NEWS

Louisiana Tech architecture graduate Michael McCune, today an Imagineer for Walt Disney, visits campus Monday, April 1 as the School of Design’s most recent ARCH50 Lecturer in a continuing celebration of 50 years of architecture at the University.

McCune (BS Art Studio ’07, MA Architecture ’08) will speak on “Design— Technology — Imagineering” at 4:30 p.m. in Wyly Auditorium. All are welcome, especially job seekers.

“We hire not only architects and interior designers,” McCune said, “but also engineers, graphic designers, theater lighting/acoustic engineers, writers, artists, game developers, and software engineers.”

“The purpose of the ARCH50 lecture series is to celebrate excellence among our alumni and to inform our current students of the rich legacy of the Architecture Program at Louisiana Tech University,” said Tech’s School of Design Director, Karl Puljak. “Michael’s path within the profession of architecture has been primarily focused on the role technology plays in how we describe, design, and build experiences. His current position as a Disney Imagineer further recognizes this pursuit of excellence and his interest in pushing boundaries of technology and how we experience it.”

“I had the pleasure of teaching Michael during my first year at Louisiana Tech,” said Kevin Singh, an architect, an associate professor in Tech’s School of Design, and the U.S. Green Building Council’s Innovative Champion Award winner for 2018. “Michael was always pushing the boundaries of design through the use of technology and learning any new software he could get his hands on. It was clear in Tech’s design studio that he was very interested in how this translated into real projects in the built environment. His professional trajectory to become a Disney Imagineer — within a decade out of school — further exemplifies this pursuit and passion, which translating design ideas into amazing experiential architecture.”

McCune began his professional career at Trahan Architects in Baton Rouge, and after four years there moved to New York City to join CASE, an industry leading technology consultancy at the time, where for the next years he directed and led teams that focused on Building Information Modeling (BIM) implementation and project consulting in the latter stages of the building design and construction processes for world renown architects, engineers, contractors, and owners.

After CASE was acquired by WeWork, McCune joined Walt Disney Imagineering as a Project BIM Manager, where he led the tactical overall and daily approach of how the Toy StoryLand project team leveraged BIM and other technologies to optimize performance through design and downstream into fabrication and construction. Michael then led the use and adoption of BIM technologies on attractions for the Atlantic region as the Regional BIM Manager.

Today he serves as a BIM & Virtual Design and Construction Product Lead, leveraging his experience on projects and industry process to lead a software development team, developing custom technologies that impact the global design and construction of Disney’s theme parks, cruise chips, resorts, and retail experiences.