Founder's Notes

Dr. Ganapathy Mahalingam of North Dakota State University has founded this software company, Digital Design Solutions LLC, in the state of North Dakota. Using this software company as a springboard, support is being sought in the form of investments, to launch a whole new economic sector in the state of North Dakota that would create information technology products for the design professions such as architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, urban design and planning. Digital Design Solutions LLC was founded in 2009 to create a wide range of digital solutions for the design professions such as freestanding software modules, modules for existing software, turnkey services, and training in the use of digital technologies. The company has already developed a software product that can be used by architects to design the preliminary spatial enclosure of various types of auditoriums. This is the first in a long line of software products, which would provide on-demand design to design professionals. Design professionals would be able to purchase software modules, which would generate digital design components that meet specific performance criteria. Based on technology created by Dr. Mahalingam, for which a U.S. patent was sought and denied, these software modules would be created over a number of years by young software professionals in North Dakota, for thousands of components that design professionals use in their design projects. Initial estimates are that this could be the start of a multi-billion-dollar economic sector, which could grow even further if extended to the engineering disciplines as well. Support is being sought to help grow the software company and lay the foundation of what could become a very large economic sector in North Dakota. Partnership opportunities with the Fargo campus of Microsoft, in order to develop such software products, are envisioned and will be explored as part of this project. There is strong potential for a synergistic partnership with the Microsoft campus in Fargo, North Dakota, and global outreach. It is conceivable that Digital Design Solutions LLC could be the precursor for a whole new division of Microsoft at the Fargo campus that would focus on creating software products for the design professions. In the near future, we are projecting the creation of what we call the Design Systems Line, a series of Android apps and Windows software for various spatial design tasks that are common to design professionals. Concept Description: On-demand-design – Customized software modules that can generate design components for design professionals such as architects, interior designers, landscape architects and planners. The components are parameterized, and all the designer has to do is to set the various parameters relevant to the component and generate the designs with the click of a mouse. The designer can then output the component in a digital format for use in CAD, modeling, rendering and animation applications using a pay-per-use transactional model. Opportunity: Design professionals have stringent demands on their time while designing a product. The proposed software modules shorten the time required to generate candidate designs of various computer-based components used by design professionals that perform according to specific criteria. This reduces the time taken by the designer in the initial design phase to a fraction of what it would take normally, while providing an optimized candidate design solution. This reduces the inefficiency in the trial-and–error method that is used currently in the initial stages of the design process. Innovative Solution: A software module for the design of proscenium-type auditoriums, the Auditorium Design System, has been developed. Using the software module, an architect can set the various parameters associated with the design of an auditorium, such as seating capacity, reverberation time, time-delay gaps of sound reflections, etc., and generate the spatial form of the auditorium with the click of a mouse. The architect can then export the spatial form of the auditorium in a CAD format for further design development. The product is unique and does not have any competitors currently. The Auditorium Design System is the first product to be brought to the market by Digital Design Solutions LLC. Other similar software modules can be developed for various design applications using the underlying technologies. Market: The architecture profession is in the process of converting to the building information modeling paradigm. There is also a widespread commitment to sustainable design. Both of these challenges are forcing architects to focus on the creation of high-performance design components in a digital format that can be re-used. These digital design components are quickly becoming the new asset base of design professionals. Any avenue that enables design professionals to augment their asset base in a cost effective and time saving manner will be welcomed by the design professions. Design professional are using digital media more and more for their design tasks and are re-using high-performance design components in multiple projects. The software modules produced by Digital Design Solutions LLC take advantage of this trend and provide high quality design components in a digital format for these design professionals.The future is wide open. This business model will create a new cadre of design professionals who develop software modules which in turn generate high quality design components in a digital format. As the demand for these professionals rise, so will the cost of producing the software modules.

A full-featured professional grade Android app called the Auditorium Design System for the design of proscenium type auditoriums was launched by Digital Design Solutions LLC on Google Play on December 30, 2015. This completes the releases planned for 2015. This new release is a follow up offering to the Android app called Energy Cost Calculator, to determine the energy costs of simple buildings, which was launched on Google Play on June 21, 2015 (Father's Day). These launches commemorate the memory of Mr. G. Mahalingam, a noted technologist in the field of coated abrasives in India, who is the father of the founder of Digital Design Solutions LLC.