From civil engineer to AI engineer
I'm Alexander Urbina Tanta, Alex for short. I build AI that reads the built world: laser scans, 360° video, photos and drawings. This is how I got here.
The short version
I studied civil engineering at Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería in Lima and started out in BIM: coordinating models for contractors and writing C# scripts on the Revit API to stop doing the same clicks twice. That habit turned into a career in software.
In 2015 I co-founded Ingenia Tek, selected for Start-Up Peru. In 2018 I became technical co-founder of Object Information in Santiago, a cloud platform for parametric 3D modeling of modular construction, selected for Start-Up Chile.
From 2021 to 2024 I worked with Mezmeriz Inc. in Ithaca, New York, on a browser point-cloud editor, a BIM modeler and a service that writes native Revit files. In 2024 I built a real-time 3D jewelry configurator for Flopo in Rio de Janeiro.
Then I went back to school: the EIT Digital Master School in ICT Innovation, first at Université Côte d'Azur and then at Aalto University, where I graduated in Data Science with honours. My thesis turned 360° video into point clouds for BIM. Alongside it I built ScanToBIM, a product that turns laser scans into floor plans and IFC models.
How I work
- I validate on real data first and report honestly what works and what fails.
- I design for cost per run and failure cases, not only demo accuracy.
- I'm looking for long-term work with a team that ships.
- COLMAP
- ACMMP
- Point Transformer v3
- SpatialLM
- Open3D
- Structure-from-Motion
- Multi-view stereo
- PyTorch
- Vision-language models
- Claude
- Gemini
- Qwen-VL
- AI agents
- Scikit-learn
- Three.js
- WebGL
- React Three Fiber
- web-ifc
- PBR materials
- Point cloud rendering
- IFC
- IfcOpenShell
- Revit API (C#)
- DXF
- BIM coordination
- Python
- TypeScript
- FastAPI
- Next.js
- PostgreSQL
- Docker
- AWS
- GCP
- Terraform
- Spanish (native)
- English (professional, TOEFL iBT 106)
The survey line
- 2026
Research Assistant
Aalto University, School of EngineeringEspoo, FinlandResearch in the "Digital Twins of processes for construction of buildings" project, funded by the Research Council of Finland: 360° video to metric point clouds on GPU clusters.
- 2025 – now
Founder and lead systems architect
ScanToBIMRemoteA SaaS that converts laser scans into DXF floor plans and IFC models, built end to end: point cloud processing, an AI agent, GPU workers, web viewer and billing.
- 2024 – 2026
M.Sc. (Tech), ICT Innovation, Data Science major
Aalto University, with honoursEspoo, FinlandEIT Digital Master School. Entry year at Université Côte d'Azur / Polytech Nice Sophia (2024–2025). Thesis on 360° video to point clouds for BIM.
- 2024
Full Stack Developer
Flopo Ltda.Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (remote)MVP of a real-time 3D jewelry configurator: Three.js engine with physically based materials, REST API and deployment.
- 2021 – 2024
Full Stack Developer
Mezmeriz Inc.Ithaca, New York (remote)Point-cloud editor, BIM modeler and a JSON-to-Revit cloud converter in C#, with AWS infrastructure in Terraform.
- 2020 – 2021
Freelance Software Engineer
Self-employedRemote3D web work for clients in Spain, the UK, Australia and the US: a retail 3D showroom, a parametric shed customizer, structural health monitoring and remote-sensing analytics.
- 2018 – 2020
Technical Co-Founder & Lead Web Developer
Object Information SpASantiago, ChileA cloud platform for on-demand 3D parametric modeling and automated manufacturing of modular construction. Selected for Start-Up Chile (Generation 20).
- 2015 – 2018
Web Developer & Co-Founder
Ingenia Tek SACLima, PeruAn online learning platform with protected video streaming and payments. Selected for Start-Up Peru (Generation 4).
- 2013 – 2014
BIM Manager & Civil Engineer
Independent engineering consultingLima, PeruBIM coordination and structural detailing for building contractors, with C# scripts on the Revit API to automate modeling.
- 2010 – 2014
Civil Engineer and B.Sc. in Civil Engineering
Universidad Nacional de IngenieríaLima, PeruFocus on BIM, hydraulics, GIS and structural engineering. First place in the faculty's student projects contest (2013).