CARET 6

Design 5

Professor: Kory Bieg

Team: Kory Bieg’s Design 5 Studio

Role: Lead Designer + Project Leader

Collaborators: TEX-FAB, Mitsubishi Plastics + UT Engineering

Caret 6 is an architectural installation designed to exhibit the graphic displays and prototype models for the finalists of the TEX-FAB SKIN competition. The structure consists of an inhabitable catenary vault space and an articulated ground surface that emerges from the vault to support the competition finalists. Using digital tools (Rhinoceros, Grasshopper and Kangaroo), Caret 6 was designed parametrically to generate unique formal qualities and fit the programmatic requirements for the exhibit, while allowing for the mass customization of unique pieces and connections, which were cut on a CNC router. 

The diamond modules, which are aggregated irregularly on catenary surfaces, are deconstructed into two primary elements, structural ribs and infill surfaces. The discontinuity of the ribs, which results from the irregular modules, necessitated collaboration with students and professors from the UT Cockrell School of Engineering to ensure structural integrity. 

Caret 6 has been published in Architectural Record, ArchDaily, Texas Architect Magazine, Architecture and Culture Magazine, and The Architect’s Newspaper. After the initial exhibition in the University of Texas at Austin’s Mebane Gallery, Caret 6 travelled to South by Southwest, where it was a featured art installation, and then to The University of Houston School of Architecture. 

Publications: ArchDaily, Architectural Record, Architect's Newspaper Blog, ALPOLIC Materials, Texas Architect Magazine, Architecture + Culture Magazine, ISSUE:010