origins | career | technology | philosophy
In order to realize the monumental engineering problems inherent in
some of his innovative designs, Douglas Cardinal and his firm
initiated the first use of Computer Assisted Design (CAD) in
Canadian architectural history. In fact, computer integration has
been central to the firm's history, from the use of the U.S.
Department of Defence computer systems in 1968 to map the 81,000
equations for the curving roof of St. Mary's Church, to the design
of the dual Imax/Omnimax theatre for the Canadian Museum of
Civilization.
In 1976, the firm began work on St. Albert's Place in Alberta. On
that project, he found it frustrating to work with both hand
drawings and computer translations. He then ordered his staff to
dispose of drafting tables, with the directive that all work was be
done on computers only. To complete this project, the firm used a
computer program called Accugraph, which was designed by
programmer Hector Holguin, in Texas. The program ran on a Hewlett
Packard, which was valued at a million dollars. However, Cardinal
leased it from HP for $30,000/month.
In the 1990s, Accugraph was sold to Autodesk, and the program was
incorporated into Autocad. That was when the firm switched over to
Autocad. Today, Cardinal's architectural firm is one of North
America's pioneering users of computer-assisted drafting systems.
As well, his architectural firm has a relationship with the
Government of Canada as a demonstration site to test and advance
Canadian CAD technology.
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