Vancity Computational Design

VCD is excited to announce that Connor Ferster is the speaker for the Final technical session of the year on December 5th! This talk will take place at the Concept Lab in Fast + Epp's Vancouver office (300 – 397 W 7th Ave), with doors opening at 5:30, and the talk starting 6:00 PST.   Connor is Structural engineer and software developer, well known for his teachings and open source software libraries. In his talk, Beyond "Python for Structural Engineers": Lessons learned from four years of engineering activism, Connor will be sharing insights on: - Why Python is uniquely suited for engineering work - Why some engineers are successful with Python where others are not - Where Python training fails - Why it's ultimately not about Python at all (it's about your engineering toolkit)

We're excited to announce that Prof. Masoud Akbarzadeh will be the speaker at the next VCD on November 7th! This talk will take place at StructureCraft's Vancouver office (2425 Quebec St. Suite 302), with doors opening at 5:30, and the talk starting 6:00 PST. The talk will also be streamed at https://lnkd.in/gJN9wtKs.   Masoud is the founder of Polyhedral Structures Laboratory (PSL), which is a research unit at Weitzman School of Design, at the University of Pennsylvania. His research primarily focuses on advancing structural and architectural geometry, as well as construction technologies.   Masoud's talk will cover the design and construction of a concrete 3D-printed, post-tensioned funicular beam prototype and the experimental test results of subjecting the beam to four-point bending. The beam is designed as a combined compression and tension funicular system with minimized mass and optimized reinforcement. His study establishes a foundational basis that will be used to further develop and enhance such structural systems for more sustainable construction practices in the future. (images courtesy of PSL labs https://lnkd.in/gb5fZn4Z)

We're excited to announce that Weike Qu will be the speaker at VCD's October 3rd technical talk! The talk starts 6:00 at the Concept Lab, in Fast + Epp's Vancouver office. Weike is a structural engineer turned developer and the co-founder of Stride, a modern technical documentation and calculation software. Having worked in both worlds, Weike has seen similarities between code in software development, and calculations in engineering, but big difference in tools for developers and structural engineers. In his talk, Weike will look at some of the key philosophies that drive the development of Stride and how these concepts can help the engineering design process at any company, including: -> Why plain text and hand calcs matter -> Reviews in discrete chunks -> Calcs at the heart of projects, and an open api platform to bring things together

We’re excited to announce that the speaker for Technical Session 1.8 on September 5th will be Dr. Juney Lee, an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA. Dr. Lee will present previous work from the Block Research Group at ETH Zurich, Lightweight Cable-net and Fabric Formwork System for the HiLo Unit at NEST in Dübendorf, Switzerland. HiLo demonstrates how High (Hi) performance can be achieved with Low (Lo) embodied and operational emissions by combining lightweight concrete structures with novel digital fabrication methods. This event takes place at Fast + Epp’s Concept Lab, or online at at: https://lnkd.in/gJN9wtKs. Doors open at 5:30, and the talk starts at 6:00. Drinks and food will be provided. Look forward to seeing you there,

A reminder that the August VCD technical talk is tomorrow at 6:00 in Fast + Epp's Concept Lab! Come join us as Kai Aurelien Zhu overviews some of the interesting work Intelligent City is doing in the computational design space. Food and beer is provided, door open at 5:30!

We’re excited to announce that the speaker for Technical Session 1.7 on August 1st at 5:30 will be Kai Aurelien Zhu, the Design Automation Manager at Intelligent City! Intelligent City is a housing technology startup focused on robotically manufactured, mass timber, mid-rise construction. In this session, Kai will talk about the intersection of computational design, industrialized construction and urban-housing as a product. This will include discussion points on the value of Open Source, product vs project approach and the benefits of vertical integration. This event takes place at Fast + Epp’s Concept Lab, or online at at: https://lnkd.in/gJN9wtKs. Doors open at 5:30, and the talk starts at 6:00. Drinks and food will be provided.

Sometimes it's too nice outside to focus - even on computational design! In recognition of the nice weather, this month's technical talk will be postponed. Instead, join us at Mahony's Tavern in False Creek (https://lnkd.in/gqs6z2jc) on July 18th at 5:30 for our summer social! You can RSVP at the following link: https://lnkd.in/gMawYbP3

A reminder that our next VCD talk takes place in a different place than usual - we look forward to seeing you 6:00pm tomorrow at Perkins&Will's new Vancouver office! Registration for the online session is still open, requiring a RSVP at the following link (https://lnkd.in/g2w4NXHF). Attendance in person is encouraged, and there will be drinks and food provided.

VCD is excited to announce the June technical session will be a special event! It will take place on June 13th at Perkins&Will new Vancouver office and feature two speakers. Join us for presentations from Elton Gjata from Perkins&Will, and Jason Heinrich from HDR. In this session, both speakers will give a broad perspective on how computational design and digital technology is being used in their architecture practices. The session will be in person and online. For online attendance, a RSVP as required at the following link (https://lnkd.in/g2w4NXHF). A teams invite will be sent out the week of June 10th. Doors open at 6pm, the talk starts at 6:30, and food and drink will be provided. Access to the office will be restricted past 6:30, so make sure to be on time!

We're excited to announce the speaker for Technical Session 1.4 on May 9th will be Sahar Barzani, the Computational Design Team Lead at StructureCraft! The event takes place at Fast + Epp's Concept Lab, doors open at 5:30 and the talk starts around 6:00. The talk will also be streamed at https://lnkd.in/gJN9wtKs. Note the talk has been be shifted from May 2nd, to May 9th! In this session Sahar will present work she has done on some of StructureCraft’s free-form geometry projects. Sahar will speak about the use of computational design and parametric tools in design and build complex wood structures. She will also talk about how computational design can be leveraged in the early stage of design to creating fabrication data for CNC machines.