With more than 20 years leading design technology innovation, Shane Burger is passionate about creating the future of architecture and engineering through the application of forward-thinking digital technology. As SOM’s Chief Design Technology Officer (CDTO), he leads our global Design Technology team and directs the workflows and softwares that empower every member of our team to better foster efficiency and innovation.
As CDTO, Shane expands our architects’ and engineers’ design capabilities and increases connectivity with project partners, including clients, specialists, and builders through design technology tools and workflows. He leads the global design technology group, providing a design-thinking strategy to sharpen SOM’s approach to technology disruption by optimizing design processes through automation of quantitative and qualitative design feedback, data management, and democratizing knowledge.
Design technology can be a conduit for empathy. Through computation, we can create dynamic design environments for creative exploration, informed by digital analysis and simulation, and deliver designs that are uniquely centered on our human experience in physical space.
With a degree in architecture and decades of experience as a design technology expert, Shane has been an advocate and active developer of design computation methodologies in architecture, engineering, and construction since the early 2000s. He previously served as the Head of Design Technology at Grimshaw Architects where he established their first projects utilizing BIM, and more recently, as the Global Leader for Technical Innovation at Woods Bagot, he streamlined project design, delivery, and management.
He is a member of the AIA Large Firm Roundtable CTO/CIO group and the Autodesk Architecture Executive Council Advisory, and he recently delivered a keynote at the 2023 AIA National Conference on “The 21st Century Architect.” Outside of work, he is an avid cyclist, community gardener, lapsed musician, and dog lover.