topic Remembering Dwight in General discussions

Remembering Dwight

Gordana Radonic — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 14:24:38 GMT

Dear Community members,

We are very sad to learn and share that one of the greatest inspirations among Archicad users, Dwight Atkinson, has recently passed away.

Many of us were looking up to him, for many of us he was one of the main motivators to start using Archicad.

I was very touched to read @Fabrizio Diodati's comment on the Facebook thread, which I think describes the best what kind of heritage Dwight Atkinson has left us, so I will quote:

"Archicad is Archicad thanks to people like him."

We want to express our condolences to Dwight's family and all of his friends here and worldwide.

Dwight was a great contributor to Graphisoft Community and Archicad-Talk with more than 7 000 posts, he left us some amazing books and materials but had an even bigger footprint for those he met and inspired in person.

Graphisoft team

Re: Remembering Dwight

Erwin Edel — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 14:10:05 GMT

His books for lightworks and artlantis and contributions here on AC-talk has been a great help for me too starting out with AC 16 years ago now. His humor was always on point! Sorry to hear about his passing.

My condoleances to his family and friends.

Remembering Dwight

Aaron Bourgoin — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 14:25:05 GMT

Thanks for Everything Dwight.

Re: Remembering Dwight

Djordje — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 14:50:04 GMT

Never met him in person, but felt I knew him, being in touch for looked like ages. Incredible personality and inquiring mind.

i remember a 360 panorama from a Nottingham ACUA (?) meet, with three Dwights and only one of everybody else. It did always feel like that many Dwights are around.

RIP, my ArchiFriend

Re: Remembering Dwight

Rafal SLEK — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 14:58:41 GMT

So sad.

Re: Remembering Dwight

Karl Ottenstein — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 16:57:35 GMT

This is incredibly sad news! For anyone new enough to our ARCHICAD community to not have known Dwight through his posts, you can find them through his profile here:

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1411

Dwight was incredibly creative and kind and had a quirky sense of humor that even if the listener wasn't amused at times, he always was. I first met Dwight somewhere around 2000 at a GDL workshop that David Nicholson-Cole led in Seattle, for which Dwight drove down from Vancouver to assist (helping individuals with problems while David taught). We stayed connected for years, meeting up in person at several workshops where we each led sessions, and I reviewed/edited both of his rendering books with him, learning so much in the process.

One of Dwight's most important lessons to everyone doing computer rendering is to "Think Like a Photographer" - which includes understanding light. Even as an amateur photographer, I never really appreciated light until I worked with Dwight. (What kind of light is on sunlit surfaces? what kind in shadows? what kind bounced off of a reflective material? etc.)

As mentioned by others, Dwight had several of his public art installations accepted in the Vancouver area. They were modeled and rendered in ARCHICAD of course for his proposals. All were kinetic sculptures, as I recall. Here is a link to three of them:

https://covapp.vancouver.ca/PublicArtRegistry/ArtistDetail.aspx?FromArtistIndex=False&ArtistId=258

He also had a Canadian radio show for a while.

We fell out of touch some years ago, and I'm really sad that in spite of intending to, I didn't get back in touch with him before he passed. Sending warm memories to his wife Jennifer Lamb. ❤️

PS I have better photos somewhere, but here's an old picture (16 years ago or so?) of Dwight (left) and me when he visited my farm in Idaho on his drive to see his parents in Manitoba.

Re: Remembering Dwight

Kristian Bursell — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 21:19:47 GMT

Always respected his contributions on this forum.

Condolences to his family. I hope they know that he was appreciated far and wide.

Re: Remembering Dwight

Nuge — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 22:58:33 GMT

Sad to hear of the passing of Dwight, he was a great inspiration and very helpful in my early days of 3d rendering with Archicad, and as mentioned above a very funny man indeed.

Condolences to his family and friends.

Re: Remembering Dwight

Barry Kelly — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 01:47:51 GMT

I never met Dwight in person, but as mentioned already with his presence here and in the community and his books which I loved, I feel I knew him.

My condolences to his family and those that did know him.

Dwight Atkinson - still Canada's funniest Architect.

Barry.

Re: Remembering Dwight

David Collins — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 08:02:23 GMT

Dwight’s contributions were always kind, funny and brilliant. The Global Illumination is a little dimmer without him.

Re: Remembering Dwight

Djordje — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 09:37:18 GMT

Ah, the immortal ArchiPUB…

Re: Remembering Dwight

glenn_peters — Sun, 28 Nov 2021 15:43:01 GMT

I first met Dwight at an Archicad meeting in Vancouver in 1992 (Pal Szabo from GSCNE in Toronto would host these to showcase new/upcoming features for existing and potential new customers). Dwight had just purchased his first computer – a Macintosh Quadra 950 – and was in the process of buying Archicad 4.1 and was looking for assistance from someone already using both (I bought my first Mac in 1984 and had been familiar with Archicad since 1989).

We became friends and while I initially shared my insights with him during multiple visits to his home — he had converted the entire basement into a workshop for his artistic endeavours with his new computer set-up in the front room — his incredible, creative focus soon had him exploring aspects of Archicad I had not delved into, resulting in some exciting discussions as I marvelled at his rapidly advancing knowledge and techniques.

Dwight was one of the most unique individuals I have met and his impact on the Archicad community and all those who had a chance to meet him cannot be measured. I hadn’t spoken to him in a few years (last was when he was competing for the public art commission at the new main Fire Hall I designed), but he was an avid swimmer and my wife would occasionally see him (and his wife Jennifer) at the large outdoor Kitsilano pool in Vancouver during the summer months.

Rest in peace Dwight.

Re: Remembering Dwight

Ben Cohen — Sun, 28 Nov 2021 08:15:41 GMT

I always made sure I read Dwight's posts.. They are/were genuinely entertaining. He will certainly be missed by anyone who has used this forum.

There are so many gems, but this is one of my favourites..

"Most architects, like my avatar does, want to merely wave their arms and make something happen"

Found here...

This is the first post I have 'Liked'..

Re: Remembering Dwight

Djordje — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 07:18:39 GMT

Yes… he called it “architect’s tai chi”

Re: Remembering Dwight

Eduardo Rolon — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 11:41:06 GMT

My contribution to DA's book.

Re: Remembering Dwight

Karl Ottenstein — Thu, 11 May 2023 16:17:03 GMT

Dwight, along with Fabrizio Diodati, was posthumously inducted into the Archicad User Hall of Fame, hosted by Skewed and sponsored by Graphisoft and others:

https://www.skewed.com.au/about/archicad-hall-fame

My 4 minute video honoring his contributions can be seen in the inductee session beginning at time code 14:14 here:

https://youtu.be/sYves9drp9s?t=854

Take a look at the whole session to meet all seven inaugural inductees who have contributed so much to our community!