My Journey: From Concrete to Code
And what to expect from this publication
Since I was a kid, I’ve been into design and technology. Like many, when I graduated from school, I wondered what to do with my life. I was trying to decide between architecture, sound engineering, and other careers like graphic design or software engineering. I also dreamed (and still do) about positively impacting at scale in any field I would be part of.
I wanted to change things and see the world in the process.
The start
I moved to Córdoba, Argentina, choosing architecture, and I loved it. However, I constantly had an inner drive to innovate and felt stuck. It felt like everything was already invented. It was either designing country club homes like everyone else was doing locally (nothing against that; it’s just not the kind of impact I wanted to have) or going abroad and (hopefully) trying to get into one of the innovative practices like Rem Koolhaas’ OMA.
But again, if you think about the impact any architect has, even the biggest, it’s still tiny compared to other fields. For starters, an architect will build around 100 buildings (if they have a highly active and successful career), not to mention the percentages of the built world that any architect designs are minimal. That was a hard realization for me.
I decided to go ahead and try to do something about that, exploring possibilities at scale.
From entrepreneurship to a 9-to-5
My natural next step was to pivot from a “traditional” architecture career, so I decided to build a startup with a friend. I discovered my inner drive to change things was valuable. We worked on it during my last years in college.
The startup focused on modular construction, which, in my mind, was a way to “productize” architecture and spaces at scale with an industrialized construction approach and edgy, premium-feel designs. It was the first step before building a web platform for people to design their spaces using our modularized components. We learned tons from it but had yet to know millions of things, and it failed. I decided to leave and work for a BIM consultancy company, which was a good learning step for me in the innovative direction.
After learning a lot about BIM for years, I started getting into automation with a friend who worked in the same team. It felt like magic to me: automating tasks that took hours, or even days, in minutes. I got into Dynamo and Python scripting and started building tools to streamline different processes as part of an extensive renovation project for a significant area of Buenos Aires and other clients worldwide, most of them in the US. After learning to “script,” I also learned programming. Trust me, it’s not the same.
Back to entrepreneurship
I had finally found the perfect mix of design, technology, scale, and potential impact—combining many of my passions into one thing. I continued learning to code for years and applying my newfound skills to solving problems, and that became my full-time role: leading technology projects for many clients in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) space.
So, the next thing for me was building a company to focus entirely on that, and after a call from a friend, the opportunity to do it came up.
That’s how, in 2021, we started e-verse, where we build technology, mainly software, as a service for the AEC industry every day: from computational design, tech for architecture practices, engineering firms, general contractors, construction companies, other startups launching their software products into the industry, or even solar engineering.
We grew from three to a global team of over thirty people in two years, and after 2023, the technology sector crisis hit us hard. Still, we leveraged the chance to rebuild many processes and teams in the company, and things are working better than ever.
It’s been quite a ride and a massive challenge for me professionally and, even more, personally.
Finding new paths
We’re still going hard, with more concurrent projects every month—a mix of innovative and also the not-so-sexy kind. We’re also exploring launching software products outside our services at e-verse. But that’s for another day.
As I continue this journey, I’ve found this space to share ideas. I’m constantly humbled by learning about entrepreneurship and leadership from great people I’ve had the pleasure to work with (you know who you are), realizing how little I know. I’m naturally curious and heavily interested in design, blockchain, investing, music, and tech. I also enjoy travel, photography, writing, skiing, and skydiving, where I’m a newbie on different scales.
Hopefully, this can motivate other architects to explore new paths, too. You can always return to the traditional, worn path, but if you have that inner drive and don’t try to get out of it, you’ll never forgive yourself, at least if you have passions similar to mine.
What to expect
I write here for enjoyment, sharing my path and discoveries in the abovementioned topics. It’s not only a publication about technology in the AEC but life in general through the lens of a curious guy, as I hope you’ll find out while exploring the articles.
Expect monthly deep dives on a subject and sometimes weekly, shorter posts.
I’ll edit this post to provide a general guide to the types of articles published as this thing grows! In the meantime, subscribe to receive future posts.
Thanks for being here 🙏