Rick Smith, digitizing Frank Gehry's model of the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
From his youth, Rick had a desire to become an architect. He enrolled in the architectural program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, California in 1973. At the time, his father worked for IBM and introduced Rick to internal research and develop of technology where you could design graphically on a computer monitor. Recognizing this was the future, Rick wanted to learn this new technology.
One of the first schools in the Country to teach three dimensional Computer-Aided-Design was Brigham Young University (BYU). The emphasis of using this burgeoning technology was in the aerospace industry. Knowing this was the future of design Rick transferred to BYU in 1974 and received a Bachelor degree in Design Technology, with an emphasis on mechanical engineering. He said, “I believed eventually the architectural industry would take advantage of this technology, but for now I would work with nuts and bolts in the aerospace industry.” Rick also earned a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University in 1989.
Work Experience in Aerospace
Rick worked for Lockheed Aircraft Corp in 1979 for two years on the L-1011 Tri-Star airliner. He joined IBM’s marketing organization in 1982 to market and support Computer Aided Design programs to the aerospace industry. For nearly 10 years, he was involved in sales, installation, training and customer support. He became an Area Industry Specialist covering the South West Region of the United States. While at IBM, he sold numerous systems to many companies and consulted with strategic directions in using this technology on projects such as; the Air Force C-130 hydraulic flight actuators, Boeing 747 flight systems, the Stealth F-117, Shiely Medical heart valves, San Onofre nuclear power plant , Chevron’s offshore oil rigs and an Oil Field Management System.
A memorable event occurred for him when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, Parker Hannifin Aerospace Corp at first thought it was their fuel valve design that caused the accident. The morning of the accident Parker Hannifin called Rick and asked him to help with the redesign work for a new fuel valve system using a three-dimensional design system called CATIA which Rick had recently introduced to them. Rick performed the digital modeling and a highlight for him was presenting the redesign of the valve to Admiral Truly, the head of NASA and a number of U.S. Senators. With this success and Rick’s consulting direction in the use of Computer Aided Design at Parker Hannifin grew to over 250 CATIA workstations.
Rick taught ComputerVision, CADAM and CATIA at Irvine College for 6 years and earned a life time teaching credential in the state of California.
Work Experience in Architecture
The chance for Rick to apply his skills and introduce computer design technology to architecture came in 1991. While at IBM he was contacted by the architect office of Frank O. Gehry & Associates (FOGA) and asked if he knew how to design a building in the shape of a fish. His response was, “Isn’t a fish aerodynamic.”
Rick introduced computers and the concept of three-dimensional Master Modeling to FOGA performing the design work on the monumental fish structure for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. With its success he then directed the use of this technology on the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Since CATIA was a tool designed specifically for the aerospace industry, he adapted and developed new techniques applying it to architecture. To support Frank’s requirements, Rick formed a company called C-cubed Virtual Architecture, Inc. Growing to ten employees, they performed the three-dimensional design work on 16 of Frank’s world class buildings over the next decade and helped Frank’s office become one of the most technologically advanced architectural design studios of the late 20th century.
Extending the architectural design work to the construction industry, his company worked directly with various contractors, collaborating, developing techniques and integrating this technology with their methodologies. Some of these contractors were: Turner Construction, Hoffman Construction, A. Zahner Metals, Hunt Construction. He spent two years working directly with Mortensen, the general contractor on the Walt Disney Concert Hall jobsite where we applied three-dimensional modeling, visualization tools, simulation techniques for direct construction, fabrication and layout for the building. Mortensen has since become recognized as a leading implementer of this computer technology in construction.
Rick worked other architect firms performing the same design services, teaching the techniques of using three-dimensional Master Modeling for; Moshe Safdie & Associates, on the Kansas City Performing Arts Center, Philadelphia Public Library, and the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC, Randall Stout on the Hunt Museum of Art and Edmonton Art Gallery of Alberta. |
