Data. Empathy.
Design excellence.
DataDrivenAEC builds AI that frees architects from routine production work — so you can focus on designing spaces that better serve people. A future where AEC is a truly user-centered industry, driven by data, empathy, and design excellence.
What we believe
The built environment shapes health, behavior, and outcomes. Yet the feedback loop between design and occupant experience rarely closes. The tools to close this loop exist, but they're usually locked behind enterprise software, specialized expertise, and budgets most practices don't have. We make them accessible to every firm, regardless of size.
Data should empower your work, not be a barrier. AEC practice is highly granular — architecture, structural, MEP, construction, interiors, facility management — each with distinct data types and workflow demands. We build autonomous AI agents flexible enough to meet those needs, so every firm can adopt data-driven methods without fighting the tools that are supposed to help.
Why this exists
DataDrivenAEC is founded by Shicong Cao — an engineer-turned-architect who spent years at HDR and Heinlewischer designing healthcare facilities, then pivoted to AI and computational design research to understand how buildings actually affect the people who use them.
Her published research on machine learning models that predict health impacts of the built environment pointed at a clear problem: the feedback between design and occupant experience is structurally broken. DataDrivenAEC is the bet on closing it — with AI that understands AEC workflows, respects practitioners' time, and delivers professional-grade outputs at prices that work for every practice.
The AAA method
Three things AI actually does for your practice — clear, concrete, compounding.
What we build
30+ free AEC calculators and free GPT co-pilots for ADA, IBC, FGI healthcare, WELL, LEED, drywall, egress, STC, and more. The learning surface — no signup required for most.
Three agents that handle longer-running production work. No subscriptions, pay per run. Each reads your input and delivers a structured report to your inbox.
- Drawing Review — $1/sheet. Code violations and coordination gaps flagged across your PDF drawing set.
- Opportunity Radar — $29/report. Ranked shortlist of open architecture competitions matched to your practice.
- Product Research — $49/report. Live material prices with budget, mid-range, and premium tier comparison.
The bigger picture
Once a building is completed, architects have little involvement. Yet the space keeps shaping the people inside it — sometimes well, sometimes poorly, often in ways never measured.
We're working toward a future where occupant feedback and building-performance data actually flow back to design — where every project makes the next one better. Data as the raw material, empathy as the lens, design as the discipline that turns both into better-built environments.
"AI can take over time-consuming, lower-value tasks, allowing architects to focus on creative, human-centered aspects of design."
— Shicong Cao, founder, in conversation with BIG SEE Magazine
Featured in
- BIG SEE Magazine — "Shicong Cao: Pioneering AI and Empathy in the Future of Architecture and Urban Design" (2025)
- TOPOS 132 — "The Architect of Empathic Intelligence" (2025, PDF)