Meet the #BIMTracker: Daniel Hurtubise

Let’s start with what first got me into Revit. Back in 1999, I ran into a guy called Leonid Raiz who happened to be one of the founders of Revit, back when it was still called Charles River Software. That’s how I got into this market. 

It’s hard to remember this far back; all my hair was on my head then!. No one was using 3D modeling back in the day; it was the beginning of it all. And nobody was talking about BIM either.

So what got me into BIM was Revit! *Not saying Revit is BIM*, but it was Revit that got me hooked. That was it, it’s been a love story since then. Sometimes a love-hate story, but that’s what pushes progress too.

We’re probably best known for our Dynamo package, but we offer many other services including development (we have a series of Revit plug-ins) and BIM management. A lot of our activities revolve around project management, user management, and data management. 

The coolest thing is definitely the team at Data Shapes. It’s the coolest thing ever to start a company with friends. 

I would say we are also lucky to work with amazing people on awesome projects and teams like RPBW. We have some great new clients too, like NAom, who we are working with on the new build of the Montparnasse tower. It’s the 2nd tallest building in Paris and a huge project for the Olympics. Hardel le Bihan is insanely cool to work with as well. The two partners have such great energy and are new into Revit. We’re working with them on another great project: a large, multi-purpose, eco-friendly project with Sir David Adjaye.

I’ve been extremely lucky to work on some of the tallest buildings on the Paris skyline, like the Palais de Justice, and Montparnasse. But my most memorable project is totally different: it’s Columbia University in New York.

Why? So many reasons. It’s what got me to work in France in 2005, because it’s what got me working with RPBW. It’s still ongoing because we have a new building in the making. It has been amazing to work on a facility for over 14 years and to watch both the technological evolution and the people evolve.  Some of the original team members are still on board which is insanely cool. 

All the pieces still fit together. Serge Drouin was an architect in the project when he started and is now a partner here [at RPBW]. This guy is the most amazing, intelligent, nice guy I know, and a super Revit user. He’s French but working in the NYC office. I still call him for help on architectural problems for a solution and he turns it around so fast. It’s been awesome to see the people evolve along with the project.

I looked into [issue tracking] solutions about two years ago, and I started playing with BIM Track. Then I got an email from a guy called Carl Veillette [BIM Track’s co-founder]. The email was all in English. Veillette, I thought it had to be in Quebec, where I’m from. Turns out this dude is from Levis. 

It’s the coolest solution for what it does out there in the market for what it does. And I’ve thought this well before I knew they were from Quebec! 

I won’t say the team is more important than the technology, but it’s a huge factor to be able to work with reliable people. There’s always someone I can call at BIM Track to find help with something, whether it’s BIM Track-related or not. One of the biggest value-adds of BIM Track is the people. It’s part of their success as well. I can genuinely say they have become friends.

It’s the end of the never-ending story of problems disappearing into the black hole. Imagine you can track everything you’ve asked for, every problem you can find - that’s BIM Track.

I’m excited to see technologies converge. I cannot wait to see VR being properly integrated into project review, I’m excited by technology like BIM 360 that extends the collaboration at so many levels…. Heck I’m excited to meet new people 😊

Whisky because it’s perfect.