LEO A DALY has appointed Steven L. Pliam as Design Technology Leader. He is based in the Minneapolis design studio.
The Design Technology Leader has firm-wide influence – responsible for setting strategy, developing and leading the firm’s Design Technology team. Pliam will oversee the deployment and use of technologies such as computational design, parametric design, digital practice, reality capture, visualization, virtual/augmented reality, GIS and AI/Machine Learning.
He will report to Chief Information Officer Stephen Held and be embedded with Global Design Principals. He will also work closely with Global Practice Leaders, Technical Forum Leaders, Digital Practice, Information Technology and Company Leadership to develop, align, and deliver on LEO A DALY strategies through day-to-day initiatives.
“Throughout our 100+ year history, LEO A DALY’s legacy has been rooted in technological and design innovation. Today, we’re reinventing what that looks like. By marrying design and technology in this new, national position, and with visionary computational designer Steven Pliam in that role, we are investing in an evolution in design process and delivery that will place us at the front edge of the AEC industry,” said Steven Lichtenberger, AIA.
Pliam’s career of cutting-edge design
Pliam has been a trailblazer in computational design throughout his 25-year career. He got his start in 1995 at Frank O. Gehry & Associates, where he pioneered computational approaches to help realize buildable designs for some of the world’s most inventive buildings. While there, he worked intensely on the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California, and the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington, and helped establish Gehry’s Department of Computational Design Research.
As his career progressed, Pliam continued to build a reputation for revolutionary design technology. His custom software applications for architectural fabrication and the automation of design-to-material construction processes have enabled some of the world’s most challenging building projects. From 2005 to 2007, he worked as a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab, where his work involved human-machine interfaces, animatronics, innovative form-finding methods, and new digital design systems for architectural fabrication, visualization, and design. He also directed BIM and visualization studios for the design firm KDG in India, where he pioneered new methods of design visualization.
Pliam has a Master of Science in Media Arts & Sciences degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Architecture degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota, and a Certificate of Special Studies from the Goethe Institute. He has teaching experience at MIT, the University of Minnesota and Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis. His research and projects have been published in Architectural Record, Plan77, Form, Elementa, Archinect and Future Arquitecturas.
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Aug 4, 2015
GIANTS 300 REPORT: Top 64 Architecture/Engineering Firms
Stantec, HOK, and Callison RTKL top Building Design+Construction's 2015 ranking of the largest architecture/engineering firms in the United States.
Giants 400 | Aug 4, 2015
GIANTS 300 REPORT: Top 106 Architecture Firms
Gensler, Perkins+Will, and Kohn Pedersen Fox top Building Design+Construction's 2015 ranking of the largest architecture firms in the United States.
Giants 400 | Aug 4, 2015
ARCHITECTURE GIANTS: 21 practice management innovations from architecture Giants
Design firms have gone all out with management innovations in the last year. Check out which ones might work for your firm.
Architects | Aug 4, 2015
Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture closer to independent incorporation
The school is halfway to its first fundraising milestone, but is facing a major deadline at end of this month.
Industrial Facilities | Aug 3, 2015
Architect Jacques Rougerie envisions floating city to function as roving laboratory
The manta ray-shaped vessel will be completely self-sustaining, run on marine energy, and produce no waste.
Cultural Facilities | Aug 3, 2015
Funding needed for Washington's Desert Storm memorial
The National Desert Storm Memorial Foundation has a $25 million goal for the project.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Jul 31, 2015
Zaha Hadid responds to Tokyo Olympic Stadium controversy
“Our warning was not heeded that selecting contractors too early in a heated construction market and without sufficient competition would lead to an overly high estimate of the cost of construction,” said Zaha Hadid in a statement.
Architects | Jul 30, 2015
The Lego Architect: Book offers simple how-to steps for recreating iconic buildings with Legos
The book features famous buildings accompanied with a photograph and drawing of the Lego model of the building, and a list of all the Lego pieces needed to complete a model of the building.
Transit Facilities | Jul 30, 2015
Snøhetta designs ring-shaped cable car station in Italian Alps
In Snøhetta’s design, two cylindrical rings embedded into the existing topography, each at different elevations, will be connected by a cable car. During the minute-long cable car journey, passengers can enjoy views of the city and of the Italian Alps.
Office Buildings | Jul 29, 2015
Design plans for Fannie Mae’s new HQ revealed
The developer/owner, Carr Properties, envisions a 1-million-sf plus mixed-use center with a large retail pavilion.
