I’ve been using ArchiCAD since 2006.
Over 7 years now… kind of surreal and surprising.

I first modeled in 3D on a computer back in 1994. I was 13 and my older brother acquired a copy of 3D Studio R4 for me. Best not to think too hard about that one. But even by then I was already quite familiar with 2D drafting. I first used AutoCAD in 1987 or 1988. I’m guessing it was version 2.5 or 2.6. MAYBE it was version 9. But I doubt it. Since I was only maybe 7 years old at the time, I wasn’t paying THAT much attention to the version. Either way, it was before my family had a computer with a mouse. In both programs I was way more focused on designing spaceships than noticing that I had access to more sophisticated software than most architecture offices at the time.

Quick question: think of your earliest memory of reading. Now think about your earliest memory of using a computer. Which came first?

I remember playing centipede and Styx on our first computer. That means I was about 5 1/2 and the year was 1986.

I must have had reading abilities before this memory-I was able to navigate a DOS based computer-but my first memory of when I KNOW I was reading is when I first officially read at school. I remember getting in trouble with Adam Carmon for not paying attention. We were already cocky and feeling too smart for our own good. I then focused and was a good boy… for the next couple decades. This was first grade, probably the fall. So I was 6 1/2, almost 7. That means 1987. Both these memories are vivid. I can tell you a lot about each instance. Who was there with the computer games, which friends were at the table with me when we were reading, what the layout of each room was…

I also remember when we got our first computer. I had spent the day playing outside in the mud with a friend. My mom and brothers picked me up in my parent’s 1983 Saab. The computer boxes (tower, monitor, keyboard, cables, and printer) were so huge that we had to have the back seats down. My brother Gabe and I sat in the back with the boxes, no seat belts.

I therefore fall in a unique place in history. There is only a brief space of time where people remember their first computer experience, and that memorable event occurred before they could read. For most people older than me, they might remember both, but the computer comes later. For people younger than me, computers appeared before memory**. Computers ALWAYS existed. As you engage with younger staff, think about what this means. They don’t remember a world before computers (and soon a world before the Internet or the ubiquity of wireless everything). How is that giving them a completely different perspective on life, specifically for our purposes the built environment and the tools of our trade? Oh and for perspective young means under 30.

What about you? Which do you remember first? Computers or Reading?  What and when was your first exposure to architectural software? How old were you?

**And for that matter, reading too. But that’s a whole different topic. My god, kids these days are learning to read so crazy young. Since the age of maybe 3, my oldest daughter Madeleine has loved to sit on my lap and practice her spelling and typing. Insane. And awesome that technology allows a child to learn how to spell and create words  before they are physically ready to hold a pencil well enough to write legibly. But we’ll talk about that again later.

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