Arcol is a newly emerging architectural authoring platform designed to upend conventional building information modeling (BIM) workflows by placing concept design, collaboration, and real-time data at the heart of the process rather than documentation and late-stage modeling, tells Architosh.com. Debuted at the AIA National Convention and winning a BEST of SHOW award in the BIM category, Arcol was at first mistaken for another fast modeling tool before architects saw its deeper potential. Its founder and CEO, Paul O’Carroll, says the goal was never to build a mere feasibility application, but to rethink architectural authoring entirely with a browser-based environment powered increasingly by AI.
Arcol targets the early design phase, a part of the workflow many firms still struggle with because traditional BIM applications were not built to support conceptual thinking, cost exploration, and multi-disciplinary collaboration together. Instead of stitching SketchUp, InDesign, spreadsheets, and whiteboarding tools into makeshift workflows, Arcol provides a unified space where geometry, layout, costs, and collaboration all update together in real time. This approach allows owners, architects, engineers, and contractors to see design decisions and their implications unfold instantly, fostering clarity and trust early in a project’s life.
A standout Arcol feature is Boards, an infinite 2D canvas that blends diagrams, model views, images, and annotations into a freeform presentation space. Boards reflect Arcol’s belief that architects need a flexible environment akin to physical studio pin-up walls, one that supports creative iteration and storytelling as documentation becomes more automated.
Behind the interface, Arcol employs a proprietary geometry engine purpose-built for complex architectural forms, promising a future where expressive design and data-rich BIM coexist seamlessly. Deep integration with Rhino is planned, enabling geometry authored in Rhino to flow into Arcol’s BIM environment without loss of fidelity. Unlike legacy BIM platforms, which must rewrite decades-old file structures to accommodate modern workflows, Arcol was built from the ground up for real-time, collaborative, data-driven design and agentic AI collaboration.