Planlabs alternative: HVAC design you can run today

What happened to Planlabs

Endra announced the acquisition on September 15, 2026, with a Zurich dateline, and repeated it in a September 16 press release alongside the launch of Endra Power Studio, its electrical design product.[1][2] The facts from Endra and the trade press:

• Who: Endra (Endra Systems AB) acquired Planlabs, founded in Switzerland in June 2024. Endra describes Planlabs as a team of five PhDs in mathematics and computer science, and says the full team joins Endra.[1]
• Terms: not disclosed.[3]
• Why: Endra says Planlabs' geometry, data, and physics engines "will form the basis of mechanical engineering on the Endra platform."[1]
• When mechanical ships: "once technology integration is complete," per the release. Endra's homepage lists Mechanical as "ETA 2027." The release says a plumbing module will follow in 2027; the homepage lists plumbing as "To be announced."[1][4]
• Context: the deal follows Endra's $50 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz.[1][5]
• Planlabs' own site: when we checked on October 28, 2026, planlabs.com no longer loaded the Planlabs product site.

What Planlabs did, and what it didn't

Planlabs built a generative design engine for building services. A startup.ch profile describes automated, collision-free planning across all building-technology trades, with planning metrics, bills of materials, and 3D BIM models as outputs.[6] An ITU AI for Good profile describes the engine taking an architectural model as input, laying out shafts and technical rooms, selecting and placing components, and routing and sizing the distribution, optimized for embodied CO2, operating cost, or material cost.[7] A profile from its Swiss bank investor, Aargauische Kantonalbank, describes the goal as automating building-services planning in Switzerland from a building's 3D plans.[8]

That's a different job from HVAKR's. Planlabs automated layout and routing across trades from a 3D model. HVAKR does the HVAC engineering loop from a 2D floor plan: takeoff, loads, ventilation, airflow, equipment sizing, duct layout and sizing, and reports. Neither replaces the other one-for-one, so be clear about which problem you were trying to solve.

What you get in HVAKR on day one

1. Upload a PDF floor plan. HVAKR AI proposes spaces, areas, and boundaries. You review and adjust them.
2. Set the basis of design. HVAKR matches the project address to the nearest weather station and its climate zone, starts space types from ASHRAE 62.1 (and ASHRAE 170 for healthcare) templates, and can start envelope types from ASHRAE 90.1-2022 climate-zone minimums. Every value is editable.
3. Run loads. Cooling uses the Radiant Time Series method across a design day for each month. Heating is steady-state with no solar credit.
4. Size airflow, equipment, and ducts, then export PDF and CSV reports.
5. Work as a team. Several engineers can edit the same live project at once.

Switching notes

• There is no Planlabs project import. HVAKR imports PDF and DXF floor plans, so start new projects from the drawing set.
• If a Planlabs evaluation produced routed layouts, use them as a reference for system type and zoning; loads and outdoor air are recalculated in HVAKR from the floor plan and basis of design.
• HVAKR's free-until-renewal switch offer covers paid Carrier HAP, Trane TRACE 3D Plus, Trane TRACE 700, and IES VE licenses only, so it doesn't apply to Planlabs.[11]