2020 CONFERENCE
Architecture
Crafting Real and Virtual Architecture in Real-Time
(part 2)
Alex Coulombe – Agile Lens
Kim Baumann – Dimension Design
The speakers of the architecture track discuss the past, present, and future of realtime and other emerging technologies and the implications for professional practice.
Personal Profile
Alex Coulombe
Co-Founder – Agile Lens
Linkedin
Alex Coulombe is an architect turned XR-chitect who has been crafting immersive worlds of all kinds throughout most of his life. After co-founding a theater group at Syracuse University that produced many of his original shows (WhAT, now in its 15th year), Alex was an early adopter of augmented reality as part of his award-winning 2009 architectural thesis, “Scopic Operations in Military Theatre.”
After earning his B. Arch, Alex worked at such architecture firms as Rafael Vinoly and Zimmer Gunsel Frasca before landing at Fisher Dachs Associates: Theatre Planning and Design. There, he honed his craft in the design of powerful theatrical spaces. In 2013 he began working with VR using the Oculus Rift DK1 and developed the world’s first virtual reality system for evaluating theatre sightlines. This led to the founding of VR/AR creative studio, Agile Lens, consultants and content creators for prominent architects and tech companies such as Intel, Samsung, and Epic. Recent local projects include: The Shed, David Geffen Hall, and the Statue of Liberty Museum
A rising thought leader in emerging tech, Alex has featured in conferences around the world, from Autodesk University (Las Vegas and London) to Immersive Architecture (Venice and Singapore).
Company Presentation
Agile Lens: Immersive Design
Agile Lens is an XR-focused creative studio building custom experiences for architecture, live events, and everything in between. They are based in NYC.
Personal Profile
Kim Baumann-Larsen
CEO – Dimension Design
Linkedin
A licensed architect, 3D artist, educator and VR designer with 25 years of industry experience, Kim has focused on designing, producing and publishing interactive augmented reality apps, serious games and VR experiences for the past eight years. His first work in virtual reality was with the Houston VR startup CyberSim in 1995. An entrepreneur at heart, Kim has started up two design visualisation companies, runs his own VR and AR design and consulting company Dimension Design and is a co-director of Digital Storytelling, a multi-disciplinary arena of seminars and workshops in Norway on innovative and creative use of storytelling in film, games and interactive experiences. He holds a part-time position as Future Pilot at Kulturtanken – Arts for Young Audiences producing XR art experiences, teaches VR design at Kristiania University College and is a frequent speaker at international events like SIGGRAPH, Laval Virtual, fmx, SplitX, VIEW, Mundos Digitales, and EUE. Kim is a member of the Unified Jury for the SIGGRAPH 2020 Conference, and is a co-founder of XR Norway and Norwegian Interactive Storytellers.
Company Presentation
Dimension Design
Dimension Design, established in 1995, provides AR and VR design and consulting, specializing in architecture for virtual environments for business and entertainment and the design and production of interactive narrative XR experiences that combine visual storytelling and virtual architectural spaces.
Panelists
Adam Chernick
Director, Interactive Visualization – SHoP Architects (NYC)
Mengyi Fan
Director of Visualization – SHoP Architects (NYC)
Carlos Cristerna
Principal | Rad Lab Director – NeoScape (Boston)
Justin Benjamin
Design Applications Manager & Associate – Perkins + Will (NY)