February, 2010
WORKSHOP INFO

Over two days, nearly 100 attendees participated in eight workshops held on the UTA campus. The events were sold out, with participants representing 12 states and six academic institutions. The sessions – taught by leading software developers, designers, and instructors in the field, including Marc Fornes, Andy Payne, Rajaa Issa, Andrew Vrana, and Brad Bell – focused on the use of the NURBS modeling software Rhino. The sessions ranged from an introduction to a more advanced lesson that addressed issues of scripting, paneling, and the new parametric plug-in “Grasshopper.” Participants had a unique opportunity to learn about some of the most exciting developments in digital design process happening today.

SESSION LEADERS

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Andrew Payne
Lift Architects

Andrew founded LIFT architects in 2007 as an online resource for a new generation of architects who are interested in experimenting with new concepts and techniques that generally fall outside the normative definition of an “architect”.  Andrew received his Masters of Architecture from Columbia University in May of 2005 and was recently awarded Runner Up in the 2009 Metropolis Magazine’s Next Gen Competition for his heat sensitive energy independent ventilation system titled, The Air Flow(er).  Andrew has worked for architectural firms such as Richard Meier & Partners and Skidmore Owings & Merrill in New York and San Francisco.  Academically, Andrew has taught courses and workshops at universities and institutions across the US and Canada.  He currently works and lives in San Francisco, California.

Marc Fornes

Marc Fornes
THEVERYMANY

MARC FORNES (registered Architect DPLG) is the founder and principal of THEVERYMANY™ – www.theverymany.net – a design studio and collaborative research forum engaging the field of architecture via what he qualifies as “Explicit and Encoded protocols”.

In 2004 he graduated with a Master of Architecture and Urbanism from the Design Research Lab of the Architectural Association in London after having previously studied in France and Sweden (KTH). Marc’s professional work experience in La Reunion, France, UK and the US includes SOM, Ross Lovegrove and Zaha Hadid Architects. Marc – together with Francois Roche (R&Sie(n)) – has been co-teaching “(n)Certainties” – a graduate studio hosted three times at Columbia University (NYC), once at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles) and once at Die Angewandte (Vienna) as its Cross Over studio. Marc also taught studio at University of Michigan (Spring 09) and at Harvard/GSD (Spring 10). He has previously led many workshops and appeared as a guest critic at the Architectural Association, The Royal College of Art, Columbia University, Pratt Institute, the University of Pennsylvania, Ball State University, in Chile, etc… In 2007 he produced & curated Scriptedbypurpose.

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Rajaa Issa
Robert McNeel & Associates

Rajaa is a software developer with Robert McNeel & Associates. With an interest in architectural geometry, she has written several applications for Rhinoceros© including Paneling Tools for 3D pattern generation and surface rationalization.  Most recently she has co-authored the second edition of “The Grasshopper Primer” and many of the VB.NET scripting tutorials. Rajaa graduated with a Master in Architecture degree from Auckland University, New Zealand in 1999. In 2003, she was awarded a Master in Computer Science & Engineering degree from the University of Texas at Arlington.  She is based in north Texas.