We’re so pleased to introduce you to numbers 26 through 30 on the AutoCAD 35 Under 35 young designers list. This month, get acquainted with an audio visual engineer, a solar power program manager, an award-winning architect, a space-age innovator, and an AutoCAD for Mac guru. Meet them below.
[First Five / Second Five / Third Five / Fourth Five / Fifth Five / Sixth Five / Seventh Five]
The Sixth Five
Jim LaPier, 34, owner of IMPACT Designs, LLC (USA)
Jim, an Autodesk Expert Elite member and Autodesk University speaker, has been using AutoCAD for more than half his life. Since starting at age 16 with AutoCAD 13, he’s used the software in a wide range of disciplines. From residential design to mechanical engineering to telecommunications, if it involves getting black lines onto white paper, he’s done it. Now owner of his own consulting firm, IMPACT Designs, LLC, Jim combines paper-and-pencil drafting knowledge with his love of advanced technology to support studios across the country as IT and/or CAD Manager — in addition to using AutoCAD for Mac himself to design new million-dollar homes and renovations with local contractors. Because he’s not busy enough, Jim also teaches beginning and advanced AutoCAD at a local college, giving future designers a chance to hone their skills under the tutelage of an expert.
Brandon Creel, 32, director of engineering at Starlite (USA)
When he began working in AutoCAD in 2012, Brandon quickly found that it was an essential part of his design arsenal. Now, as Director of Engineering at Starlite, a New Jersey-based, Philadelphia-area audio visual and lighting solutions company, it’s integral to his work on theaters and performance spaces, which run the gamut from high school auditoriums to major Philadelphia concert venues, casinos, and a $50 million event center. In fact, it’s being able to take concepts on the computer screen and turn them into tangible objects that people can see, feel, use, and (most importantly) interact with that drives his work.
Tiffany Goodwin, 34, program manager at Sunrun, Inc. (USA)
It didn’t bother Tiffany that she was the only girl in her AutoCAD drafting class in high school, “because I was hooked.” Now? She manages all the AutoCAD templates for Sunrun’s photovoltaic systems, doing her part to create a planet run by the sun. As part of a consumer-level solar company, Tiffany’s work on future-facing technologies and systems can be found in houses in 23 states — and it’s powered by the dynamic capabilities of AutoCAD, where she focuses on helping to create the best possible design for every customer.
Nyein Aung, 33, industrial designer and PhD candidate at Monash University (Australia/Myanmar)
A self-proclaimed “maker of cool stuff,” Nyein’s work begins where engineering and materials meet. Just take his Jet Tent, which Gear Patrol described as “smart engineering with aircraft-quality materials and mechanisms,” or Tethered Towers, the aerial communications platform that he helped design and prototype (and hey, we haven’t even mentioned the carbon fiber Formula-style race car he worked on). He practices “thinking through making” and AutoCAD enables him to do that by allowing for creative exploration while showing practical limitations.
Jared Ramsdell, 34, associate architect at TouloukianTouloukian,Inc. (USA)
As an associate at Touloukian Touloukian Inc. (one of Architect Magazine’s top 50 firms of 2016), Jared crafts buildings that are socially and environmentally sensitive, as well as technically innovative and award-winning. With more than eight years of experience working on complex Master Plans and building types in and around New England, including cultural, institutional, retail, office, and historic projects that range from new construction to adaptive reuse, he has come to rely on AutoCAD for its speed and agility. Jared has also taught advanced electives at Wentworth Institute of Technology, utilizing AutoCAD to create cut files for lamps, chairs, benches, and pavilions that were exhibited at the Boston Society of Architects.
We’ll be announcing the final five members of our list next month. Keep watching this space for more on how these innovators are contributing to the future of making things, and how they’re using AutoCAD to do it.
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