EMAIL RECEIVED FROM DAVID NICHOLSON COLE (DNC): I had an email from Jennifer, wife of Dwight Atkinson one of our most favourite teachers in ArchiCAD University days. He made a huge impact in 2000-2005, including his special one day course in Lightworks for which he also wrote a book. He also helped me with GDL courses in Los Angeles and Seattle. He was a contributor to ArchiCAD pub and ArchiCAD talk. He contributed a chapter to my GDL cookbook. I visited him in Vancouver and we had a day out sailing, around Bowen Island.
He has been suffering for a couple of years now and he finally passed away on November 16, 2021. Maintaining his good comic humour and irony right up to the end. He achieved a good number of public art sculptures, using ArchiCAD. Jennifer will be be able to provide those details. If any of you remember his wife, Jennifer Lamb, if you knew Dwight then she would love to hear from you, you can leave comments, snippets or anecdotes about Dwight in the comments below. She enjoyed coming to Nottingham for the summer school and did brave explorations by bus, train and taxi around the region.
Yours, in sorrow for the loss of a dear friend,
– David
Omg!
I cannot believe.
A piece of ARCHICAD story and a good friend… he will always stay in my heart.
So sorry!
Condolences!
Dwight was always a source of inspiration, good humour and sage advice. His work on Lightworks rendering was incredible. His contribution to the community was unique and leading.
Sometime in the early 2000s we had a chat about the quality of light in different latitudes, that resulted in me strolling around Dubai and taking photos at various times of the day, to send him to analyze.
Life and work get in the way of being in touch, despite various contact platforms that we are flooded with. I have mentioned him in a conversation not a week ago… and have hoped that he is well.
Rest in peace, my ArchiFriend.
So sad to hear about his passing. I never met him personally, but he was one of the bright spots in the Archicad-related communities. I enjoyed his writings and books on visualisation: so much more than a technical manual, they were filled with tips, knowledge, out-of-the-box thinking and joy, fun. He will be missed.
While I never had the privilege to meet him in person, I knew Dwight through Archicad-Talk. He was a top contributor and stands among the most active community members in the history of AC-Talk with his 7001 posts. We were happy to see him appear on our new Community earlier this year. He was always there, ready to help and share his wealth of knowledge with fellow Talkers anytime. I learned rendering through his book. His contribution to the Archicad community is everlasting. He will be remembered by Graphisoft employees and Archicad users forever.
Greg Kmethy
VP, Customer Success
Graphisoft
So sorry to hear this news. I spent some memorable time with Dwight in New Zealand. He really was an impactful Archicad teacher. RIP Dwight and condolences to Jennifer.
My condolences to his wife and relatives.
What a sad moment for the Archicad community! Reading anything from him was always a delight.
May Dwight rest in peace.
This is incredibly sad news! For anyone new enough to the 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.) I don’t look at anything, much less take any photo, without having Dwight and the lessons he taught me in the back of my mind.
As mentioned by others, Dwight had several of his public art installations accepted in the Vancouver area. There 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, who I met in 2004 in Boston. Dwight will live on in every one of us who he touched. It is so sad that he is gone too soon.
Karl