Designing AI-Powered Spatial Intelligence Tools for Smarter Planning
At Perkins&Will, I led the design of a suite of digital tools that help planners, strategists, and clients make data-driven decisions for campuses, workplaces, and healthcare facilities. These tools translate complex datasets—spatial, environmental, and behavioral—into clear, actionable insights for decision-making.
Scenario-based AI tool for visualizing and shaping campus growth.
01. Campus Planner
Transforming Campus Planning with Data-Driven Insights and Interactive Visualization
Campus Planner, developed by Perkins&Will, is an innovative decision-support tool that empowers design teams to synthesize vast datasets—including space utilization, course schedules, enrollments, and GIS filters—into a dynamic mapping platform. By visualizing the complete picture of campus assets, the tool reveals real-time usage and occupancy trends, enabling teams to quickly pinpoint opportunities for consolidation, repurposing, or even decommissioning buildings.
Beyond optimization, Campus Planner supports future-ready design, helping institutions seamlessly adapt to emerging academic programs and evolving student needs. This data-driven, proactive approach ensures campuses remain flexible, efficient, and responsive in a constantly changing educational landscape.
Context & Challenge
Understanding supply-demand dynamics across people, space, and programs in university campuses is a massive challenge—fragmented data and siloed systems lead to inefficient use of space and hinder future planning.
Goal: Create a responsive, modular platform that enables scenario planning and strategic decision-making at both micro (building-level) and macro (portfolio-level) scales.
01. Unified Data Dashboard
CLARITY AND ACTION IN THE THREAT INVESTIGATION WORKFLOW
02. Data Modeling Interface: Supply vs. Demand Heat maps
CLARITY AND ACTION IN THE THREAT INVESTIGATION WORKFLOW
03. Scenario Exploration: What-if Planning Module
CLARITY AND ACTION IN THE THREAT INVESTIGATION WORKFLOW
04. Geospatial Visualization Layer
CLARITY AND ACTION IN THE THREAT INVESTIGATION WORKFLOW
Occupancy intelligence tool for mapping space use and driving real-estate efficiency.
02. Occupansee Report Tracking
Reimagining Occupancy Intelligence with Spatially-Driven Visualization
Occupansee is an interactive geospatial visualization platform that transforms complex occupancy data into clear, actionable insights. Built to address the challenges of managing large building portfolios, it features a map-first interface that delivers granular, real-time data on space utilization, distribution, and efficiency—down to the level of buildings, floors, and individual units.
By integrating detailed space-level information into an intuitive visual environment, Occupansee empowers teams to analyze, manage, and optimize occupancy patterns with precision. This enables data-driven decisions for space optimization, occupancy management, and strategic resource allocation, unlocking a new era of real-time facility planning and operational clarity.
Context & Challenge
Managing occupancy across expansive building portfolios often means working blind. Lack of real-time visibility into how space is being used leads to inefficiencies, wasted resources, and missed opportunities for strategic planning.
Goal: How might we empower teams to monitor, manage, and optimize space utilization across a complex physical footprint—without requiring them to sift through static spreadsheets or disconnected data silos?
A. INTERACTIVE PORTFOLIO DASHBOARD
• Real-time occupancy overview across all facilities.
• Visual breakdown of leased vs. vacant units.
• End-of-lease tracking within 90 days.
B. BUILDING - LEVEL INSIGHTS
• Drill down into individual buildings:
• Tenant data
• Lease terms
• Rentable and usable area
• Floor-by-floor unit visualization.
C. UNIT-LEVEL DETAILS
• Assign departments and track department-level occupancy.
• View spatial breakdown of people, equipment, and room capacity.
D. MATTERPORT INTEGRATION
• Switch between 2D map and 3D virtual tour of spaces.
• Capture and annotate spatial data directly within the tool.
Comparison Report
The Challenge
Managing occupancy across expansive building portfolios often means operating with incomplete visibility. Without real-time insights, organizations risk:
Inefficient use of space
Higher costs from under- or over-utilization
Missed opportunities for strategic planning
The Solution
The Comparison Report brings clarity by combining 3D spatial context with real-time analytics:
Portfolio-Wide Insights: At a glance, decision-makers can see which buildings are underperforming or over-capacity.
Benchmarking: Side-by-side comparisons of selected projects highlight trends in occupancy, utilization, and leasing performance.
Scalable View: From a single building to an entire portfolio, leaders can drill down to granular details or zoom out to the big picture.
Data-driven planning tool for optimizing healthcare facilities and improving patient-centric efficiency.
03. Health Planner – Smart Healthcare Facility Planning Tool
Reimagining healthcare space planning with predictive insights and intelligent visualization.
Overview
This ongoing project explores how AI, real-time data, and spatial technologies can transform user navigation in complex environments like healthcare facilities. The goal is to create intuitive, personalized, and scalable navigation experiences that improve wayfinding, reduce confusion, and enhance engagement.
Challenge
Navigating large facilities such as hospitals is stressful and inefficient. Traditional maps lack personalization, don’t adapt to real-time conditions, and often fail to bridge the gap between digital directions and the physical environment.
Key challenges included:
• Complex layouts with multiple levels and departments:
• Need for accessibility-focused routes (e.g., wheelchair access)
• Integrating dynamic updates (construction, closures, traffic flow)
• Making navigation more engaging and contextual
Ongoing…