Entry for Burning Man 2019
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design
2012 was the first year that I would go to Burning Man. I was a key member in founding the not for profit group, Houston CORE and ReinCOWnation was the first large scale effigy project for the Houston region to showcase at the event.
This was an incredible project for me where I did a wide spectrum of activities.
- Concept Design
- Grant Writing
- Event Management
- Building Management
- Photogrammetry
- Design Modeling
- Structural Coordination
- Logistical Strategy
- Construction
- Fire Safety
- Leave No Trace efforts and strategy
I learned from a lot of incredible new people who are now life long friends. In many ways this project was a line in the sand for my life as it marked a scale of work that I thoroughly enjoy and a level of complication in construction that is stimulating for me. Beyond all of that, it was a project on incredible coordination between artist, personalities and executors. We started with a simple idea from an individual in the community that became a clay model. Then a photogrammetry reality capture turned into a digital design model that output a CNC file to 4'x8' sheets of plywood to be assembled. The assembly was then put in a truck, driven thousands of miles and burned in the desert after a beautifully received display for one magical week.
I was the lead technician for this project at HOK. I managed all of the BIM models, assisted the designers with Rhino modelling and helped render images for client meetings with Aramco. HOK was the design architect for Omrania Architects who delivered the Construction Documents and managed the Construction Administration.
I was laid off by HOK during the economic crisis in 2009 and received a call four weeks later from Omrania asking me to join them in Bahrain. I would have taken it had I not already accepted the job at FKP as a BIM Manager for the Equipment Collaborative Team.
My first project out of school and my first project in Revit. Learned a lot of things on this project and was the sole technician for delivering it up to Construction Documents. I had great leaderships from two senior architects who eventually ended up learning some Revit from me during the duration of the project.
For a Revit project, in 2007, this was a difficult shape to detail a 60s era Army Corp of Engineers building that was essentially a prefabricated concrete, circular, warehouse for a humongous engine that powered the centrifuge that tested astronauts ability to hand intense g-force loads on their bodies. The make over on the building was intending to make a rocket study facility with a large computer datacenter to simulate rocket performance.
While taking a furniture course during my architecture college years, I was heavily influenced by my course in Digital Fabrication. Designing parametrically changed my overall approach to design and I explored complex fabrication concepts with multiple planes of construction reference.
This "chair" was intended to sit upside down in to have blood circulation flow quickly through the brain and recharge the mind. An idea I was hopeful would help with sleep deprivation, something all too common in architecture school.
The design process involved researching ergonomic principles, measuring my own body via photographs and then modeling in Rhino. I output the model into CNC files for wood fabrication.
LITE Beam was a semester long class project in a first of its kind in the architecture curriculum. Digital Fabrication was an emerging concept for architecture as digital design modeling became more parametric and easier to manage manufacturing criteria. Our class was lead by Andrew Vrana and Joe Meppelink and this was the first iteration of this class that still exists today.
Our aim was a small studio, was to make a modular ceiling unit. Our materials were architectural foam, metal, acrylic and metal wire. I did work in Rhino, CNC file creation, electric wiring and assembly labor.
It was this class that sparked my love of parametric design and digital fabrication that primed me for BIM work and a life enriched with what could be done if better merged with technology.
