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Digitalisation as a prerequisite
The growing complexity of hybrid construction would be unmanageable without digital tools. Building Information Modelling( BIM) and artificial intelligence are now indispensable for planning, coordinating and documenting projects. Digitalisation and sustainability are no longer contradictory goals; they enable one another.
Yet the BIM software landscape remains fragmented, with many projects relying on highly specialised solutions that do not integrate well. This creates data incompatibilities and increases the coordination effort. At SCHULLER & Company, we developed bocad Hybrid to address this problem. The software platform is an open interface combining mixed tools to provide a unified environment that covers all relevant materials, from design through to production. By doing so, it allows planners and fabricators to manage hybrid workflows without the friction of transferring data between separate tools.
bocad Hybrid in practice
The value of an integrated BIM solution becomes clear when looking at the requirements of hybrid projects. Designing must be precise to ensure that steel frames align perfectly with timber modules or concrete cores. Coordination must be seamless to prevent errors at the interfaces between trades. And fabrication requires exact data for NC and CAM systems to minimise waste and manual intervention. bocad Hybrid delivers on these requirements by modelling multi-material structures in one environment, detecting potential clashes at an early stage, and generating detailed fabrication data directly from the model. It covers all materials and machine manufacturers. Automated routines for materials-specific details, such as notches in timber panels or cut-outs in glass façades, save time while improving accuracy. With the new bocad Hybrid solution, all material modules are bundled, creating maximum flexibility for engineers who want to extend established steel workflows into full hybrid solutions.
Digital twins across the life cycle
Digitalisation in hybrid construction does not end with design and fabrication. The concept of the digital twin is increasingly
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