Cormac Paterson, a 17-years old student from Arlington High School in Massachusetts, has created yet another set of beautiful architectural designs using our Energy3D CAD software. The variety of his designs can be used to gauge the versatility of the software. His work is helping us push the boundary of the software and imagine what may be possible with the system.

This is the second year Cormac has worked with us as a summer intern. We are constantly impressed by his perseverance in working with the limitations of the software and around problems, as well as his ingenuity in coming up with new solutions and ideas. Working with Cormac has inspired us on how to improve our software so that it can support more students to do this kind of creative design. Our objective in the long run is to develop our software into a CAD system that is appropriate for children and yet capable of supporting authentic engineering design. Cormac’s work might be an encouraging sign that we may actually be very close to realizing this goal.

Cormac also designed a building surrounded by solar trees. Solar tree is a concept that blends art and solar energy technology in a sculptural expression. An image of this post shows the result of the solar energy gains of these “trees” using the improved computational engine for solar simulation in Energy3D.