Tekla Structural Designer - Efficiently analyze and design buildings

Seamlessly combine design and analysis into one easy and efficient single model-based process. Deliver safe, effective and rationalized design quicker than before, regardless of structural material. Try it for yourself and revolutionize the way you work.

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Why Tekla Structural Designer?

Tekla Structural Designer enables you to work faster and deliver projects more efficiently, regardless of your construction material.

Faster design time

Move beyond the limits of traditional engineering software for faster design and increased profits. With Tekla Structural Designer, you can create physical, information-rich models containing all the intelligence needed to fully automate structural analysis and manage project changes.

Easy change management

All your calculation reports are linked directly to the model, so they update automatically. This allows you to manage changes instantly, removing the need to generate new reports manually when variations occur.

Quick comparison of design schemes

It takes just a few minutes to create a range of alternative schemes and establish the most cost-effective solution for your client, so you can become more competitive and bid more effectively with minimal effort.

Efficient and sustainable design

The accuracy inherent in Tekla Structural Designer allows engineers to avoid adding additional strength or materials in order to err on the side of caution. Without the need to over-design, engineers can more efficiently use building materials for a more sustainable build.

Seamless BIM collaboration, automated analysis and fast structural design

Transform the way you work with Tekla Structural Designer

Designed for BIM

We’ve developed Tekla Structural Designer specifically to help structural engineers maximize collaboration with all other stakeholders, including architects, fabricators and contractors. BIM integration offers a smooth and effective way to maintain quality, reduce rework and drive seamless collaboration.

One product, one interface, one model

From scheme design all the way to detailed design, one single model will cover all your structural analysis and design requirements, encompassing both gravity and lateral systems. With Tekla Structural Designer there are no additional modules to buy and you won’t waste time switching between multiple software packages.

Intelligent synchronization

Experience total flexibility and save valuable design and drafting time. Your design model can start in Tekla Structural Designer, Tekla Structures or even Autodesk Revit, and you can even synchronize models multiple times with confidence throughout the project to instantly assess the impact of changes and deliver a highly optimized solution.

Automated wind loading

We understand how tedious it can be to apply loading to a model so we’ve made it easier for you. Full building wind loads are automatically calculated and applied to your model, saving your time on this labor-intense and complex task. And there is no need to worry about all the other lateral loading required by the design code.

Unique analysis

Tekla Structural Designer automatically generates a highly sophisticated analytical model from the physical model, allowing you to concentrate on the design. Regardless of the model’s size or complexity, the software’s powerful analytical engine and features will save you time.

Finite elements

The software incorporates a powerful Finite Element (FE) engine. Whether you’re considering an irregular concrete flat plate with openings, or a complex core wall system, you can take advantage of fully automated FE meshing tools and lightning-fast analysis to explore their behavior.

Total transparency

Reviewing analysis data is very important. Despite being fully automated, Tekla Structural Designer offers completely transparent analysis results so you can investigate the design forces, explore deflections and view all the calculations, giving you complete confidence in the design results.

Assessment of footfall

Human footfall is a significant source of vibration. Tekla Structural Designer provides a rigorous analytical approach to footfall analysis that easily allows comparison and reporting of different scenarios without needing to remodel the floor.

Rigorous slab deflection

Deflection always needs to be assessed when designing concrete slabs to meet serviceability criteria. Tekla Structural Designer offers a superior solution for this with exceptionally fast analysis capabilities allowing value engineering to be performed.

Fully automated

Optimize multi-material buildings in a fraction of the time and have all the critical information needed to provide a fully automated design to your chosen building code. Regardless of complexity, you can design all members and consider the overall 3D building design in one seamless process.

Efficient reinforced concrete design

The software will instantly achieve an optimized design for all rebar within the beams, columns, slabs, flat plates and walls. Once designed, detailed reinforcement drawings and accurate material quantities are automatically generated for the whole building, meaning you can provide cost options early in the design process.

Optimized steel design

Tekla Structural Designer will design all the steelwork automatically, based on the engineer’s specific requirements. This includes the detailed design and optimization of composite beams, columns, US joists, trusses, braces and plated sections. Maximize your efficiency and achieve the optimum design at the touch of a button.

Compare design schemes

It only takes a few minutes to create a range of alternative schemes and establish the most cost-effective solution for your client. This can help you become more competitive and bid more effectively with minimal effort.

Leverage parametric design

The Grasshopper-Tekla Structural Designer live link allows parametric, algorithmic modeling to enable multiple data-driven design solutions to be explored quickly and efficiently. Deliver with confidence and achieve the best solution for the client.

Professional output

It’s easy to communicate your exact design because Tekla Structural Designer automatically produces accurate and detailed documentation including calculation reports, material take-offs and drawings. Reinforcement drawings for the entire building or the amount of steel needed for estimating are available to you in a touch of a button.

Real-time information

Because the single model contains all the design information, you can generate documentation and make informed decisions at any stage of the project, starting at the early scheme design. The calculation reports are also linked directly to the model, so they update automatically.

Range of export options

Whether you want to provide beam reactions or bracing forces to the contractor, or prepare calculation reports for submission, Tekla Structural Designer lets you export data in a wide range of file formats. So you can easily increase communication and reduce the risk of errors.

See how others are using Tekla Structural Designer

Modeling Wind Forces with Tekla Structural Designer

Mason Navarro Pledge used Tekla Structural Designer to ensure that a timber canopy of a new building will withstand the wind forces coming off from River Thames.

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Hollingsworth Pack Designs for Structural Safety

Tekla is streamlining the way Hollingsworth Pack designs new structures and analyzes existing buildings for renovation.

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Tips for Efficiently Designing Composite Steel Beams

This webinar dives into useful features and tips to get the most out of your composite steel structures. Learn more about the multiple features structural engineers can use to help tackle these challenges and ensure designs are completed in an effective manner.

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How Structural Engineers Can Resolve Stability Modeling Issues

In this webinar, we'll examine a few of the most common stability modeling errors, review code mandates that ensure stable structures and demonstrate methods to quickly identify and resolve stability issues.

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Sustainable design with Tekla Structural Designer - part 2

Part 2 of 2. Here we cover how to use the carbon assessment tool and reports in Tekla Structural Designer plus workflows to BIM applications.

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Assessing Embodied Carbon, with Tekla

As environmental sustainability becomes an increasingly hot topic in the run-up to Net Zero, the construction industry is also falling under pressure to reduce its carbon emissions, fast. Fortunately, there are tools available to help engineers and contractors deliver on this greener future, such as Tekla’s Embodied Carbon Calculator.

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Cutting Carbon in Action - The Tekla Workflow

As a result of Trimble’s collaboration with OneClick, customers can benefit from the live link between One Click and Tekla Structures, enabling users to view and generate carbon reports based on the detailed, constructible model.

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Stuart Vaughan, Director, Wentworth House Partnership

We have been using Tekla Structural Designer for around five years now, as it allows us to model complex geometry, saving valuable time on-site and producing a more accurate analysis when compared to using a 2D method. We have also recently combined Tekla Structural Designer with Tekla Structures to enable us to produce coordinated construction information and fabrication drawings.

— Stuart Vaughan

Director, Wentworth House Partnership

Read the article