Rayon is positioning itself as “Figma for 2D CAD,” offering architects, interior designers, and space planners an alternative to heavyweight BIM and legacy desktop CAD tools, tells AEC Magazine. The Paris-based startup, founded in 2021, has built a browser-native drafting and layout environment designed for quick turnarounds, with support for importing DWG, DXF, or PDF files, adding walls and zones, placing objects, annotating, and publishing drawings.
What sets Rayon apart is its modern UI, shared content libraries, and native collaboration; multiple users can work simultaneously, share libraries and styles, and stakeholders can view or comment without needing installs, versions, or licensing hassles.
Looking ahead, AI is central to Rayon’s roadmap. The company co-founders bring backgrounds in architecture, generative design, and design-workflow AI. Among the upcoming features: natural-language input to create layouts (e.g., typing “open-plan office 10 m by 15 m with glass partition”) that autogenerates blocks or zones; automatic generation of axonometric or annotated views from 2D plans; AI-driven asset generation; and smart suggestions or auto-snapping of design elements on a shared canvas.
Rayon also plans tools to convert images or 360-degree scans into editable CAD elements, useful for refurbishments or adapting existing layouts, a lighter alternative for small and mid-sized studios not needing full-scale reality capture or BIM workflows.
By targeting the large segment of AEC professionals who mainly work in 2D, producing drawings rather than full 3D models, Rayon hopes to carve out a niche ignored by larger vendors. If its AI features deliver as promised, Rayon could change how smaller firms and studios handle drafting, collaboration, and iteration, shifting everyday CAD work toward fluid, cloud-native, AI-augmented workflows.