The Edge: ONE to ONE, Architecture and Design Technology Duo

Charles Jones: David Merlin and I are both Louisiana natives. David grew up in New Orleans and I grew up in a suburb outside of the city. I practiced in Architecture firms in Baton Rouge and Los Angeles before moving into the academic side and taking a position as a digital lab instructor at the American University of Sharjah, just north of Dubai. This position provided me the opportunity to set up a 10,000 sq ft facility, housing traditional fabrication capabilities and a plethora of Digital Fabrication equipment. It was a dream to say the least and played a huge part in landing a job at Tulane University after moving to New Orleans in 2011.

David Merlin: While practicing Architecture, another colleague and I identified a need in the community for technology based education and consulting. We started weekend workshops, which is where I discovered my interests in teaching and ultimately brought me to Tulane. Concurrently, I started a Design Technology consulting firm focused on BIM and Computational Design.

Charles Jones:  Our professional relationship developed out of common interest and shared vision about Architecture and practice, specifically the way Technology influences Design and Fabrication. Tulane soon received a private donation which allowed David and I to set up Millhaus, Tulane’s CNC lab which houses a 4’x8’ 3-axis router. From there we began co-teaching a Digital Fabrication seminar every semester which focused on the application of this budding technology. Our professional relationship began to formalize on the MTA canopies project. As more of a nuts and bolts minded person I was manually executing a lot of tedious drawing production on the canopies. David was able to come in and save the day with his knowledge of Grasshopper and helped streamline some very complex glass schedules for the canopies.... Full Article Here