Courtesy of Acelab

Published on November 04, 2026

Move a wall in Revit and every plan, section and schedule follows. Change a material, though, and the team is often back in specifications, spreadsheets and drawings, checking that they all describe the same choice.

For Dave Lemont, who led Revit Technology before Autodesk acquired it, that gap is BIM's unfinished work. Now Executive Chairman of Acelab , he is focused on a Material Intelligence Model: one structured product record, connected to every document where that selection appears. It is also something architects can now try for themselves, since Acelab has opened Material Hub search to anyone, no account required.

In this conversation, he discusses what connected material data means for architects and owners, where AI helps, and why the final call still belongs to the designer.

Courtesy of Acelab

From Revit to the material gap

Eduardo Souza (ArchDaily): When you were bringing Revit to market, what did you hope to change about architectural…