San Francisco, CCA Nave: 2009

Design: Kory Bieg, Andre Caradec, Andrew Kudless

Fabrication: Kory Bieg, Andre Caradec, CCA Flux Studio

Exhibition Curation: Andrew Kudless, Marc Fornes, Ila Berman

The Flux Installation explores the possibilities of parametric modeling and digital fabrication at California College of the Arts (CCA). Produced using CCA’s CNC router and advanced parametric modeling techniques, the structure undulates in plan and section producing a sense of expansion and contraction in the long nave space at CCA’s San Francisco campus. Through the use of parametric modeling and a series of custom designed scripts, the installation design can be quickly updated to address new design criteria. From the thickness of the ribs to the overall twisting form and perforated skins, the geometry is controlled through a complex set of relationships between its formal, performative, and fabrication constraints. Each component of the final design was rebuilt in grasshopper as a parametric model. This method allowed us to make real time adjustments to the form that would be automatically updated and ready for fabrication. We were constantly making changes to the design as the content of the show was finalized, sometimes only a few hours before the file was sent to the CNC mill.

The exhibition was divided into 8 categories and included work from over 30 offices. Each category contained four to eight projects that represent a particular design approach. The surface of the installation adjacent to each category of work is perforated using a technique related to one of the projects from that category.

The installation, which is over 100 feet long, was built in 2 weeks. Every section of the installation is unique and numbered in sequence, allowing the installation to be easily assembled and disassembled in less than 3 hours.

San Francisco, CA : 2011

Design Lead: Kory Bieg, Andre Caradec

Project Team: Kory Bieg, Andre Caradec, CCA Rapid Studio

Fabrication: Kory Bieg, Andre Caradec, CCA Rapid Studio

After months of research into why prefabrication has not been the glowing success everyone claimed it would be, we developed our answer: mix prefabrication with the current trend of mobile food trucks. We built the first prototype, Rapid Type: A Mobile Coffee platform, in the Fall of 2010 as part of a studio I offered with Andre Caradec (S/tudio U/nder M/anufacture) at California College of the Arts.

We were given a generous donation of Alpolic, a unique aluminum composite material manufactured by Mitsubishi Plastics, Inc. To explore the full potential of the material, we decided to co-teach an experimental design studio with one goal: push the material as far as possible within the limits of currently available CNC fabrication technology.

Though Rapid Type targets the slow drip coffee movement, the larger agenda of the studio was to explore the gap between highly-designed prefabricated buildings and under-designed food trucks. Prefabrication remains a buzz word in the field of architecture, but has failed to deliver a reliable and cost-saving economic model for building construction. In fact, the only prefabricated structures that have performed consistently well are not buildings at all. The appearance of food trucks has exploded in the past few years and their visibility is only continuing to grow. The studio decided to latch on to this growing trend by offering a new and unique design using proven methods of mass manufacturing. Rapid Type is a full-service mobile sales platform that offers high-design, ease of assembly, and full mobility. The project combines the best of prefabricated building construction mixed with the financial vitality of the food truck movement. The prototype is designed to accommodate a variety of consumer markets.

Design by OTA+ (Kory Bieg and Alexa Getting)

This project was an off-shoot from a series concrete screen panels we were developing to test the limitations of Ductal High-Performance Concrete. For this particular pattern, we decided to prototype some small scale molds in which we could pour different materials to test durability and performance. We settled on Silicon for the materials ability to flex and its translucent properties. Although the design is for one unit, the pattern will tile seamlessly. The pattern was developed as a 3ds Max script. The parameters of each cell can be limitlessly reconfigured to produce a series of entirely unique units. The data that defines a particular configuration of cells is directly exported to the CNC Mill for immediate fabrication.

Installation : 2010

Design by OTA+ (Kory Bieg and Alexa Getting)

The Platelet Partition is one permutation of a multi-layered organizational system that uses material difference and scalar variability to create asymmetrical carapaces. Each carapace is supported by a small group of branching vertical tubes which are suspended between clusters of horizontal bridges. The rigid backbone ties into the flexible carapace to form an integrated and structurally sound partition that seamlessly tiles and can be parametrically reconfigured according to size, program and/or use.

The form of the Platelet Partition is based on a grid and diagonal pattern (initial metric drawing) developed within the  2’ x 8’ x 8’ size limit. Though it began with a symmetrical pattern, asymmetrical regions were activated as the carapace outlines to allow for seamless tiling in the event the partition is repeated to form a larger surface. The pattern continues to guide the formation of each component of the partition assembly, including the vertical and horizontal structural system and the surface perforation on both the vertical structure and the carapaces.

Each region selected from the initial metric drawing varies in scale per component to further blur the edge of a tiled partition unit, but also to limit the appearance of smooth gradients; a condition typical of many parametrically design wall systems. The multi-layered Platelet Partition benefits from the advantages intrinsic to parametrically designed wall systems, including varied programmatic opportunities and adaptability, while avoiding the limitations imposed by a single component system.

Adjunct Professor Kory Bieg

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Taipei, Taiwan : 2011

Design by OTA+ (Kory Bieg and Alexa Getting)

This building proposal challenges the traditional definition of a museum and the conventional relationship between building and site. The ground floor of the building is reduced to a nominal footprint, enclosing only enough space for basic services, structure and ticketing functions. The ground plane is primarily reserved for exterior public space, including an art park, Hall of Fame, and garden walk.  The bulk of the program and building mass are split by the open ground floor. Half of the building is coupled with the earth while the other half hovers in the air. The purpose is twofold;  to minimize the damaging effects of extreme local weather by harnessing environmental flows toward productive outcomes and to re-conceptualize the identity of a modern art museum. The manicured roof plane of the below ground program is pocketed with water absorbing vegetation and catchment systems, while the hovering museum above expands to form open atriums, allowing diffuse light to brighten the space and passive airflow to comfortably condition the building.

The program of the museum is interconnected. The Contemporary Museum of Art, Children’s Museum of Art and Administration are located within the floating mass. The lecture hall, parking, art resource center, library and classrooms are located below ground. The programs below ground are easily accessible and directly connected through vertical circulation tubes, providing both structural support for the floating mass above and space for movement systems, such as escalators, stairs and elevators between levels. All of the below ground programs are flooded with diffuse light passing through skylights that penetrate the landscape.

The Contemporary Museum of Art and Children’s Museum of Art are protected from harsh direct sunlight. Though the legs of the floating expanded mass open to large glazed windows, framing views of the surrounding context, the glazing is recessed and deep overhangs protect the art. Additionally, a series of large fin diffusers scatter light and wash the walls evenly. The diffusers are also equipped with sensor-driven controls that circulate fresh air throughout the space.

The positioning of the museum on the site allows for easy access regardless of how one arrives.  All paths lead to the center of the site and to a lobby for each museum. The existing road is kept and further augmented to provide access to subterranean parking and the tour bus drop-off. The design of the landscape spreads across the road and bike paths, becoming a flat, patterned inlay. The visual presence of vehicular traffic fades while the meandering pedestrian pathways dominate the ground plane.

The design of the landscape includes a field of elevated berms, meandering paths, and bench seating, all of which wrap around pockets of different land patches. Some patches are filled with natural vegetation that collect rainwater that is reused to irrigate the site. Other patches are filled with sand and gravel, covering a more substantial overflow and catchment system. Finally, where program lies below, large skylights provide diffuse light into the space.  By freeing the ground plane of enclosed semi-public space, the interface between the museum and the site offers a new experience of a museum; one that is open, friendly, and welcoming.