We’re once again excited to update about the expansion of Fixie’s team. We have been joined by Catarina Castro, who is forming part of our growing software development team as a Junior Web Developer.

Catarina trained and worked as an architect but has made the shift to the tech side of the industry, convinced that technology can assist in a better design process. 

After completing a Master’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Lisbon, Catarina moved to London to pursue her career in architecture where she worked in the Residential sector for the next 5 years. 

Catarina's interest in technology and its impact on architecture grew significantly over these years, with a particular focus on improving architects' workflows and communication between architects and stakeholders.

In her last practice, Catarina developed and showcased designs utilising real-time / VR technology, which proved to be a genuinely successful experience for her private residential clients, improving understanding and reducing issues when compared with clients who only view designs in 2D.

She finished Le-Wagon, a six-month full-stack web development bootcamp during the darkest months of the pandemic, where she learned the foundations of web development. This experience gave her the tools and confidence to kick-start her career in web development. She is now joining the Team as a junior web developer, combining her passion for Architecture and technology. 

As she says:

Architecture is changing. There’s no way around it. It's great to see more companies embracing new technologies. However, these technologies need to be made available for everyone, from large, well-established companies to the small, one-man-band kind of practices. And most importantly, I want to be a part of leading the change and contributing to a better future for the architectural industry

Cat, as she kindly lets us anglophones call her, is coincidently an avid cat lover who spends most of her free time spoiling her beloved cats, Laffi and Amba. 

During her Bootcamp, her love for animals led her to develop a dummy website to facilitate pet adoption. With a custom matching system, where anyone interested in adopting can find and meet their perfect pet!

Great to have you onboard Cat! If you are interested in a position with Fixie or know of anybody who would like to work with us please pass on our details careers@fixie3d.com.

Excited to share that Phil Mayne has joined Fixie as a Senior Front End Developer. Phil is based in Devon and is working on Fixie’s 3D printing platform along with our collaborative research project with AMRC.

Coming from a design background, Phil finds his zen in Denmark and in particular in his spiritual home of Copenhagen.

Phil has worked in software engineering for the past 6 years, gaining experience in developing commercial products that offer a range of user-first solutions from digital ticketing to shift management scheduling. 

I’m aLWAYS KEEPING UP TO DATE WITH INDUSTRY PRACTICE SO WE CAN improve products AND bring the best experience to the user.

Phil’s Fine Art background has given him an understanding of the fundamentals of visual communication. His focus on user experience motivates him to design and build intuitive interfaces that let clients take control of their projects - with simple functionality and reliable systems.

He taught CAD to students at a furniture design atelier giving them the ability to take their 2D drawings and turn them into 3D models - essential for producing accurate renderings that can be delivered to specialists for production.

This is not Phil, at least we don’t think it is…but the projections are his work!

When he’s not tweaking code or tinkering with new features for Fixie, Phil fills his time with music, painting landscapes inspired by his Devon home and baking a bagel or two. His creative hobbies have also led him to organise InPrint - a pop-up gallery space highlighting the work of local artists and musicians as well as dabbling in 3D projection mapping to create visuals at music events.

Great to have you onboard Phil. If you are interested in a position with Fixie or know of anybody who would like to work with us please pass on our details careers@fixie3d.com.

Fixie and AMRC awarded £500,000 to help architects take control of immersive content creation

Press Release: Wednesday,  September 29th, 2021

Innovative 3D technology company Fixie and the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) have secured half a million pounds from Innovate UK to create accessible tools for architects to author their own immersive presentations.

London-based Fixie, which is focused on helping architects create engaging and immersive design communications, will work collaboratively with the AMRC to explore the emerging field of WebXR and its related ecosystem. The ultimate aim is to create practical tools for architects that don’t require any additional advanced skills.

The project will also focus on the interaction between physical 3D printed model production and the creation of overlaid augmented reality presentations. Currently, architects need to outsource this costly work, but by utilising the same originating data for the two formats, and putting ownership of the process into the hands of architects, the project will facilitate wider adoption and offer real benefit to the industry. 

The highly competitive SMART grant funding is made available for game-changing and commercially viable innovative and disruptive ideas that can significantly impact the UK economy.

“We started Fixie to give more architects the opportunity to practically benefit from emerging, innovative 3D technologies like 3D printing and augmented reality. Our aim is to continue to develop our platform so that architects don’t need any prior knowledge to author comprehensive and engaging interactive presentations that utilise both digital and physical assets,” said Ronan O’Boyle, one of the founders of Fixie.

Immersive presentations will be authored and delivered through Fixie’s existing online platform that currently allows architects to easily create physical models from their digital 3D designs (Sign up for beta access).

Michelle Greeff, Fixie CEO, said:

“We’re over the moon to have been chosen from a famously competitive field with an extremely low success rate. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into defining where these technologies are going within our sector and hope to be at the forefront of their implementation with the support of this funding and through working collaboratively with the AMRC.”

The co-funded project has allowed Fixie’s team to grow by three full-time staff, bringing software development capabilities in-house for the first time and helping to build a self-sustaining business into the future. 

“This grant award recognises Fixie’s successful work to date innovating  for clients in our sector including with the support of previous funding through Innovate UK’s Sustainable Innovation Fund in 2020.” 

The University of Sheffield AMRC is a network of world-leading research and innovation centres that work with manufacturing companies of all sizes around the globe. The organisation, part of the High-Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult,  transforms industrial and economic performance by making step changes in productivity, increasing competitiveness, developing new products and processes and training new talent and skills.

Head of Digital at the University of Sheffield AMRC, Professor Rab Scott, said: “More and more, we regard the true value in Industry 4.0 technologies as tools to remove or reduce non-value-added activity. The outputs of this project are just that.

“The development of this platform can remove much of the non-value-added manual intervention in the process meaning that the high-value technical skills can be used more effectively elsewhere in a company thus positively impacting on productivity and the bottom line.

“The application of 3D printing in the architectural sector allows a much more coherent understanding of the final outcome of a project, improving communications and managing expectations for all stakeholders.”

Contact:

Ronan O’Boyle, Co-founder

Email: ronan@fixie3d.com