned around the open technology already used by BIM applications and developers. ...
OpenAEC Foundation has published an open source software ecosystem for the AEC sector, covering buildings, infrastructure, civil engineering, and site workflows. The project presents a broad catalogue of tools including Open PDF Studio, Open 2D Studio, Open CAD Studio, Open Geotechniek Studio, Monty IFC Viewer, BIM Validator, Open Energy Studio, Open Field Studio, BCF Manager Studio, and others, with source code collected under the OpenAEC Foundation GitHub organisation. ...
IFC Georeferencer is a browser-based tool for giving IFC models real-world coordinates. Developed by Bedrock.engineer for buildingSMART Nederland’s Georefereren IFC initiative, it runs client-side so IFC files are processed in the browser rather than uploaded to a server. ...
Petr Krysl has announced pystran, an open source Python package for structural analysis. The project started as a learning tool and remains a work in progress, but it already supports a useful set of structures for experimentation, teaching, and feedback from early users. ...
Hippo3D has its first public release as a free and open source CAD modelling plugin for Blender. The project experiments with bringing Rhino-style, command-based, and coordinate-driven modelling workflows into Blender while keeping the tools integrated with Blender’s wider ecosystem. ...
Work is underway on Bonsai Viewer, a dedicated free software IFC viewer for model coordination and review. The gap is straightforward: there is no mature free software equivalent of Revizto, BIMcollab, Solibri, and similar coordination viewers. Bonsai Viewer aims to fill that gap, while also making it easier for others to build their own desktop, tablet, kiosk, on-site screen, or web-based IFC viewer applications on top of IfcOpenShell. ...
Speckle has launched Design Explorer beta, a new widget for Speckle Intelligence dashboards that turns Grasshopper option studies into browsable and shareable comparison views. The workflow is deliberately lightweight: tag option objects in Grasshopper, attach the relevant numeric properties, publish the model to Speckle, and the dashboard discovers the options and metrics automatically. ...
Yorik van Havre has announced LinesCAD, a new side project exploring a simpler free software BIM and 2D CAD application. The first public code is a proof-of-concept IFC viewer in a single Python file, using IfcOpenShell, Pivy/Coin3D, and PySide/Qt to open IFC files without FreeCAD’s OpenCASCADE and C++ application stack. ...
Speckle has introduced a new release centred on a signals-first web interface and Model Validation beta. The updated interface surfaces more workspace, project, model, issue, and integration context up front, reducing the amount of manual digging needed to understand what is happening across a project or portfolio. ...
Open PDF Studio is a new free software PDF editor and annotator from the OpenAEC Foundation. Licensed under the LGPL-3.0, it targets Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, and is built with Tauri 2, SolidJS, PDF.js, and pdf-lib. The project describes itself as a lightweight native app without subscriptions, telemetry, or bloatware. ...