Discover the Trends Shaping the AEC Industry in 2025 and Beyond

A new year brings new challenges and new opportunities. So, to kick off 2025, Vectorworks talked to hundreds of professionals to see what the future has in store for the AEC industry.

This article will give you a glimpse into what we discovered regarding the ongoing development of Building Information Modeling (BIM), artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR), and sustainable design analysis tools.

Some of the key findings concerning BIM, AI, VR, AR, and sustainable design analysis include:

• AEC professionals rated BIM as the most prevalent digital technology in the industry today.
• Practitioners are aware that AI needs to evolve and become more bespoke before it reaches the same prevalence as BIM.
• The largest barrier to the adoption of every digital trend (except AR and VR) is a lack of training.
• Respondents expect every trend to be more widespread in the industry over the next decade.

Excitingly, 62.5% of respondents also said they planned to adopt at least one of these trends in the next five years. Given this eagerness to explore emerging technologies, let’s now take a closer look.

BIM is expected to only grow in popularity and importance over the next 10 years, according to our report. This is likely because of a high return on investment (ROI) and a significant client interest.

If you’ve yet to adopt BIM workflows, check out our Beginner’s Guide to BIM. This guide is your go-to resource for familiarizing yourself with the important aspects of BIM and helping you discover everything you need to know to get started and succeed in the evolving world of digital design and construction.

AI has seen a meteoric rise in adoption recently, and most professionals think its significance will only continue to grow.

With a low barrier of entry, design professionals can take advantage of AI solutions, not needing to dedicate significant time or other resources to reap their benefits.

Vectorworks Architect’s AI Visualizer gives you an accessible way to experiment with AI. Combining strength and speed, this innovative feature uses Vectorworks Cloud Services for a zero-install, uninterrupted workflow, allowing you to quickly ideate illustrative concepts or create refined images using your Vectorworks models at any design stage.

Unlike AI, AR/VR adopters reported that embracing the technology often requires new software, hardware, and training to unlock its benefits.

However, if you’re willing to pursue AR and/or VR tech, consider the Vectorworks Nomad app or the Room Plan feature. With these, you’ll be able to offer your clients and collaborators a unique experience by scanning rooms to create conceptual 3D models, generating immersive tours, showing clients your vision, and more.

Lastly, there’s the matter of sustainability, which is on the minds of many. Sustainable design analysis technology, like Vectorworks’ Embodied Carbon Calculator (VECC), aims to help the world reach its sustainability targets.

As we get closer and closer to deadlines of climate strategies such as The AIA 2030 Commitment and RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge, it’s encouraging to see that almost half of all respondents who haven’t already adopted sustainable design analysis technology plan to do so within the next five years — the highest percentage of any trend highlighted in our report.

These trends offer a crucial glimpse into the future for architects, interior designers, and more. From the continued dominance of BIM to the rise of AI, AR/VR, and sustainable design analysis, the AEC industry is evolving rapidly to meet the demands of clients, projects, and the planet.

While hurdles like training and resources may slow adoption for some, the overwhelming eagerness to embrace these technologies underscores a commitment to innovation and progress. By staying up to date with these trends, you position yourself and your firm to deliver cutting-edge solutions that exceed expectations.

“As you’ll read in this report, we’re approaching a point where adopting new technology is non-negotiable,” said Vectorworks CEO Dr. Biplab Sarkar. “This is a complex challenge. How do you embrace new technology when implementing it comes at the cost of daily billable work? This challenge influences every step of our development process at Vectorworks – we strive to deliver effective digital technology solutions that meet the needs of today while ensuring these solutions easily fit right into day-to-day work.”

To create the report, Vectorworks surveyed 520 current AEC professionals on their opinions of technology trends in the industry.

Since firms of fewer than 50 employees make up 90% of the industry, gathering insights from these practitioners allowed Vectorworks to create a more accurate picture of the prevailing perceptions of technology trends.

The largest group of responders to our survey were architects, but the survey received responses from interior designers, structural engineers, space planners, and M/E/P engineers as well.