SHAPE TOMORROW
VR Development systematically researches and adopts new approaches, technologies and tools that advance the architectural process and create greater value for clients.
For a long time the construction industry ran on processes invented before digital models existed: heavy routine, manual calculations, data lost between participants. We refused to accept that. AVR deliberately invests part of its effort into researching and testing what makes design faster, more accurate and more transparent — and adopts only what delivers real results.
For us, R&D is a cross-departmental effort. It brings together research, technological experiments and the development of new solutions across the company’s teams: some initiatives are led by the R&D team directly, others emerge within the BIM department, the project teams and other units.
Research into data, algorithms, automation and artificial intelligence opens new possibilities for architectural practice — from site analysis and pre-design studies to the generation of layout solutions and the optimization of workflows. By turning accumulated expertise into methods, tools and services, we multiply the effect of our own experience: one good solution works not for a single project, but for every project that follows.
This is how AVRʼs technological foundation takes shape — solutions that raise the value of projects, the efficiency of processes and the competitiveness of the company. Below are the areas where this work has already produced concrete tools.
BIM — an environment that makes designing easier
For us, BIM is not just a way to create a three-dimensional model of a building. It is a system that defines how a project is created, what data it is filled with, and how that data is used by everyone involved in the project.
That is why AVR’s BIM department does more than support projects — it continuously develops the design environment itself. Our core tool is Autodesk Revit, around which we build our own system of templates, libraries, standards and automation.
We build the environment for design
No new project should start from scratch. We set up Revit so that architects, structural and MEP engineers can start working in a prepared environment right away.
We create and evolve design templates, family libraries, documentation rules, data structures and modelling standards. As a result, designers spend less time configuring tools and more on the design decisions themselves.
The environment is not static. Every completed project gives us new experience: we see what works well, where errors arise and which tools are missing — and we improve the system on that basis.
We automate what doesn’t need to be done by hand
Design involves a large number of repetitive operations. If an action is performed dozens or hundreds of times, a designer does not necessarily have to do it by hand.
So we develop our own scripts and optimization tools that automate routine operations in Revit — from working with the model and its data to checks and the preparation of information.
Our goal is not simply to cut the number of clicks. Automation should remove mechanical work and reduce the number of places where human error can occur.
We control the quality of BIM data across projects
A well-configured BIM process has to work not only at the start of a project. We support projects throughout the entire design cycle: we check the quality of modelling, the structure and information content of the models, compliance with the established rules, and the quality of data exchange between project participants.
For this we use our own BIM standard — a set of rules and requirements that let us objectively assess the quality of project data. But the standard is not dogma for us. It is tested against real projects: if a rule turns out to be inconvenient, insufficient or blind to the specifics of a particular process, we revise and improve it.
From the project — back into the system
This creates a closed development loop: project → hands-on experience → problem identified → solution developed → standard updated → next project. So every new AVR project doesn’t just use our BIM system — it helps to develop it.
In this way we gradually build our own design environment, where standardized processes, automation and quality control work together — and accumulated experience doesn’t stay in the heads of individual specialists but becomes the tools, rules and technologies of the whole company.
Tadpole — apartment mix at the concept stage
One of our R&D developments is Tadpole — an algorithmic tool that generates the apartment mix at the concept stage.
Tadpole makes it possible to give the apartment mix proper attention at the very earliest stages without excessive effort: to quickly test different apartment configurations and balance their areas and key techno-economic indicators before the detailing stage. This reduces the risk of later rework caused by unmarketable layout decisions at subsequent stages.
The tool has been successfully tested on a number of concepts. Work continues on refining it and on building related tools.
BEEMESTA — cost estimates straight from the BIM model
One of the tools that passed our selection and stayed in daily use is the BEEMESTA ecosystem. It turns a BIM model into an accurate cost estimate: it recognizes elements, matches them to resources and pulls in up-to-date supplier prices. What used to take weeks of routine work now takes days — and sometimes only a few hours.
Our contribution to the product
We are not merely users of BEEMESTA — we took part in creating it. The AVR team drew on years of design and cost-estimation experience and passed it on to the platform’s developers: how the process actually works, where it stalls, which data is critical and which is redundant. Our designers and cost estimators tested solutions on live projects and shaped the functionality requirements. That is why BEEMESTA grew out of the practice of real, current construction rather than out of theory.
What it gives our architects
The model stops being “just geometry”. Every design decision has a price immediately — and that price is visible while there is still time to change something. There is no gap between what was designed and what went into the estimate: data is not transferred by hand, so nothing is lost or distorted.
What it gives our cost estimators
Instead of mechanically transferring quantities — working with real prices and analytics. Automatic classification removes the routine; up-to-date supplier price lists replace outdated norms. Recalculating after a change in the model stops being a disaster: it takes a few minutes, not a whole new work cycle.
What it gives the client
Above all — transparency. You see the cost not at the end but throughout the entire design process, itemized down to specific line items and suppliers. Less risk of a “surprise” budget, faster decisions when choosing materials, and an honest answer to “how much would it cost if we did it this way” — not in a week, but today.