Meet Your Guide Timothy Halvorson
To all the designers who have had too many sleepless nights, this is for you.
I’ve been there, I understand. That’s why I founded 7fold, to be an agent of change in the AEC industry that harnesses the full power of modern technology to unlock your time, creativity, and capacity in order to restore balance between work and life.
I‘m passionate about you, the designer, the architect, the creative professional who seeks to delight and inspire your boss and your clients. My goal with every lesson, every tip, every resource is to elevate your ability to transform design dreams into concrete realities. Whether it’s detailing a curtain wall, sculpting a museum walkthrough experience, or capturing climate data for how your building performs– I’m here to make your design life easier and more enjoyable. I hope to spark a fresh fire in your heart for craftsmanship in this digital age. I hope every minute invested here multiplies your impact on your current project.
I hope you discover a deeper sense of joy, delight, and fascination for the thousands of lives that will be touched tomorrow because of what you design today. I hope 7fold earns a place in your practice as a trusted guide for the best tools, workflows, and strategies as you progress in your career.
As always, stay curious and I look forward to seeing you more on the inside!
-Timothy
A Closer Look - Professional Experience
Founder | 7fold
The mission of 7fold is committed to unlocking the full potential of creative professionals practicing architecture through our suite of robust, highly curated education solutions. Each resource is crafted to deliver actionable knowledge, skill and insight for getting high quality returns on every minute invested. We recognize and appreciate the rapid pace of change our industry is undergoing catalyzed by technology which is why we are committed to being the AEC’s trusted guide to meet rising demands.
Our technical solutions are designed to incorporate a holistic approach that leverages the best each tool can offer to result in the highest quality finished products. Part of accomplishing this mission is to facilitate technology discussions on best practices and bring together brilliant minds from all corners the industry. We are committed to cultivating a mindset that is open, curious, and aware of the core concepts that underpin all modern technology advancements. This helps shape designers to be resilient and flexible capable of rapidly adapting to new technologies as they emerge on the market or are developed in-house as proprietary tools. 7fold seeks to catalyze this conversation so practitioners feel empowered whether they choose to build or buy technology solutions for their specific project needs and style.
Aug 2023 - Present
Regional Design Technology Lead | Gensler
Gensler is the world’s largest architecture firm with nearly 7,000 employees and $1.5B in annual revenue as of 2023. I’ve had the chance to collaborate with hundreds of designers indirectly impacting thousands of active projects in the Southwest region. I work closely with teams and individuals to understand their existing workflows and provide tailored recommendations for their digital strategy to set their project up for success timed to each milestone.
On a monthly basis I host training and workshops that routinely gather 80+ designers from across the firm in addition to providing direct 1-1 support. One emphasizes topics on simulation software analyzing building performance and another is a round table discussion focused on design synergy in practice. I also create custom content to drive adoption of Gensler’s proprietary tools and guide designers as they integrate them in daily design practice.
Seeing the common questions, frustrations, needs and wants of so many designers first hand has helped me understand how to provide training that compresses the learning curve as much as possible while balancing how much project context is useful to make a workflow your own.
Nov 2020 - Aug 2023
Computational Designer | Martin Bros.
I contributed on a major project in the Los Angeles area that must remain confidential. My focus was on the design-build fabrication of ornamental light-gauge steel construction. Our team collaborated with robust workflows integrating the stages through design, fabrication, procurement, and installation. We relied on developing and maintaining a fully coordinated model environment in Rhino and Grasshopper. I authored automation and generative design scripts handling highly complex and variable assemblies with 8x-16x time savings in production.
Aug 2019 - July 2020
Architectural Designer | HDR
At HDR, I have had the privilege to work around some of the best minds in Healthcare, Science + Technology, and Justice Architecture practice areas. I worked on nearly all phases of the design process and always found opportunities to leverage integrating custom computational tools as part of my process. I worked on the standardizing a ‘Kit of Parts’ set of pre-fabricated construction-ready spaces for a large healthcare provider in the bay area. I collaborated on large 1,000,000+ SF hospital expansions on cross-regional teams completely in Revit, maintaining room data with dRofus, and exploring custom facade, ceiling, and artwork with Rhino and Grasshopper.
One project was completed through Schematic Design with just 1 Principal, 1 Manager, and 1 Designer (me) where I was responsible to maintain a model with 300,000+ SF of space in Revit. Needless to say the leadership was surprised when they didn’t need to find additional design support!
Countless stories could be told on quick burn proposals, custom script and data visualization charts, or custom configurations of fully parametric families in Revit. In short, I’ve always been someone who seeks to finds ways to be 1% better in their creative process every chance I get. This showed up in infographics, presentations, reports, proposals, in-house design charettes, and crisp IFC drawing sets.
July 2015 - Aug 2019
Marketing Professional | Blue Phoenix
At Blue Phoenix, my contributions involved developing brand assets for businesses such as logos, marketing brochures, and consistent brand presence across web and print mediums. I helped design, develop, and deploy websites for small businesses and optimize their page content to rank in search engines for their local markets.
Aug 2011 - May 2014
Creating in the spirit of excellence and collaboration
