In the meantime, you can see our past tutorials at: http://www.youtube.com/user/korybieg/videos

If you are interested in private instruction or to book us for a workshop, please contact us.

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.

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.

San Francisco, CA : 2010

Design: Kory Bieg, Alexa Getting, Mona El Khafif, Lauren Tichy

Fabrication: Kory Bieg, Mona El Khafif, CCA OP Studio

OP Space was a pilot project conducted by students and faculty at the CCA URBANlab, an advanced research and design studio supporting project-based initiatives in architecture at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. The goal of the project is to demonstrate how flexible architecture and a “Zipcar” style short-term rental model can contribute to the cultural and economic development of a neighborhood by giving communities the tools to reclaim unoccupied storefront spaces on a temporary basis.

Downtown San Jose’s SoFA District was selected as a testing ground for this project because the neighborhood currently suffers from a 40% vacancy rate of street-level storefronts in its commercial core. Working with ZER01, students researched demographics, met with local community members, and proposed a series of flexible architectural prototypes. The installation is defined by hinging hexagonal sections that operate similarly to the leaves of an expandable table. By shifting the orientation of the sections a wall becomes a table, or a chair becomes a shelf.

(OP)space was installed inside the storefront space of WORKS/San José where the architectural design was tested through a series of programs created with the local community ranging from bike kitchen to fashion show to DJ lounge.