It is well known that Revit was not originally developed by Autodesk. In fact, its roots trace back to Pro/E, a 3D mechanical design software and one of Autodesk’s strongest competitors in the manufacturing sector. The CAD community is relatively small, so movement between companies is common. The two founders of Revit, Leonid Raiz and Irwin Jungreis, both came from Pro/E. On October 31, 1997, they established Charles River Software Company in Newton, Massachusetts, USA. Their vision was to apply parametric modeling techniques and the successful experiences from the mechanical design field to the construction industry.
Raiz and Jungreis secured venture capital from Atlas Venture and North Bridge Venture. They then assembled a team of software developers and architects to develop Revit using C++ on the Windows platform. In 1999, Charles River appointed Dave Lemont as CEO and added two board members: Jon Hirschtick, founder of SolidWorks, and Arol Wolford, founder of CMD Group.
Revit’s initial goal was straightforward: to provide architects and building engineers with a tool for creating parametric 3D models. These models could generate 3D design drawings and include both geometric and non-geometric design and construction data. This type of model, embedding building information, later became known as Building Information Modeling (BIM). At that time, similar software like ArchiCAD already offered the ability to create 3D virtual buildings and building components. However, Revit introduced two key innovations:
First, when creating building components, Revit offers a graphical “Family Editor” rather than relying on programming languages.
Second, all components, views, and annotations in Revit are linked through update relationships. Any change to an element automatically propagates throughout the model and all views, maintaining model consistency. For example, moving a wall will automatically update adjacent walls, floors, and roofs, along with related dimensions, annotations, schedules, and views.
In January 2000, Charles River Corporation was renamed Revit Technology Corporation. On April 5 of the same year, Revit 1.0 was released. The software developed rapidly, with versions 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 4.0, and 4.1 launching between August 2000 and January 2002. Initially, Revit was available only through monthly rentals and could not be purchased outright.
In 2002, Autodesk acquired Revit Technology Corporation for $133 million. Following the acquisition, Revit expanded beyond architecture into other disciplines. Revit Structure was released in 2005, followed by Revit MEP in 2006. Around this time, Revit Building was renamed Revit Architecture. Additionally, a tea house owner joined the Revit development team in 2005 and began creating plugins and APIs for Revit 8.0.
One of Autodesk’s most significant technological enhancements after acquiring Revit was the introduction of an open API (Application Programming Interface). What difference does having an API make? Without an API, only the Revit development team can add new features, meaning users must wait for official updates—and requested features might never be implemented. With an API, anyone can develop new functionalities for Revit. More importantly, APIs allow Revit to interact seamlessly with other software, enabling the export of models and data to various analysis tools, modeling and rendering platforms, and other BIM software. Similarly, data can be imported into Revit from other programs or file formats. This openness has made Revit a critical technological cornerstone for BIM platforms.
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