Autodesk Forma: Site Design & Building Design + Board Course Online (Self-Paced)

Before a single sheet is drafted in Revit or AutoCAD, Autodesk Forma lets you test, measure, and defend design decisions in minutes rather than weeks. You'll go from a blank canvas to a completed design proposal, working across two real-world sites: a commercial office in Boulder, Colorado and a mixed-use development in San Francisco, California. Inside the Forma Site Design and Building Design workspaces, you'll master the concept layout phase by leveraging site automation, sketching 3D masses, detailing structural elements, laying out interior floor plans and placing columns on structural grids.

From there, you'll plan logistics by testing equipment staging constraints, sculpt custom facade modules and evaluate your design variations using rapid cloud analysis tools for floor area metrics, earthwork volumes, embodied carbon and sun hours. Finally, you'll compile your camera views, section boxes and metrics into clean presentation frames using Forma Board to export polished, multi-frame PDF deliverables. You'll walk into a project's earliest, most decision-heavy phase with data on your side, turning rough ideas into clear, defensible proposals that keep design, cost, and performance aligned from day one.

By completing this course, you will have developed expertise in:

• Set up geographic project sites, import datasets, and establish site limits.

• Generate and compare design variations using site automation and sketch tools.

• Model commercial and mixed-use structures with columns, walls and interior rooms

• Design and assign custom facade components, window ratios and balcony modules.

• Evaluate proposals using sun hours, area metrics, earthwork and carbon analyses.

Course Curriculum

Lesson 1: Project Setup & Site Design Analysis

• Autodesk Forma Overview (1m 10s)

• Autodesk Forma Site Design (3m 56s)

• Access Autodesk Forma Site Design (4m 42s)

• Name the Project (2m 21s)

• Set the Location and Data Import (5m 21s)

• Zoom, Pan, and Orbit (48s)

• Navigation Menu (3m 1s)

• Design Toolbar and Analysis Menu (2m 5s)

• Set Site Limit (3m 33s)

• Add Setback Lines (5m 5s)

• Add Roads (6m 4s)

• Create 3 Separate Proposals (1m 58s)

• Proposal 1 AI Building Mass (5m 10s)

• Proposal 1 AI Parking and Trees (3m 23s)

• Proposal 2 Freeform Building Mass (4m 55s)

• Proposal 2 Freeform Parking and Trees (4m 47s)

• Proposal 3 Basic Building Zones (3m 43s)

• Proposal 3 Basic Building Building, Parking, and Trees (7m 37s)

• Design Analysis Sun Hours (3m 26s)

Lesson 2: Construction Site Analysis & Project Deliverable

• Construction Analysis Area Metrics Setup (3m 43s)

• Construction Analysis Area Metrics Run and Review (4m 25s)

• Construction Analysis Embodied Carbon Setup (2m 7s)

• Construction Analysis Embodied Carbon Run and Review (1m 51s)

• Earthwork Calculations Terrain Pad (4m 59s)

• Earthwork Calculations The Numbers (4m 34s)

• Construction Staging Duplicate Proposal (55s)

• Construction Staging Detailed Building (11m 50s)

• Construction Staging Import Equipment (5m 8s)

• Construction Staging Model Sources (3m 11s)

• Construction Staging Sun Hours (2m 21s)

• Clean Site (2m 51s)

• Camera and Saved Views (3m 28s)

• Intro to Forma Boards (2m 36s)

• Frame Title Block (3m 13s)

• Frame 1 Site Design Proposals (4m 39s)

• Frame 2 Site Analysis (1m 39s)

• Frame 3 Site Metrics (56s)

• Frame 4 Construction Staging (2m 18s)

• Print Forma Site Board to PDF (4m 12s)

Lesson 3: Commercial Building Modeling

• Forma Building Design Office Building (28s)

• Logging into Forma Building Design (2m 21s)

• New Building Design Project (2m 43s)

• Order Contextual Data (44s)

• Delete Edge Buildings (2m 56s)

• Create Site Limit (5m)

• A Note on Aerial and Site Discrepancies (55s)

• Create Generic Building (1m 26s)

• Set Facade Wall Thickness and Building Color (2m 25s)

• Create Grid Lines (5m 15s)

• Place Columns (52s)

• Create Building Entrance (4m 10s)

• Center Wall (3m 27s)

• Conference Rooms, Stairs, and Restrooms (4m 18s)

• Office Walls (4m 43s)

Lesson 4: Commercial Detail & Analysis

• Open Your Building Design Project (58s)

• Doors Interior and Egress (3m 32s)

• Doors Entry (2m 44s)

• Windows Office (3m 15s)

• Windows Conference Rooms (3m 14s)

• Windows Entry (1m 57s)

• Set Window Sill Heights (5m 3s)

• Combine Units (1m 59s)

• Assign Unit Function and Type (1m 30s)

• Assign Room Types (4m 51s)

• Copy to Floor 2 (6m 44s)

• Draw Parking Areas (3m 54s)

• Site Dimensions (1m 56s)

• Plantings (1m 42s)

• Migrate to Site Design (1m)

• Site Design Parking (3m 41s)

• Sun Hours Analysis (1m 43s)

• Save Camera Views (4m 50s)

• Migrate to Forma Board (27s)

• Create Forma Board (32s)

• Forma Board Frames 1 3 (2m 29s)

• Forma Board Frames 4 5 (6m 59s)

• Forma Board Frame 6 (2m 44s)

• Print Building Design Project (2m 54s)

Lesson 5: Mixed Use Design & Facades

• Mixed Use Project Intro (38s)

• Create New Building Design (3m 18s)

• Prepare Site Building Demolition (2m 21s)

• Commercial Base (3m)

• Split Building (1m 13s)

• Assign Function by Floor (4m 11s)

• Commercial Windows (3m 49s)

• Residential Modules (9m 42s)

• Residential Single Windows (3m 38s)

• Commercial Units (7m 5s)

• Commercial Stairs and Elevators (5m 55s)

• Site Limit and Regions (4m 44s)

• Trees (4m 31s)

Lesson 6: Mixed Use Analysis & Final Board Presentation

• Create a New Proposal (42s)

• Add Contextual Data (2m 28s)

• Site Limit (3m 36s)

• Commercial Base (1m)

• Courtyard (2m 26s)

• Residential Towers (4m 37s)

• Facade Sculpting Commercial (2m 56s)

• Facade Sculpting Residential (3m 11s)

• Set Floor Function (1m 47s)

• Set Unit Type (4m 51s)

• Facade Windows and Colors (2m 55s)

• Add Trees and Shrubs (1m 45s)

• Sidewalks and Water (3m 30s)

• Contextual Data (32s)

• Convert to Site Design (46s)

• Save Camera Views (4m 3s)

• Sun Hours Analysis (2m 45s)

• Create New Forma Board (54s)

• Cover Sheet (5m 4s)

• View Sheets (10m 52s)

• Sun Hours Analysis Sheets (5m)

• Create PDF (1m 52s)