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Overview
Three primary tenants frame TEX-FAB’s methods and provide specific ways in which the collection, distribution, and sharing of information about digital fabrication and parametric modeling take place: Theoria (Lectures / Exhibitions), Poiesis (Workshops) and Praxis (Competitions / Commissions). ...More
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Praxis
Competitions are the third and most far reaching of the three TEX-FAB tenants. The competition is a platform for a very diverse set of designers to explore the potential of parametric...More
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Poiesis
Workshops are currently the primary avenue for education and direct interaction within the regional AEC. TEX-FAB maintains a policy of reserving half of all available seats for students and...More
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Theoria
Lectures / Exhibitions provided or co-hosted by TEX-FAB to date have attempted to provide a broad range of study into digital fabrication. Our lecturers represent the academic, professional...More
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Andrew Vrana
Director
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Kevin McClellan
Director
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Kory Bieg
Associate Director
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Brad Bell
Director
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Minimal Complexity
The winning project from the REPEAT Competition by Vlad Tenu. Assembled from 16 repeated parts cut from 16ga aluminum and exhibited at the University of Houston at TEX-FAB 2.0
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Cast Thicket
The winning project to the APPLIED Research Through Fabrication competition by Ken Tracy and Christine Yogiamann. A innovative use of flexible, lightweight formwork was coupled with a form-finding process to relax the structural arrangement into an optimal shape while reducing material.
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F²
F² is made from the simplest of materials: 1/2”x2”wood assembled into a grid shell, covered in folded plastic panels that capture the light. Spanning more than 50’ with only 2” of material thickness, the installation is assembled with over 4800 linear feet of spruce and 760 CNC cut Coroplast folded panels.
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Flux
The FLUX exhibition focused on the integration of digital practices and CCA MEDIAlab’s digital workshops. Organized through a series of thematic categories which explore a set of spatial logics that have been transformed through advanced digital practices: Stacked Aggregates, Modular Assemblages, Pixelated Fields, Cellular Clusters, Serial Iterations, Woven Meshes, Material Systems, and Emergent Environments.
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3xLP
This winning submission to the TEX-FAB SKIN competition conducted design research on the structural properties of textured stainless steel sheeting, which typically is used for skinning and other non-structural purposes. The team conducted performative analyses of the material, and verified the results through full-scale prototyping.
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Caret 6
Caret 6 is an installation that supports the content of an exhibition featuring the winning entry of the SKIN Design Competition, organized by TEX-FAB. The installation was completed as part of a Design V Studio offered at the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. The Studio used advanced parametric digital software and fabrication
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Mercado Picado
Metalab was retained by Greater East End to design a prototypical market kiosk for the Navigation Blvd. esplanade in the east side of Houston. They are designed with a perforated sheet metal shell roof that provides dappled light shading while retaining transparency to reduce wind loads. The perforated pattern references the tradition of “papel picado”
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Memory Cloud
RE:Site and METALAB were awarded the commision for Memory Cloud by Texas A&M for the new Memorial Student Center. Utilizing programmable LEDs, remote sensing, parametric design and digital fabrication Memory Cloud tells the story of past and present A&M, from the football field to students everyday lives displayed in the LED matrix.
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New Harmony Grotto
The project has engaged Frederick Kiesler’s esoteric concepts of “co-realism” and “continuous tension” and his early use of recursive geometry and biomorphic form in design. From reverse engineering and digital fabrication via 3D scanning to generative structural articulation, it experiments with a structural/spatial system that closely aligns with Kiesler’s originally proposal.
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Ultimate Tree House
The design provides both a camouflaged and dynamic space for children and adults to explore amongst the picturesque setting of the Dallas Arboretum. The pods are set up in polar arrays allowing for several layers of space to emerge. The inner ring of pods is articulated by 300 leaf profiles, decorated by children.
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Hardcut DMA
The project examines the capacity for material perception to be transformed as a result of introducing digital fabrication technology. The method of exploring this perception was explored through the way that paper can appear cellular or fibrous as a result of the chosen geometry (voronoi script) and the cutting process (laser cutter).
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Light Screen
This project develops the digital and physical groundwork necessary to provide design guidelines for the production of a light screen used to modulate and regulate natural and artificial light. The design of the module geometry functions as a space for distilling and reflecting light from an outside source.
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Photobooth
Designed to be an easily movable and configurable photobooth for quick high quality photos printed on the spot. The project aims to maximize material use and minimize weight and assembly time. The holes relieve the material resistance to bending along the radius defined by the adjacent part.
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Parametric Precast
Parametric Precast Concrete Panel System leverages a digital toolset to engage information within a surrounding context for the purpose of creating a more intelligent pre-cast concrete panel system. The parametrically defined geometry utilizes information of sustainable issues, logistical factors and qualitative information like non-standard panel variation and aesthetic composition.
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Aperture Flux
This research looks at the use of a modular wall system that can control, through aperture, light penetration. This is accomplished through an iterative transformation across the field of a heterogeneous wall system. The project looks at the detail of the system to facilitate a full scale construction and the precise choreography of components.
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Ceiling Cloud
The Ceiling Cloud is designed to disburse and dissipate sound through refraction and absorption created by the corrugation in the panels and their perforation. The gradient of holes are calibrated to allow more light to penetrate in the center of the space away from the walls.
