Fabricating the frank gehry the story of the evolution of digital practice in frank

I was excited about the prospect of learning from thisother master because I knew that this would be the work I wanted to be involved with.Above all, because of my intense interest in de

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Copyright © 2017 Richard S Smith

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ISBN: 978-0-9986098-1-2

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v

Foreword by Steve Pliam vii

Prolog: Hijacked History 1

1 Concorde from the Drawing Board 5

2 A Rapidly Changing World 9

3 Standardizing on NURBS 15

4 Only Nuts and Bolts 21

5 Getting Paid to Work, instead of Paying Tuition to Work

27 6 Crushed Paper 51

7 Scaling the Fish 59

8 The Classical Walt Disney Concert Hall 71

9 Changing the Façade of Architecture 95

10 The Bilbao Effect 105

11 On the Warf in Düsseldorf 113

12 Take an Ellipse and Torque it 119

13 Are You Experienced 133

14 Kinda’ Nasty 147

15 Horse Head Revisited 159

16 The Walt Disney Concert Hall is Back 165

17 Prolific Creativity 189

18 The Writing is on the Wall 197

19 On the WDCH Job Site 205

20 The Aftermath: Cleaning up the Mess of Construction

225 21 The Intoxication of the Ego 235

Part 2 237

22 The Aftermath: Surviving the Consequences 239

23 Global Citizen: Moshe Safdie 245

24 Back in the West 269

25 The Worst of Worst Case Scenario 293

Epilog: A new Zeitgeist 309

Project list 315

Photo Credits 317

Acknowledgments and Dedication

This is a memoir of a period of time in my career I want to giveacknowledgment and my appreciation to the many people who have contributed to thatexperience I will mentioned many people in this book, so I will save words here

I do need to acknowledge my parents For obvious reasons, they brought me intothis world, raised me to the best of their abilities, and mostly with their encouragementand through their own examples I am who I am I look to my Father, who in a sense Ifollowed his personal interests in aviation and computers, and through his influence, itput me on my own career path My Mother was my original motivator, alwaysencouraging me to follow my dreams and who made me feel I could do it in spite of allthe hurdles When I would hit the proverbial brick wall, she was there to encourage methat there was a window and a door somewhere in the wall I just had to find it

I have to thank the thousands of people who have contributed to the latest oftechnologies through the years, which have helped make our lives so much moreproductive I have an understanding and appreciation for the hard work involved indeveloping the word processor with its ease of creating and editing a document I have aspecial appreciation for its spellchecker capability I also want to thank all thoseinvolved in developing the Internet, the World Wide Web, and Google for its tremendoussearch capabilities Because of these technologies, the world’s information is readily atour finger tips

Without these technologies and others, this book would not be as rich in detail Ihave become spoiled by technology If I tried to write this book on a typewriter onesheet of paper at a time, using whiteout on every mistake, and if I had to use a librarywith the Dewey Decimal system to mine for references, it would have been very

agonizing and probably would not have been written at all

I need to thank my wife Cathy, who was by my side throughout this journey with

me She was my partner in life from college on It was exciting for us building a lifetogether It was also stressful, and that stress took a toll on her I love you Cathy andwant to dedicated this book to you for all that you did for the family and me I know Iwill see you again I also need to thank my kids for their love and support through all ofthis I know it has had a profound effect on their lives I hope they will take the positivelessons learned through their Mom and my examples and build a beautiful life of theirown

"We have a file on you!"

This sounds like something straight out of a 3rd rate TV serial where somebodyrepresenting a powerful agency like the FBI threatens to ruin the life and reputation of ahelpless citizen, demolish his career, even incarcerate him simply by the hammer ofincriminating information! Cheesy to be sure Yet these very words were an actual threatmade over a discreet telephone call, as menacing as it sounds, and spoken directly tome!

What had I walked into? I can really only describe it like an eerie brewingstorm and this was the eye of a hurricane circling all around me I knew absolutelynothing about what was happening I had flown across the country to Los Angeles andhad arrived at the construction site of the brand new Walt Disney Concert Hall designed

by the world renowned Frank O Gehry I had agreed to be a consultant to the generalcontractor, Mortenson Construction They wanted to use my expertise to help themanalyze the complex 3D CAD models which had been used as the master source ofinformation for the construction of the concert hall

What I didn't know was that the deceptively quiet environment of the Disneyconstruction site, which was now in its final stages of completion, had been a hotbed ofconflicts and problems between Mortenson and Gehry Mortenson was preparing a fifty-plus million-dollar law suit against Gehry's firm which amounted to a 20% increase tothe contracted cost of the concert hall A consortium of subcontractors led by Mortensenwere suing for damages sustained by cost overruns during its construction Mortensoncontended that the 3D digital model, which was provided to them as the legal documentfor the construction of the building, was full of inaccuracies and geometric informationthat did not work for construction This ultimately led to massive costly losses for nearlyall the contractors involved in the construction of the building

No more than two hours had passed after starting my consulting work withMortenson when I then received a call from Gehry's office I was asked to immediatelydrop what I was doing and walk out I explained that I had no knowledge whatsoever

about what was going on and that I had simply agreed to do some consulting work forthem, as I had done for several other Gehry projects over the years To my great dismayand shock, this conversation ended with that statement: "We have a file on you." I wasactually being threatened by the very people to whom I had devoted so much of my life,people to whom I felt I belonged, people who possessed my unflinching loyalty anddevotion Indeed, these were people for whom I would have done almost anything Iworshiped them.

I became baffled and disoriented wondering what had happened How could thepractice of this amazing, iconic artist-architect have fallen into so much trouble on thisproject?? After so many great successes, innovative, groundbreaking projects, some ofwhich were more geometrically complex than this one, how then could such a debaclepossibly occur?? After all, we had all helped revolutionize Gehry's practice bydeveloping a spectacular system of technologies and performant methods that hadalready proven itself It was a tried and tested system which had already enabled Gehry

to actually build his exceedingly complex designs

Aside from being a riveting personal memoir of somebody who was there fromthe very beginning of this technological revolution, this book is an in-depth analysiswhich answers these questions This is a story that has patiently awaited its telling forwell over a decade and is very different than the one most of us have read or heardwhich has predominated over the primary channels of publicity and marketing It is astory whose audience will be unable to escape shock and surprise proportional to howclose they were to its subject For me personally, it is a story I have eagerly anticipatedsince my days as an intern architect working in the old Santa Monica office It is a storywhich was unfolding while we were often working consecutive overnight charrettes,sometimes logging weeks well over 100 hours in the small unadorned office of FrankGehry & Associates It was a loose and messy place that could be described more like aset of artist studios filled with lacquered, exposed plywood furniture and astonishinglybeautiful cardboard design models; an amazing place to work which could hardlycontain the vibrant energy constantly overflowing from its interior activity day and night

It was almost a decade earlier, around 1994 After just graduating with aprofessional masters degree in architecture from Virginia Tech, I literally drove acrossthe country to accept an offer which was the opportunity of a lifetime: an internship withFrank O Gehry & Associates, something that most graduates would only dream about.That is, if you were among the fiercely hip set of students who were plugged into thelatest contemporary designers, an exploding set of young admirers who were following,among others, this postmodern and brazenly irreverent iconoclast who was refreshinglyun-academic He was another architect named 'Frank' who we were not forced to study

in school, one who had covered his own nondescript 1950s tract house set in aconservative Santa Monica neighborhood with chain-link fence to make a statementabout how urban communities consume this material in massive quantities He was arock star to us and a crusader in the contemporary scene

As excited as I was to be involved and working around Gehry, I was just asexcited to be entering into the sphere of another master, Rick Smith, who I had read

about in several articles from some of the major journals of architecture design and hadalso seen being interviewed with Gehry in a documentary film I remember having thedistinct impression from this publicity that Smith was working in partnership with Gehry

to revolutionize design practice I was excited about the prospect of learning from thisother master because I knew that this would be the work I wanted to be involved with.Above all, because of my intense interest in design computation and digital media, I feltgoing into it that the research and developing technology taking place in Gehry's officewas the single most interesting and exciting aspect of his practice Gehry's own wordshave confirmed this sentiment more recently

From my first day in the office, it was obvious how important and central to thepractice Rick's expert control of the complex and sophisticated 3D modeling software,CATIA, was Every once in a great while, if you're lucky, you might bear witness tosomebody who is so good at what they do that it becomes high craft You find greatpleasure in just observing how they work, and how they have cultivated their craft tosuch a level that very complex technical operations have no sense of friction or visibleeffort for any number of impatient architects or eccentric artists who depend on theirwork as they surround that person That is Rick Smith I personally feel that it was Rickwho single handedly proved to Gehry and convinced him that this computational highcraft would work for what Gehry was attempting to accomplish Were it not for Rick'srare brand of master craft, I am utterly convinced that Gehry would never have had thepatience to give this complex software platform designed for the Aerospace industry anearnest chance

When Rick first arrived, the attitudes and skepticism from most of the architects

in the office was exceedingly negative, mostly because Gehry himself had such disdainfor the computer at first The architects' loyalty to their revered mentor remainedsteadfast and would form a mindset which took years to soften Among other things,Gehry had a particular issue with what he called the "dried out images" produced bycomputers at the time and gave a lot of resistance to using them in his practice Thiseventually changed with the arrival of Rick Smith He systematically enlightened Gehry

by working with him personally for years to demonstrate how mathematically controlledgeometry could model and specify Gehry's designs for construction

Gehry’s confidence and enthusiasm grew over time with Rick’s agile guidance

as this remarkable parametric surface modeling technology proved invaluable to many

of his projects As several years past, Gehry was won over by the enormous power andprofound impact that this technology was going to have on his practice No matter howbrilliant the architects working in Gehry's office might have been the average level ofeducation, experience, and talent of those with an architecture background was an eliteclass in itself no amount of "experimentation" with digital media techniques orsoftware could ever have moved the practice so dramatically in this direction Only amaster could have accomplished that given what he was dealing with: Frank Gehryadorned by his uniquely cultivated group of architect skeptics

I owe everything that I know about advanced 3D modeling to Rick Smith.Through his mentorship and teaching I grew to understand the particular application ofthe three‑dimensional modeling process as a master control source for construction

which Rick introduced and worked hard to fully implement in the office After working

on many Gehry projects including Dusseldorf, Bilbao, the Guggenheim in Seoul Korea,and EMP, I became an expert in the unique application of CATIA in the AEC industry.Eventually, I was lucky enough to be one of three or four people who collectivelyformed the inception of the Department of Research & Design Computation in Gehry'soffice under the direction of James Glymph, Gehry's right-hand man and main partner atthe time This tiny little R&D group evolved and would eventually become a spin-offwhich continued to develop much of the research we had started, an associated companyknown today as Gehry Technologies

As Gehry Technologies gained momentum and some autonomy, its focus becamethe marketing and sales of their value-added brand of CATIA technology developed forthe AEC industry Rick was not given a part in this venture even though he had almostsingle handedly laid the foundation for it Moreover, the impact that he has had on FrankGehry's practice has been all but written out of the story of how this practice evolvedand revolutionized the industry The side effects of the devastating litigation andcontroversy surrounding the Disney Concert Hall and the aftermath of consequenceswhich befell Gehry's practice led to an abrupt and unfortunate scramble to findscapegoat reasons and people to blame The fascinating story of Rick's journey, onwhich you are about to embark, will methodically unfold the chain of events which led

to the strange termination of his relationship with Gehry's office as well as theunjustified failure of Gehry's top people to acknowledge his central role in developingtheir digital practice

In the years since leaving Gehry's office, I have frequently been astounded bymany students, professors, and architects who have conducted rigorous case studies andresearch on the evolution of "Gehry Technology," but who nevertheless do not seem toknow about the software master craftsman who was instrumental in changing it all Eventhe former Head of the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota who hadpositioned herself as an "expert" on digital modeling technology and its development inGehry's practice had never heard of Rick Smith! This is just astonishing From myperspective, those who claim to know much about this history seem to be missing thebiggest piece of it

But things are starting to change Rick's story has begun to surface His name hasstarted to emerge in unsuspecting yet notable places In late 2014 the AIA honored Rickwith the Institute Honors for Collaborative Achievement award for his significantcontribution to architecture declaring him a "pioneer in computer-aided design and 3Ddigital modeling," whose work "helped to usher in architecture's digital age." This is nosmall acknowledgement and, in itself, constitutes the final commendation and placementwhich Rick has always deserved

I am honored by the opportunity to introduce Rick Smith's story, the real storyabout the struggles and achievements and the hard-fought acquisition of knowledge indeveloping revolutionary technology in Frank Gehry's practice There is an immense

wealth of literature which has been written and published on this subject Most of it isvague, unclear, or inaccurate Finally, we have an account of this history given in greatdetail by a true insider, the one who was sitting at the epicenter of this industryrevolution, written by the master himself.

Steve Pliam MS, March (MIT)

Architect at Frank Gehry &

The architect Frank O Gehry became swept up in a perfect storm, which in itswake has left him with the status of legend, bestowed upon him by many of his admirers

in the world of architecture Frank is a very creative person who had a compellingvision, which literally built his historic career For Frank to rise to such a status, therewere a number of significant coincidental events that needed to align

The first coincidental event occurred where Frank had a desire to evolve hisarchitecture beyond what contemporary architectural practice would allow He wanted

to experiment inventing a new style that would include unique twisting curvaceous formswith distinctive building materials It would be a style characterized by features thatwould make his buildings notable and historically identifiable It would be a style thatencouraged imitators and new trends

Economic means was the second coincidental event Frank’s wildexperimentation would have been cost prohibitive if it occurred at an earlier moment intime The 1990s was a decade of unprecedented continuous prosperity This decade was

the age of amassing large fortunes, where the new title of arrived wealth was no longerbeing a Millionaire, but Billionaire, and I mean a Billionaire tens of times over Many

of these new captains of industry earned their fortunes from the revolution of thecomputer information age and new technologies spurred the stock market and increasedwealth throughout all America Frank’s clients were wealthy and philanthropic, willing

to fund his new age of experimental architecture

There was one more coincidental event that needed to occur to enable Frank’ssuccess Frank’s architectural style went way beyond what the centuries old drawingpractices could describe on paper or with its ability to even attempt to build Thetechnology to capture his forms and the process in making them buildable was at thatmoment coming of age and rapidly evolving Frank and his office became notable forbeing the first architectural firm in the world to successfully innovate and implementthree-dimensional computer modeling as the building’s legal documentation andestablishing a new collaborative process for design through construction Frank’sarchitecture and fame would not have been realized without it, and his office wouldeventually become recognized as a leader for it

An interesting aspect to this story is that all of this transpired within Frank’soffice even though no one had ever used a computer before and he and his staff wereaggressively and openly against the implementation of computer technology.

In the beginning, the technology that disrupted and revolutionized the office ofFrank O Gehry & Associates was actually coerced upon Frank and his staff by one ofhis clients, the Walt Disney Concert Hall Corporation Frank and his architects werehighly trained at prestigious universities in the traditional methods of drafting withpencils on paper I was introduced into Frank ’s office by the Walt Disney ConcertHall’s management to implement a new technology to Frank, to assure the success of theconcert hall's design and construction process

Frank’s office fought against its introduction Frank was afraid he would losecontrol of his design process, and his staff was afraid it would make them and theirdrafting skills obsolete Because of this mindset, as I worked to implement thistechnology through the first three years, his office worked to obstruct its progress Frankand his staff struggled to understand and adjust to the changes it brought as I workedtowards trying to prove the technology’s capabilities step by step This book is the story

of that perfect storm A story which is completely different from the one that has beenportrayed and published in the press over the years

Over time, with a number of successful projects, Frank became famous for hisarchitecture and the technology that enabled him to build his buildings He began toreceive numerous awards and accolades, and his fame rose to a pinnacle In 1998, hereceived the National Medal of Arts presented to him by President Clinton In 1999, hereceived the AIA Gold Medal In 2000, the Royal Gold Medal, and in 2016 thePresidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama

Seeing this success, his office managers became clandestine and secretive aboutthe process They recognized there was fame and fortune to be gained for themselves.Those of us who were working hard to implement it were asked to keep quiet about theprocess and consider it an office trade secret The secret was we were doing the work.When management recognized the world was impressed with how we were using thistechnology and the office was becoming famous for the process, a newly fabricatedstory began to emerge It started as an intentional misprint in the press, then a completemisrepresentation, and finally blatant propaganda promoting it was the managers of theoffice who were the innovators

In the end, the technology and the history of what took place was hijacked forthe benefit of the few who had the least involvement in its development, but who had thecontrol and power in the office In fact, they were a hindrance to the process When theoffice finally embraced the technology as their future, the storm brought chaos and atempest that was damaging and led to a great personal financial loss for Frank All ofthis transpired while fabricating the Frank Gehry legacy

This book is my memoir, chronicling what transpired over the 30 years of myworking career It is the story of my education, my experiences working within theaerospace industry, and then as chance would have it I ended up working in thearchitectural industry at Frank Gehry’s office As my involvement working at Frank’sunfolded I would tell interested people some of the anecdotes of my experiences Theywould respond that I need to write these stories down, that they were interesting andvaluable, technically and historically I began writing a journal, a paragraph here andthere, capturing the stories and incidents as they occurred.

After I was abruptly asked to leave Frank’s office I found myself in Boston,Massachusetts working for the architect Moshe Safdie at the end of 2003 While I wasthere, I put a lot of thought into the previous twelve years trying to sort out what had justhappened Trying to understand why I was so coldly and abruptly let go from Frank’soffice? I began going over my journal and compiling the entries into paragraphs, thenmerging them onto pages and then into a book The more I wrote, the more thoughts I had

to write At the end of those years at Moshe’s the truth came out and I was able to writethe final chapters and document what really happened

Ten years have gone by since then I had to put my writing of this book aside due

to life altering events We lost our home I had two heart attacks and survived My wifebattled cancer and lost I recently saw in the press that Frank sold his GehryTechnologies company Once again the published story is a revised history of how thistechnology actually evolved in Frank’s office It is completely distorted The nameswere all changed, and the story is completely different from what really happened.Rephrasing Napoléon Bonaparte’s quote, this is a set of fabricated lies I will not agree

to It is time for me to publish this book

The following is the true story of what actually took place It is about the work

of many inspired, determined and motivated people, who helped to change the shape ofthe world digitally It is also the true story of what happened in Frank’s office with itsculture, its inner office politics, and organizational behavioral issues which motivated afew who hijacked history

Chapters 1 through 20 are my original writings compiled from 1991 through

2005 A lot has changed in the last decade since I finished writing this book You willnotice some of my observations are historically dated and obsolete I have not editedthem from my original writings because it establishes the history and demonstrates therapid changes this world has made since then Chapter 21 through the Epilogue werewritten in 2015-2016 and are my personal experiences and observations

“There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know, until he takes up a pen to write.”

~William Makepeace Thackeray

Chapter 1

Concorde from the Drawing Board

“It is not really necessary to look too far into the future; we see enough already to be certain it will be magnificent Only let us hurry and open the roads.”

~ Wilbur Wright

I was at London’s Heathrow airport back in 1976, a mesmerized 21‑year‑oldwatching as a newly built British Airways, Supersonic Transport landed Its approachconfiguration was different from any aircraft I had seen before with its wide swept deltawings crossing the threshold of the runway at a high angle of attack, and its nose hingeddown like the beak of a bird enabling the pilot to see This brand new Concorde,G‑BOAA had just been delivered from the manufacturing plant in Toulouse, France andwas being readied for its inaugural commercial flight It was a graceful design built totransport commercial passengers at supersonic speeds Yet, it was also radical andcontroversial drawing negative press due to resistance, protests, and demonstrations atsome airports where it attempted to land All due to unwarranted concerns how thistechnologically advanced aircraft could cause environmental issues and sonic shockwaves at takeoff and approach

Almost thirty years later in 2005, I was standing on the banks of the river Thames

in London, viewing the worn fuselage of a Concorde that had recently been taken out ofservice With its wings removed it was sitting on the deck of a barge ready to sail downthe river and through the North Sea This Concorde was destined to be on permanentdisplay at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh

The entire fleet of Concordes had been decommissioned Not because of anydesign flaw, its flying record was impeccable It was because of a random unfortunateevent with one Concorde, where metal debris left on the runway flipped up and piercedits fuel tank, causing a fiery crash The age of the craft and the economics of upgrading it

to current technology put the controversy of its flying ability to an end

Standing on the edge of the Thames I had a poignant moment I had seen thebeginning, and I was now seeing the end to forty years of intriguing history in the lifecycle of one of mankind’s great accomplishments My mind filled with rapidlyconnecting thoughts.

I had always dreamed of flying on the legendary Concorde at supersonic speedsfrom when I was a kid, as I was aware my Dad worked on Lockheed’s version of theSupersonic Transport (SST) America’s attempt at building an SST had been canceled

To me, the notion of devising a commercial aircraft capable of flying beyond the speed

of sound remains as exciting today as it was then

It was just ten years before they began to design the Concorde that ChuckYeager bravely broke the sound barrier for the first time in a small retrofitted Bell X-1fuselage And now today, with the Concorde’s decommissioning, there are efforts indeveloping commercial flights into space at ten times the speed of sound And flightsthat could make the trip from New York to London possible in just under an hour Withits amazing capability, the Concorde is now history, and we are racing towards a newtechnological future My poignant thought was this; the drive for progress is continualand is increasing at an exponential rate

I also had the thought that among the many notable firsts that Concordeaccomplished, it also has a distinguishing last It was one of the last great aircraft to bedrafted completely using pencils and paper on a drafting board A marvelous feat andundertaking in its day when put into context with our capabilities of today

Over these past thirty years, our capabilities of design and manufacturing havebeen revolutionized This book is about that revolution, the fusing of computers withengineering, art, and architecture Not only with the technical implementation of thesetools, but also the evolutionary challenge in putting them into practice, with the humandynamics of psychology, the office politics and competitive pressures that help to bring

it about

Chapter 2

A Rapidly Changing World

“We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing."

~ R D Laing

Think how dramatically the world has changed in the past decade, then againfrom the previous century, let alone over the last millennium We have experiencedexponential growth, and from this, we enjoy the fruits of phenomenal technologicaladvancements This technological development is not spontaneous It has been anaccumulation of knowledge compounded over centuries, where innovation begets moreinnovation.

A major premise of this book is an understanding that there is an innatemotivation within humankind to continually innovate and to transform, to improve andrevolutionize our way of life To change the shape of the world

For thousands of years and through the meridian of time, civilizations scatteredacross the globe progressed very slowly and independently Then the world began toawaken from a deep sleep which has been chronicled as the Dark Ages, into a period ofRenaissance and Enlightenment This inquisitive awakening evolved into the ScientificRevolution occurring in the 14th century Curious minds began experimenting in manyfields, which laid the foundation for the discovery process From this, our knowledge ofthe world around us began to grow A datum point in the late 18th century is marked byhistorians as a pivotal moment in time the Industrial Revolution Our physical powersand abilities were greatly enhanced through innovations based on the knowledge anddiscoveries from all the previous centuries

Just over one hundred years ago, 50 startup companies were vying to get into theautomobile business, each pursuing the demand for custom-built cars for the wealthy.Henry Ford championed the automobile for the common man by borrowing manyprevious innovations introduced before him and combining them into a process for massproduction of the Model-T He revolutionized our world of personal transportation withhis implementation of the assembly line

During this same period, the Wright brothers with their scientific methods ofdiscovery honed at their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio unlocked the secrets of flight.They championed the most breathtaking feat of that time, breaking the gravitational bond

of earth with flight and launching an epoch in air transportation.[1]

With newfound freedom in transportation, people were on the move, productswere distributed, cities grew, and nations were built Devices of transportation were notalone in making a significant impact in the shaping of our world A myriad ofinnovations were developing across all walks of life Synergistic combinations ofprevious inventions were then assembled into other life-improving innovations Take theautomobile, combined with the invention of the electric light allowed for driving safely

at night The radio evolved and when inserted into the dashboard, enhanced ourenjoyment and entertainment while traveling

Our cars today are packaged with a myriad of innovations that have evolved overthe past century We motor down the highway propelled with engines that are computercontrolled, turbocharged, in cylinder options of straight 4, V6, V8, or even V12 There

is now development with other forms of propulsion using electric motors and

experimentation with hydrogen With the accompanying high speeds, our night drivingview is extended with xenon gas headlamps and infrared night vision Our kids areentertained in the back seat viewing flat screen televisions, fed by lasers reading bits ofinformation off small shiny discs that are encoded with high definition movies All ofthis technological activity transpires while the driver communicates on a cell phone and

is guided by digital maps, which are synchronized to the car’s movement using GlobalPositioning Satellite navigation (GPS)

This incredible acceleration of technological progress with machinery throughthose past decades enhanced our physical powers Progress also brought another leap inour abilities with the advent of the computer This event increased our mental powersand had been dubbed the Information Revolution

The first computers came into use in the late 1800s as mechanical devices usingmetal gears, cams, and toggles With the turn of the century, computers progressed frommechanisms to electronically wired boards with electrical switches What took weeks

of calculations on paper now took only a few hours by rewiring the boards and throwingthe switches During WWII huge behemoth machines were built to calculate thenecessary algorithms to win the war A British built electromechanical computer calledBombe, with its logic devised by Alan Turing, cracked Germany’s elusive and secretENIGMA code Computers progressed to using vacuum tubes The world’s firstprogrammable, electronic tube computer was called the Colossus built again by theBritish in 1943 The United States built their versions of the tube computer for the wareffort with the EDVAC, ENIAC, and AVIDAC, which filled whole rooms Thesecomputers allowed scientists to develop programs applying mathematical problems withsolutions resulting in minutes rather than hours

In 1947, at the laboratories of AT&T, a team led by William Shockleydeveloped a gadget comprised of a paper clip, a piece of foil, and a slab of germanium

on a crystal plate This gadget was originally designed to enhance the transmission ofsound, but it would transform the world in so many other ways It was called thetransistor, and whenfirst introduced into the market in the 1950s, it appeared in the form

of products such as the mass-produced, portable transistor radio

In 1956, International business Machines (IBM) built a spinning disk platter twofeet in diameter, which had the ability to store 75 Kilobytes of random access memoryand was considered a huge breakthrough in storage technology In 1958, the transistor,reduced in size and converted onto a silicon wafer, led to the integrated computer chipdeveloped nearly simultaneously by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce

of Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation who would later co-found Intel Thisinnovation took computer calculations from minutes down to microseconds DigitalEquipment Corporation (DEC) using these available technologies, built its firstcomputer called the PDP‑1 in 1959, which was the predecessor to the standaloneworkstation It didn’t require special cooling conditions as then current mainframecomputers required and needed only one operator as opposed to a staff of people tooperate it A student at MIT, Steven Russell wrote the very first video game on it, calledSpacewar

When President John F Kennedy challenged the nation to land a man on the moonand return him safely to the earth, the race into space encouraged yet anotheracceleration of advancement The space race spurred innovations that affected everywalk of life Aside from such innovations as a powdered orange drink called Tang, theversatile fabric fastener called Velcro and a durable thin plastic sheeting called Mylar,the space program, infused with government funding, enabled computers to take leapsand bounds in development

The motivation for the defense of our country and the market demands forpersonal transportation drove the aerospace industry to heights beyond our sphere IBMwas a prime contractor in the space program and benefited from the tax dollars tricklingdown through industry, fueling research and development Over time, IBM releasednumerous patented technologies into the industry and helped spawn the next generation

of computer companies that exist today Computers have benefited from all this researchand development and have evolved to where they can store vast libraries of powerfulprograms, written with solutions for every walk of life, running in a machine on yourdesktop, on your lap, held in the palm of your hand, or strapped to your wrist

The rate of change in the last few decades due to innovation and invention hasbeen exponential Change is so rapid that new products supersede previous designsrendering them obsolete before the shrink wrap packaging is removed Many who havelived through this period of change can’t keep up with it and have feelings of greatanxiety and frustration over it My parents, who lived through the Great Depression,World War II and saw men land on the moon, struggled in using features on their TVrecorder and phone answering system While others have an insatiable demand fortechnology and are seduced by the advent of the latest innovation My children havebecome accustomed to technology as if it has always existed, yet they don’t have anappreciation for the efforts involved in its evolution This next generation expectsinnovation and is impatiently waiting for the latest release, and the newest version, ofthe most advanced devices I once pointed out to my son how amazing it is thattelevisions have progressed to become high definition flat screens that can hang on the

wall like a picture frame He said, “Oh, Dad, you’re stuck in the 90s.” In the last 150

years, we have come from the Pony Express which could take weeks to deliver a letter,

to the knowledge expanding internet which can send multiple copies of one emailinstantly around the world, and from the one‑horse buggy to driving personal cars withthe power of hundreds of horses under the hood Very soon we will be traveling intospace as tourists

In a book published in 1917 called Towards a New Architecture, the visionary

Swiss Architect, Le Corbusier was awestruck by the rapid changes in life due toinnovations and influences he saw in his day, with the advent of the airplane, theautomobile, and the steamship He commented on the technological expansion that wasjust in its infancy and attributed this spur of innovation to the burgeoning aerospaceindustry just after WWI:

“The Airplane is indubitably one of the products of the most intense selection in the range of modern industry The War was an insatiable ‘client,’ never satisfied, always demanding better The orders were to succeed at all costs and death followed a mistake remorselessly We may then affirm that the airplane immobilized innovation, intelligence and daring imagination and cold reason.” [2]

Confronted with the demands of war to continually exceed previous capabilitiesand bounded by analytical challenges of the laws of physics, the aerospace industryrequired new tools, materials, and processes Le Corbusier prophetically recognizedthat this impending explosion of rapid progress would be brought about by theinnovation of new tools when he said:

“In every field of industry, new problems have arisen and have been met by the creation of a body of tools capable of resolving them It would quickly be seen that the tools that man has made for himself, which automatically meet the needs of society, and which till now had undergone only slight modifications in slow evolution, have been transformed all at once with an amazing rapidity.“ [3]

One of the most revolutionary tools that have contributed to changing the shape

of this world began its development in the 1960s in the aerospace industry and evolvedthrough the 1970s into the 80s It is a combination of many previous innovations It is

called Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) In

the late 1980s, under competitive economic pressures and market demands, theautomobile industry recognized the advantages in using this technology to design andmanufacture its products and quickly implemented CAD/CAM The quality of design inthe automobile increased while the design cycle went from an average of seven yearsdown to approximately two Along with the automobile industry, the consumer productsindustry saw the benefits as well and redefined their processes with CAD/CAM,producing products with a greater efficiency and a higher quality, resulting in a quickertime to market at a lower cost

The architectural industry is driven by artistic and esthetic demands The greatestpressure in this industry has been its own self-imposed tradition to resisting innovation

in its processes Chastising his own profession for not taking advantage of the tools ofinnovation, Le Corbusier said,

“There is one profession and only one, namely architecture, in which

progress is not considered necessary Architecture is stifled by custom.” [4]

The Boston-based Architect Moshe Safdie similarly observed this phenomenonwhile designing his Habitat ‘67 for the Montreal World’s Fair He later stated:

“Working on Habitat ‘67, I became increasingly aware of a basic shortcoming of the building industry Its whole tradition is to build with

what materials happen to be available Every other industry defines its requirements and then develops the material best suited to the problem They don’t design an aircraft with steel just because they happen to have steel handy: if they come to the conclusion that they need metal that’s lighter, then they perfect the manufacturing of aluminum When they discover that aluminum is going to melt at high supersonic speeds, they develop a material that has a greater heat resistance, like titanium.” [5]

As Moshe pointed out, through the 1970s the aerospace industry had a requirementfor materials even beyond the specifications of titanium With research anddevelopment, the aerospace industry developed an even stronger and lighter materialcalled carbon fiber reinforced composites

By the end of the 20th century, the architecture and building industries were one

of the last bastions of design to accept this technological advancement These industriesdisplayed a reluctance to extend their capabilities by accepting new technologies fortheir own benefit They have been stifled by millennium-old traditions and practicestaught as industry standards in the accredited universities

The artistic approach to designing a building is different enough from designingindustrial parts and products Most architects saw the use of the computer as an aid inautomating the century’s old drafting practices and for producing beautifully renderedimages only Architecture with its artistic talents has held tightly to the millennium-oldtraditional practice of 2D drafting skills as a time-honored professionalism Thechallenge to the architectural industry in accepting and implementing revolutionarytechnology requires a complete rethinking to the approach of design and a change in itsstandards and methods

In this past decade, the spirit of innovation has influenced traditional architecturaldesign to extend beyond the box Phillip Johnson, a renowned architect, and critic made

an opinionated pronouncement that architect, “Frank O Gehry will be considered the

greatest architect of the 20 th century and was pivotal in setting the stage of architecture for the 21 st century.” Frank Gehry’s influence would have a profound

effect on the world of architecture

Frank diagrammed and executed a planned ascension to prominence that has beenrecognized with honors, accolades, and awards by his peers, as well as financialsuccess Early in his practice, he was considered by his associates to be an underdog, anidiosyncratic, known for his use of everyday industrial and urban materials Frank had avision of wanting to extend his capability and artistic expression into sculpting buildingsbeyond what traditional architectural methods would allow This effort in artisticexpression would define a unique architectural language for him, but its impact would,

in turn, create a resurgence in the use of technology and an opportunity to develop newmethods, processes, and a search for new materials, all that would put new pressure onexisting building practices

Frank’s office was still using pencils on drafting boards when he began forging into

these new freeform shapes These shapes were well beyond what traditional draftingtechniques could handle In 1989, Frank hired an individual to help facilitate a solution.His name was Jim Glymph Jim recognized prevailing architectural practices were usingcomputers for drafting and rendering beautiful pictures But, they were weak indesigning complicated shapes In a search to find a way to satisfy Frank’s requirements.

I was hired and began working with Frank’s office in an effort to change his method ofdesign The architectural industry being fragmented, highly traditional and egocentric,made introducing and merging this proven technology with this time-honoredarchitectural paradigm a challenge Speaking of this new evolving era, Le Corbusierprophetically declared in 1917:

“A great epoch has begun There exists a new spirit, Industry overwhelming us like a flood which rolls on towards its destined end, has furnished us with new tools adapted to this new epoch, animated by the new spirit.” [6]

Chapter 3

Standardizing on NURBS

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

~ Sir Isaac Newton

Software development has become an enormous industry There is more money insoftware than in the hardware it runs on If fact, hardware will become a commodity.Software programming is what made Microsoft the largest corporation in this industryand Bill Gates a Billionaire 80 times over Computer software programmers in everyfield should be considered giants for their contributions as we stand on their shoulders

in using their programs Daily we take for granted the efforts of people who programand embed their knowledge and logic into the software programs we execute over andover again with ease for solutions to our everyday activities Programs have beenwritten which have transformed the world in nearly every field In 1979, Harvard MBAcandidate Daniel Bricklin and programmer Robert Frankston developed VisiCalc, aspreadsheet program that transformed the business world WordPerfect made thetypewriter obsolete, Kodak’s photographic film lost the market to digital cameras, andthe music industry was flipped on its ear with mp3 Internet downloading This was onlythe beginning.

The use of computers in design and manufacturing began more than fifty years ago.The United States won the Second World War largely because it out manufactured itsenemies We had to teach ourselves to become highly productive in manufacturing theimplements of war to survive Then, from the end of the war with the prowess of ourmanufacturing infrastructure through the 1950s, consumers gained a taste forconsumption which has progressed through the years into nearly an addiction Keeping

up with the Jones’s required a pace for innovation to improve productivity By the 1960sthe computer with its ability to rapidly calculate and control data was recognized as atool that would help increase productivity When the computer became involved inmanufacturing, some of the first applied applications were written for military purposes

As is typical with some of the great inventions we enjoy, the necessity for research anddevelopment comes from a need for national defense and the collective dollar for this istaxed from the general populous We then, as taxpayers, can feel some satisfaction wehave contributed in funding some of the greatest developments the world has seen

In August of 1955 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, Charles F.Carter, Jr demonstrated a new concept called Computer Assisted Manufacturing (CAM)with a software program called Automatically Programmed Tools (APT) Thisinnovative program controlled a milling machine through a computer and was thebeginning of digital fabrication They called it Computer Numerical Control (CNC).One of the first parts ever produced from this process was an ashtray used indemonstrating the APT language With its acceptance, government military contractsfunneled vast amounts of funds into manufacturing APT machined parts for jet fighters.With the development of computer graphics, where an image could be projected onto a

TV type screen, APT became interactive A person could now draw directly on acomputer screen, and this APT technology grew from just manufacturing to include

design, and thus the term evolved into Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided

Manufacturing (CAD/CAM).

,

Early demonstration part, digitally fabricated using the APT program

Mathematics is the engine embedded into a CAD/CAM program, and the logicsurrounding the math produces the results seen on the screen The computerprogrammers of these packages stand on the shoulders of giants who derived theequations executed in the software Laying foundations as the original giant ofmathematics was Pythagoras of Samos, who is distinguished as the first puremathematician, was born in 569 B.C The next great mathematician was Euclid, born

325 B.C who stood on Pythagoras' shoulders and wrote his treatise Elements It is

considered one of the most influential works of science in the history of humankind Itsbeauty lies in its logical development of geometry and other branches of mathematics.Nearly 2000 years later in France, Rene’ Descartes’ work, La ge’om’trie included his

application of algebra to geometry, from which Cartesian Geometry was derived In

1679, at the request of the English Royal Society, Sir Isaac Newton wrote The

Universal Arithmetic, which discusses algebra, the theory of equations and

miscellaneous problems Newton’s theories came from his studies of the earth's motionand observations on gravity In his writings, he further explained the theorem for finding

the sum of the nth power of the root of an equation.

A leap forward to 1946, mathematicians began studying polynomial equationsfor representation of a curve In 1959, the Bézier curve was developed in France byPaul de Casteljau, but its name actually came from a Renault automobile engineer,Pierre Bézier who used it in practice and made it popular Steven A Coons was anaircraft surface engineer during WWII and later became a mechanical engineeringstudent, and then a faculty member at MIT While a student, he worked for the ChanceVought Aircraft Company and developed the mathematics to control double curved

surfaces He had a vision of representing surfaces graphically on a computer andinteracting with them as a design tool and began publishing papers in 1966 whichdescribed his Coons Patch surfacing.

Development moved on from the Bézier curve and Coons Patch to the Splinecurve, the B-Spline, and finally standardizing on the Non-Uniform Rational Basis Spline(NURBS) which became the standard in CAD systems for accurately and easilyrepresenting and manipulating curves on the computer One step further for performance,specialized computer processors and graphic cards have built NURBS functionalityright onto the computer chip for real-time transformation calculations

The work of these progressive giants was a foundation, culminating in what isconsidered today’s industry standard tools for representing geometric graphics in aCAD/CAM system: Geometry, the Cartesian Coordinate System, Polynomial equationsand the Non-Uniform Rational Basis-Spline

Today the discipline of teaching high-level mathematics and computerprogramming in the universities has evolved to produce amazing three-dimensionalcomputer graphic programs France with its roots in mathematical formulations datingback to Rene’ Descartes’, seemed to have specialized in teaching the mathematics ofcurvature in their universities From this foundation, some of the most powerful CADsystems that have been developed came out of this country

Every item we use on this planet is touched in some way by a design andmanufacturing process Through recent years CAD/CAM has made a significant impact

in the production process, allowing us to iterate quickly, analyze and refine a design, aswell as to manufacture with greater precision and to produce intricate shapes andcurvatures as we have never been able to before

Walk through any store, and you can see the complexity of consumer productsthat have undergone a significant metamorphosis from past years The majority of themhave organic curves, which were previously unmanufacturable Before CAD/CAM,designers were limited to a manufacturer’s capability The cost of adding a unique shape

or mechanism to a product’s form could be an expensive overhead If a designerrequired a specific curvature or shape, they needed to derive the equations or lay themout by pencil which could take tedious amounts of time A design that is full ofmathematical calculations could render some items virtually impossible to make

Product design, therefore, was produced following the architectural adage, “form

follows function” because of manufacturing’s limitations.

For centuries an architect-builder would use physical models to convey hisdesign for construction Antoni Gaudi’s architectural career spanned from 1878 to 1926.Studying his remarkable models you can see the epitome of the process of capturingcomplicated geometry into physical miniature building replicas to convey his visions.[7]

Drawings merged with the process to more thoroughly communicate theintended details and raised the designer to the level of a Master Builder By the end ofthe 19th-century, construction drawings were replacing models as the master controldocument By the 20th century, the drawing process became a very rigorous disciplinewith rules that defined how a three-dimensional object should be depicted in two

dimensions on paper The transition from Master Builder to professional architectoccurred when the craftsman became a draftsman, where a project’s design was laid outusing pencils on paper in a formal drawing set with plans, sections, elevations,perspective views and beautiful pictorial renderings.

Gaudi - physical model of Sagrada Familia Gaudi - La Pedrera Barcelona, Spain

Antoni Gaudi - Sagrada Familia’s nave ceiling, Barcelona, Spain

At the turn of the 19th century, in a technology transfer from architecture, theengineering and manufacturing industries borrowed these drafting techniques and overthe last century developed its own form of mechanical drafting discipline Thesetechniques became standard practices taught in the universities The tools of the tradewere drafting pencils and pens and other instruments, such as the T‑square, compass,and French curve template for laying out straight lines, circles and curves onto specialpapers

The advent of the first Computer-Aided Drafting programs in the early 1970sonly automated drafting by emulating century’s old drafting practices and techniques Itwas evolutionary, not revolutionary It also was a hard sell to many designers because itappeared to be a more expensive drafting tool, making the pencil, compass and T-squaredigital Its ability to create a drawing was initiallynot necessarily any faster Over time,its benefits were recognized that it did improve on accuracy, uniformity and the overall

quality of a drawing After the initial drawing input, the increase in speed with changesand incorporations allowed for more design iterations.

The real revolution in Computer-Aided Design came in the late 1970s with thevertical Z coordinate being added to the flat, two-dimensional XY working grid,enabling 3D modeling This innovation, developed by manufacturing engineers forprogramming milling machines to raise and lower the tool in the vertical Z direction,helped speed the process of designing and building parts

Today, a computer model can simulate a design in a three-dimensional computerworld and with visualization capabilities, the design can be seen virtually on thecomputer screen as it might appear in reality The 3D computer model is a full circlereturn to the millennium-old practice of using a 3D physical model as the prime medium

of design In the past where the dimensional control for construction could not be easilyextracted from a physical model and necessitated the use of two‑dimensional drawings,the 3D computer model can now be used to extract directly the design information tocontrol fabrication and construction

The engineering industry grasped this technology quickly and developed it towhere products are now designed and manufactured without the use of two‑dimensionaldrawings By the mid-1990s Frank Gehry’s office began to recognize the benefits ofCAD/CAM and reciprocated in a technology transfer back to architecture, fusingcomputers with engineering, fabrication, artand architecture

It has become a rapidly changing world

Chapter 4

Only Nuts and Bolts

“In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind."

~ Louis Pasteur

I believe with the unique talents and abilities we each are given, we pursue ourindividual interests and goals When opportunities are presented, if we are prepared, weare able to take advantage of them Our life then becomes a meandering path ofaccumulated knowledge through our experiences, and each experience prepares us forthe next opportunity that comes along

The beginning of the path for me was in my backyard As a kid I built all kinds

of tree houses and forts on the ground, taking wood from scrap piles at new housingconstruction projects being built around our growing neighborhood Before buildingsomething, I would always sit down and draw out my plans envisioning myself as anarchitect undertaking a major project

My father worked for IBM during this period, and sometime in the mid‑1960s Iattended an office open house where IBM demonstrated a computer system in which aperson could play a game of Tick-Tack-Toe against it At that time the very idea that youcould actually interact with a computer graphically on a TV type screen was novel andimpressive Before this, you typed out punch cards to communicate with a computer

Now with brightly lit crossing lines drawn on the glass screen, you used a pen attached

to the computer by a wire and tapped in one of the nine boxes on the screen Thecomputer pen captured the light off the screen and knew exactly where you wanted your

X to appear Instantly, a glowing X was displayed on the screen in your chosen position.The computer would immediately respond with an alternate O in another box Theintelligence programmed into the computer made it win nearly every time I could catch

it in a tie game now and then, but I could never beat it This early video gamedemonstration was the precursor of the hardware for IBM’s CAD/CAM programsallowing you to draw lines and curves directly on the computer screen

I have always wanted to be an architect, so in high school, I took three years ofdrafting classes After graduating in 1973, I went to California State PolytechnicUniversity in San Luis Obispo to study architecture I was motivated to graduate andbecome an architect, but when I began taking classes something bothered me We wereusing, T-squares, compasses, pencils and a slide rule We were being taught to break the3D world down into two dimensions and draw flat images on paper My visits to IBMwith my dad made me aware that research and development had brought about newcomputer technology poised on the horizon to aid in the design process To me, thistechnology was the future, and I wanted to be a part of it

I was also aware and had kept my eye out on the development of computergraphics at the University of Utah My Dad had received his mechanical engineeringdegree from the “U” and later his MBA from Harvard The “U” established a computerscience department founded by Dr David C Evans in 1965 Dr Ivan Sutherland came tothe department a year later He is widely regarded as the father of computer graphicshaving invented a new form of computer interaction - the Sketchpad David and Ivanwere co-founders of Evans & Sutherland, a pioneering computer animation companywhich developed the digital flight simulator The research and development at the “U”produced phenomenal work in those early years Some of the developments and firstswere: The first method for representing surface textures in graphical images, theGouraud smooth shading model, Phong lighting model for shading with highlights,Texture mapping, Shadowing and pioneering work in computer animation

The State of Utah was a hotbed for computer graphics development Robert

Rivlin in his book, “The Algorithmic Image: Graphic Visions of the Computer Age”

said, “Almost every influential person in the modern computer graphics communityeither passed through the University of Utah or came into contact with it in someway.” [8] Brigham Young University was just down the road, and they were influenced byand followed Drs Evans and Sutherland with a similar track in computer development,specifically in 3D computer graphics for engineering design

In 1974, I interviewed with the Dean of the Engineering department at BYU andasked if any instruction was given on the use of this technology in the field of

architecture He replied, they “Taught only nuts and bolts in the field of mechanical

engineering.” I knew someday that Computer-Aided Design would have a future in

architecture, and I could become involved with it eventually, but for now, I was willing

to study, “Only nuts and bolts.”

I transferred to Brigham Young University which offered a BS Degree in

Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in using 3D Computer-Aided Design Thefaculty touted that they were one of the first universities in the country to teach this three-dimensional computer technology I began my training in mechanical engineering usingcomputer graphics with a used system donated from the computer industry Thistechnology was evolving so fast that new computer equipment was obsolete faster than abrand new car that needs a new set of tires From then on the rate of development incomputers would increase even faster Semiconductor giant Gordon Moore, whocofounded Intel, made the prophetic observation, which is also known as Moore’s Law:

“The amount of information storable on a given amount of silicone will roughly

double every year since the technology was invented.” Moore’s law has proven itself

every year since

The primary system we trained on was called Applicon It was a truethree‑dimensional design system where you could draw a wire frame diagram of linesand curves and simple surfaces in 3D space The system didn’t have the ability to render

a shaded image or build solid-looking objects Solid modeling with shaded renderingwas the new buzzword in the industry, and it was soon to be released Simulating three-dimensional shapes in the virtual world of the computer fascinated me I was captivated

by this capability I realized you no longer had to deconstruct a 3D object in your mind’seye and then draft multiple flat 2D views on paper Going a step further, I couldvisualize the use of 2D drawings one day becoming obsolete where all the necessaryinformation to describe a design and build it could be defined within a single 3Dcomputer model This new computer technology freed the mind to think in 3D throughoutthe design process

We have two eyes that see in three-dimensions and two ears that hear spatially

in stereophonic We live in a three-dimensional world However, not everyone can thinkspatially and three-dimensionally to interact in a computer’s virtual world It really is askill or a talent that you can see in different people This ability was somethingarchitects and artists investigated during the Renaissance in Italy, the question of how torepresent a 3D object on a flat 2D surface? They developed a system of mathematicalrules known as linear perspective Leonardo da Vinci learned these rules and practiceddrawing perspectives while he was an apprentice in Verrocchio’s studio His volumes

of sketches found in his series of Codex notebooks are phenomenal three-dimensionalrepresentations of objects, visualized in his mind’s eye and drawn on flat sheets ofpaper

“Perspective is nothing else than seeing a place or objects behind a plane of glass, quite transparent, on the surface of which the objects behind the glass are drawn.” [9] ~ Leonardo

da Vinci

A 3D computer model is precisely that It is a digital representation of athree‑dimensional object, flattened and electronically projected onto the monitor’s two-dimensional plane of glass The power of the computer enhances an operator’s ability tothink and visualize in 3D even more with its fourth-dimensional capability of movement,

by being able to rotate the image in real time.

Back in 1976, BYU’s 3D computer training program was in its infancy and hadonly one Applicon workstation for use in the teaching lab It was one of the very firstcommercially available CAD systems Developed by a company of the same name,located in Bedford, Mass The computer took up a quarter of the room and had far lesscompute power in comparison to today’s newly innovated cell phones But it was a 3Dthinking machine Yes, it was a true 3D modeler way back then The system consisted of

a monitor, a keyboard and a tablet which used a pen stylus with a patented inputtechnology Using the stylus, you programmed personal hand drawn symbols on thetablet which then executed the programs Built in a large cabinet with an array offlashing lights depicting the memory registers was Digital Equipment Corporation’sPDP-11 70 computer

Our training began with learning how to turn the system on First, we had toinstall our personal disk platter that contained our model It was a layer of five stackeddisks, 12 inches in diameter, each separated by about an inch, which could store only afew megabytes This wedding cake configuration of disks was sealed in a plastic case toprevent dust from entering its environment, which if it did, could completely damage thesurfaces and render our data useless We took this package of disks and set it down into

a cabinet the size of a washing machine, twisted the locking handle, closed the lid and

turned on the switch The machine then entered into what we called “Maytag mode.” As

the disks spun up to full rpm, the whole cabinet vibrated pretty radically, as if it werespin drying clothes Once it reached full speed, the vibration faded

Then, to turn on the computer we first had to set the memory registers bytoggling a number of switches in a certain sequence on the main cabinet and then flickthe main switch on Lights flashed, sounds emanated and the machine came to life.Jumping into the terminal seat, you powered up the console and began entering the login

sequence called the “bootstrap program.” It was the name DEC used for starting the computer The origin of this term “booting the computer” they said, came from the idea

of how you pull your boots on using a strap on the back The electronic 3D modelingmachine was now ready to model

DEC PDP 11-70 computer system, all necessary to support just one Applicon workstation

With these early graphics systems, you began building the geometry into thevirtual world of the computer by writing scripted programs It was very similar to what

is being touted today as the newest and latest innovation, “variable scripted

programming (VBS).” Sometimes new technology is really a recycling of previously

used concepts and then modernized One unique and interesting aspect of this systemwas that commands could be entered by writing them with a pen stylus on a tablet I had

to teach the system a series of hand-scribed symbols with a stroke of the stylus which itwould recognize as my unique executable command vocabulary

The display monitor was called, Storage Refresh Technology The CAD imagewas drawn by an electron beam onto a green phosphorus coating on the inside of theglass TV tube The phosphorus’ green glow only lasted for a few minutes and then theimage would slowly fade away At which you pressed a button that would blast thescreen with the electrons again, refreshing the display and brightening the image Sincethe monitor was old, the electrons bombarding the phosphorus burnt out the center of thescreen where it became clear glass Nothing could be displayed in the middle viewingarea To view a drawing, you had to drag it to one of the corners of the monitor

In the early days of the class’ program, the school had only this one terminal.Enrollment in the class was held to 24 students, so each of us had one hour of lab time towork on the computer, scheduled around the clock Taking turns each week wealternated between the daytime or the dead of night to do our class work

My first-semester project was to write an analysis program using Applicon’sgraphics capability My fiancée was involved with the athletic department Sheintroduced me to the head of the golf department He had a high-speed photograph ofJohnny Miller, the famous golfer swinging his driver It was in stop motion showing theclub frozen in about 100 positions through his swing until he hit the ball and thenshowing his follow through I digitized the photo into the Applicon system and thenwrote scripts to analyze Johnny’s club accelerations, its velocities, the force at which headdressed the golf ball, and then finally the deceleration in his club It was a funassignment that demonstrated to me and impressed my teachers, the power of analyticalapplications that interacted with the graphic geometry in the computer system Computergraphic systems could do more than just draw and model geometry They could interactwith the geometry to analyze

Another assignment was to use the native programming language of theApplicon system to write an enhancement to Applicon’s functionality I chose to write aprogram that automatically added dimensions to a drawing My program took everygeometry relationship, calculated its type of geometry and then with rules added