By Robert Young

On Tuesday, June 14, Undercurrent hosted a Tree House Charrette in our Ontario office. Fifteen people participated in the one-hour design slam, inspired by a design competition that National Geographic is currently sponsoring. It was a break-neck speed competition that challenged designers to flush out a design concept with plans and perspective.

The Tree House Charrette was an opportunity to excite designers with a playful design exercise and learn as a community as we experiment with the latest trends in design manufacturing, via computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing design processes. Entrants quickly worked through the logistics of simple programming for an artist studio, for an artist of their choice. It was up to the designer to determine what kind of artist and type of facilities they required, and the tree was located in the Pomona Arts District.

[nggallery id=85]Photos by Evan Troxel

At the close of the event, a team of jurors reviewed and selected the best design. Jurors included Randy Peterson, president/CEO; Ken Salyer, managing principal; Pablo La Roche, director of sustainable design; and Raymond Pan, design principal.The winning design by Ruth Oh will be modeled in the latest software (Maya, Rhino) by Philip Knight, designer from our healthcare team. After Ruth and Phil complete the computer model, a 3D print will be displayed at the Ontario office.