Thousands of unique CNC parts had to be modelled, nested, labelled, cut, delivered, tracked and assembled. If a foreman could not find a part, the system failed. The documentation and associated workflow were only successful if they remained useful on the floor.

When access to the existing nesting and reporting software disappeared, I developed a custom Rhino and Python workflow to track the parts.

The tool took the nested plywood sheets, copied and reoriented the part numbers, numbered each sheet, associated every component with its sheet location and generated an alphabetised part register, with each entry suffixed by its sheet number. A process that would have required an extensive manual search was completed in approximately 45 seconds.

I called it a love letter to the foreman.

For the construction crew, it transformed searching through stacks of plywood spread around the studio into a direct lookup. The drawings and part systems made a complex bespoke cave feel like adult IKEA: labelled components, clear assembly logic and enough technical certainty for crews to build with confidence rather than improvisation.

As the project developed, my role became the live interface between model, method and floor.

I coordinated directly with construction leadership, engineers, foremen, carpenters, scaffolders, SFX and lighting. I responded to questions from the floor, resolved missing components, maintained buildable model information and translated leadership directives back into technical documentation.

I conceived and executed a lighting-access strategy using girder dollies, allowing fixtures to be rigged safely at ground level and rolled along structural beams into position atop the cave. The solution significantly reduced hazardous work at height and generated substantial labour savings across the soundstage.

Apex demonstrated that designing the technical information required for execution deserves the same rigour as the physical asset itself.

The model, drawings, part numbers, cut files and assembly logic were not separate deliverables. Together, they formed a production infrastructure that allowed a large multidisciplinary crew to construct the cave under pressure, while the comprehensive systems I deployed significantly eased that pressure each day.

Apex clarified the difference between producing drawings and designing delivery.

On a build of this scale, technical design had to do more than describe the set. It had to organise thousands of parts, support approximately 90 crew across multiple trades, reduce uncertainty and keep the physical construction moving under pressure.

By designing the information systems behind the cave, I turned complexity into something the construction team could confidently use.