This post originally appeared on Black Spectacles.
Connecting world-class architects with architecture students across the country.
On Saturday, September 24th, Black Spectacles hosted our 3rd annual Digital Design Workshops, exclusively for American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) Chapters.
21 Chapters and over 200 students tuned in to the broadcasts live on Saturday morning to learn the basics of Revit, Rhino and Grasshopper, and VRay for 3ds Max – softwares that are not always taught in school, but important skill sets to build when starting your career in architecture.
In our industry, it can be impossible to keep up with design software – something architecture students know all too well – new tools keep emerging, and old ones change fast. Keeping up with new architecture software and design tools is time consuming, crazy expensive, and a challenge students are faced with daily.
This is one of the reasons Black Spectacles was created – to democratize learning. To connect world-class architects with eager-to-learn students. We are committed to empowering students with knowledge and make it easy for them to expand their skills, which is the motive behind our annual Digital Design Workshops.
Students were given the opportunity to learn how to use these design softwares from experienced, working architects from some of the most respectable firms in the world:
- Brian DeYoung of Skidmore Owings & Merrill taught Revit
- Jorge Barrero of HKS Architects taught VRay for 3ds Max
- David Tracy of Rockwell Group taught Rhino 5 and Grasshopper
Through the interactive, live broadcasts, they were able to talk with these architects, ask questions, and get feedback in real-time.
Instructors focused on the basics, highlighting what is unique about each software and where it’s most powerful so students can leverage that power in their own work. They also touched on workflows between various softwares – the way architects really work.
Not only was it a tremendous learning experience for these students, but AIAS Chapters around the country utilized the events as a way to kick-off their membership recruiting season by opening the workshops up to prospective members.
