Team Phoenix

Inspiration:

On October 5th, 2019, Florida Poly college students collectively came together to attend the Design and Technology Hackathon in Orlando to generate a 3D model via computer programming for various architecture companies.

The Process:

Firstly, the team of students from Florida Polytechnic University, also known as “DTXPhoenix” divided themselves into groups of three and/or two people to make it easier to manage/divide tasks and work together. Furthermore, the colleagues logged into their Google and Trello accounts with the purpose of communicating, attaching documents, and molding the proposal together. Not to mention, all of the team participants downloaded the Autodesk Revit 2020 software to be ready for the initiation of the project.

In addition, we began to analyze the project requirements and created a list of skills required for each of them. Then, the students, who were already separated into groups, fully decided in what sections they would work on. As an illustration, we built three different subteams: Justin McGettigan and David Ciccarello, who were responsible for the development of the algorithm in the programming language Python; Bianca Silva and Osaki Pokima ; who were responsible for the data organization and creation of the website with the help of the website www.datastudio.google.com; , Jonathan Gan, and Aimee Valladares, Elise Araiza and Alysa Curley who were responsible for the 3D modeling section in Revit; and Ryan Worthington, who's responsible for research and data collection.

What DTXPhoenix does:

The website was design to incorporate 3D model and information placeholders for each member of the group. Additionally, the algorithm development worked to effectively achieve success with the use of the softwares Dynamo and Revit. Furthermore, walls were created using a node approach and/or python scripts, which would take inputs for the specific creations.

Challenges faced by the team:

Challenges we faced began with setting the correct units of measurements for dimensions in the Dynamo software to correlate with Revit. After, we started figuring out the best way to build different models in Revit and Dynamo, we started to implement the nodes and python code in Dynamo. We took a step back to write pseudo-code and outline what we specifically wanted for the outcome of our 3D model. Many of our group members experienced issues with Revit and Dynamo when it came to installing the software, or simply creating models within Revit.

What the team learnt:

The team was able to be creative and work in teams effectively. Even though most of the Florida Polytechnic University students were not familiar with each other, since the beginning of the project they worked respectively and successfully together. Besides that, the students were able to practice and learn more of programming skills, which will be very helpful during their STEM careers.