Minnesota Design Mafia

Seven years ago, this red-headed fellow set in motion a series of events that led to the creation of Q-BA-MAZE:

He is Thomas Fisher, the Dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota (CDes UMN), pictured here at the opening party for Here By Design III watching a ball wiggle its way through a Q-BA-MAZE marble run sculpture.

In early 2001, he organized a gathering for UMN architecture alumni living in New York City -- a social and networking event attended by about 15 people. I was living in Brooklyn and had just started my architectural rendering business. The gathering was at the Manhattan office of EEK Architects, where UMN alum Peter Cavaluzzi is a principal. I offered Peter my rendering services and came back to his office a couple of weeks later to show him my portfolio. It took a while to build the relationship, but because of the implicit trust from the Minnesota connection and the whole Mid-Western work ethic thing, I eventually had fairly regular rendering assignments from Peter. The intermittent nature of the work was exactly what I wanted and it was during one of the lulls between assignments that the inspiration for Q-BA-MAZE hit.

I moved back to Minneapolis in 2003 and continued to get rendering assignments from Peter at a distance. Then in summer 2004, EEK was competing to become the master planner for Project City Center -- a $4 billion casino project for MGM on the strip in Las Vegas. I did the initial renderings and the project just kept expanding to include more renderings and eventually videos. EEK won the commission and the renderings ended up in the Wall Street Journal and the videos played on the CBS Evening News. When my part of the project was complete and my final paycheck came in I calculated that I had enough money to put everything else aside and begin full-time work on Q-BA-MAZE.

Here is the rendering that was published in the Wall Street Journal (in this case, computer-generated buildings composited into an aerial photo taken from a helicopter):

For six months I simultaneously researched and wrote the business plan, designed the cubes, initiated the patenting process and incorporated the business. All of the rapid prototyped cubes on display at Here By Design III were made during that period. At the end of this process I had a product and a business concept that was sufficient to convince investors to come on board so that we could take the expensive next steps of bringing Q-BA-MAZE to production. I've always thought it funny that I got all of the pre-investor money for this risky bet from Las Vegas.

Above is another rendering of the project that is 100% computer-generated (all of the tiny specks at the bottom of the image are people -- which is to say, this project is huge).

There was a time when I thought design was about things, but I am learning more and more that it is about people and relationships. Tom and Peter are just two of hundreds of people who in one way or another have made Q-BA-MAZE possible. And so:

This is post #6 in a series on "The Making of Q-BA-MAZE"

Comments

[Tom]

Andrew, thank you for your kind comments. I didn't know the story of how you got back to Minnesota and how the alumni event in Peter's office in New York was a part of that. It sounds as if it was meant to be! Great to see how well you are doing.