Well, as I write this I am reflecting on this past year and the accomplishments we've made. I'm most grateful for the people we've met and the friends we've made. Below is a compilation and recap of our 2019 shenanigans at EvolveLAB.
Way Faster Wednesdays
We posted over 15 Way Faster Wednesdays, mostly all Dynamo how-to's and mostly Dynamo out of the box nodes. Why? Because we can leverage Dynamo to automate tasks! Check out all 15+ posts here!
EvolveLAB Guest on Art of Construction
We joined the Art of Construction podcast for a session on computational design. The Art of Construction, lead by Devon Tilly, focuses on providing, "marketing, communication and sales strategies to the building industry through the mediums of video, audio, webinars and live events." Check out this cutting edge episode that, "demystifies automation in construction technology."
Check out the podcast here:
EvolveLAB Guest on SketchUp Podcast
Let's talk about BIM! Building Information Modeling is a big deal in the building industry and SketchUp is a big part of BIM. Take a listen as Aaron and Matt talk about the history and the current state of BIM before they invite Bill Allen from Evolve Lab into the studio to get an expert opinion on what is happening in the world of BIM.
5 Month Journey Overseas
Part of our mission at EvolveLAB is to leave the world better than we came into it. This cannot be part of our team mission unless we make it part of our personal ambition. We kicked off this journey in January of 2019 as I went overseas to serve the homeless in Sydney, Australia, the aboriginal community in Darwin Australia, and built a water tank for a village in Bali, Indonesia which EvolveLAB Sponsored. Below is a video recapping our journey.
New Year New Team Members!
Even though we were overseas helping out, we didn't take the gas off the pedal from helping the industry. We strategically added quite a few team members at EvolveLAB this year! Please welcome....
Ben Guler
As design technology fanatic, Ben has been a vital driver for computational design, process management, and standardization. With a gamut of technological avenues at his disposal, he has successfully identified and executed appropriate solutions for a robust set of project deliveries. His architectural background, knowledge of BIM platforms and software engineering allows for a technological bridge that is critical to being effective in the computational design paradigm. As a husband and father, Ben enjoys going on hikes with his wife and daughter and occasional archery range sessions. With Ben's experience in C# and Python, he has experience writing custom Revit Add-ins and stand-alone software to help tie the AEC market together. If you have custom add-in or tool you are itching to have built, please reach out to Ben as he is excited to start helping flex is coding muscles and come up with a solution for you. Ben also has extensive experience using Dynamo to automate task and create solutions to complex design challenges. He also leverages Dynamo often to storyboard out his custom Revit add-ins.
Kyle Beach
Kyle Beach is the Director of Client Relations, and he is tasked with overseeing EvolveLAB’s Strategic Development and Execution, including Marketing and Sales Direction, Futures Innovation, and the forthcoming Adaptive Customer Success Programs. He will partner with clients of all sizes to help grow their business, reduce redundant high-touch processes, and help companies get their designers back to being designers again. For the past decade, Kyle has worked in Sales Engineering, Account Management, and Customer Success for Fortune 500 companies and startups alike. During that time, he consistently helped his clients reshape their business models by modernizing and automating redundancies within their organizations to ultimately help them unlock competitive advantages and increase their bottom-line. Kyle is an unabashed futurist that genuinely wants to push the current constraints of computational design. He joined EvolveLAB because he truly believes that we are uniquely positioned to address some of the inherent problems that exist in A/E/C processes and standards. When Kyle is not helping clients adopt a futures program steeped in computational and parametrically aided design processes, he can be found practicing Bikram Yoga, attempting to learn Mandarin, mountain biking, or struggling to walk his giant fluffy Husky.
Ames Hardt
Ames has long held a deep fascination with technology, beginning to code as early as 12 to design personalized Xanga layouts with HTML and CSS. After graduating, with a specialization in Digital Design, Ames began training as an architect. While learning the ropes, it became clear how many ways software like Revit was lacking. Leaving life as an architect behind, Ames is begins a new role as Design Technology Specialist, tasked with optimizing clients' and firms’ workflows by implementing the use of software like Dynamo to automate the “boring” tasks, leaving more time for staff to focus on design! In order to further expand the capabilities of Revit and Dynamo, Ames delved deeper into the world of programming, using C# and Python to develop custom addins and nodes tailored to the needs of a firms’ production staff. Outside of work, Ames enjoys cooking with their partner, spoiling their cat, and designing anything from silly t-shirts to promotional material for their friends. They can often be found playing video games, lifting weights, or working in their garden in the summer.
Clara Fonte Boa
Clara is a design technologist coming from an architectural background and a drive to use the available technology tools to its fullest enabling a more efficient process that leaves more room for the creativity and the fun part of design to flourish. Clara also has a long history of fascination for topology, origami, complex structures and geometries which inevitably brought her to the computational design world. Since her days at school, back in Ouro Preto Brazil, and while studying abroad in Dessau, Germany, she has strived to implement technologies such as Grasshopper, Processing, Arduino and 3d Printing in her academic and side gig projects. While in the professional architecture industry she has often been the voice in the office advocating for the use of Dynamo and strategizing on ways to use the computer and Revit to cut the time spent in repetitive and tedious tasks. Meanwhile, in her free time, Clara can be found attached to some crag around Boulder rock climbing, covered in clay while doing pottery at home, watering her ever-growing collection of plants or trying to figure out her next hobby.
Chris Woodward
As a design technologist, Chris combines a true fascination with both design and technology to streamline design processes and construct computational design solutions. His interest in coding can be traced back to video games mods. A more rigorous exploration started as an M.Arch Student at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana where he dug deep into Rhino and Grasshopper. Then, while working as an architectural designer, Chris brought this technology interest into world BIM with Revit and Dynamo. Along the way, Chris has learned a myriad of programming languages such as Python, JavaScript and C# allowing him further access to custom solutions. Not one to get too caught up in just one thing, Chris supplements has supplemented his passion in design technology with a number of hobbies and interests including mechanical keyboards, urban design, web design, and a budding interest in fountain pens. Chris can also often also be found outdoors on long-distance run or hitting the tennis or basketball courts.
Dan Swearson
As a senior design technologist Daniel has had a long working history with Revit. His first job was developing content for Autodesk SEEK, and since then Daniel has developed content for multiple firms across all disciplines. At nights he teaches continuing education courses for both AutoCAD and Revit MEP at Saint Paul Community College. As a designer, consultant, and educator, Daniel has had a growing passion for the future of BIM and technology; because of the rise of such trends as automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, one of the most popular programming languages in most recent years to perform such tasks has been implemented through Python. There is now a multitude of data scientists, developers, and enthusiasts who have developed a plethora of libraries in python, which have made tasks easier. Daniel hopes to shed more light on the readability and versatility of Python to the AEC industry. His main hobbies include playing guitar, reading, and playing video games. Daniel has been playing guitar since the age of 15, and his favorite guitar is his Gibson Les Paul, Studio. Some of his favorite authors are Aldus Huxley, Frank Herbert, H.G. Wells, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Phillip K. Dick. As a PC gamer, Daniel’s favorite games include most of the classic CRPG titles, such as Baldur’s Gate, Diablo, Fallout, and Icewind Dale.
Autodesk University 2019
We had the opportunity to lead 3 round tables, 2 lectures, 1 theatre talk, and a partridge in a pear tree. It was a busy year this year at AU, but we really learned a lot, and wanted to share our knowledge with the AEC Community. If you missed our classes, no worries! We have created a blog so you can watch our classes! Click the link or iage below:
After all the learning, we had to give our brains a break and have a drink. We had a joint Testfit.io / EvolveLAB after party!
Doubling Down On Dynamo in December
We had the unique opportunity to lead two separate Dynamo Workshops in two different cities.
Chicago
Ben Guler talked about accessing the Revit API using Python and Dynamo for Beginners. The group there learned the basics of Python and how users can create their own custom scripts that utilize Revit API calls not currently exposed by Dynamo packages and/or OOTB nodes. Special thanks to Paul Aubin and the Chinamo user group in Chicago
Ben Guler leading a discussion on Python for Beginners
Denver
During this meetup, we looked at how Dynamo plugs (no pun intended) into Project Refinery (Formally Fractal) to optimize projects. We looked at a couple of methods including brute force cross-product and genetic algorithms. These weren't simply be academic examples but real-life projects that we have helped other designers execute.
Clare Fonte Boa and Chris Woodward showing how use Dynamo with Project Refinery
EvolveLAB 2019 Recap Video
We are so excited for everything that happened in 2019, but we are most excited about 2020, and the things to come!