Design Faculty Art Installation Lights Up Austin’s 2024 Creek Show
To celebrate ten years of the transformation of Austin’s Waller Creek into restored urban parks and trails, Waterloo Greenway and AIA Austin have commissioned an “all-star” team of Austin-based artists and designers to create light-based installations for their annual Creek Show. Two of those all-stars are School of Architecture faculty Kory Bieg and Clay Odom.
Like the majority of the School of Architecture’s faculty, Bieg and Odom are active practitioners and are frequently involved in the Austin community. Bieg is an associate professor of architecture and owner of the practice OTA+ and Odom is an associate professor of interior design and owner of Studio MODO. Together, they run Plume Design Lab, a collaborative design studio focused on using digital fabrication and emerging technologies to create future-forward spaces and objects. One of their most well-known public art installations is PLUME, which resides at the Austin Bergstrom International Airport.
For the Creek Show, Bieg and Odom created Alluvial, a steel structure designed to be a manifestation of the impacts generated by the Waller Creek “Confluence” project and the geological result of various forms of water interacting with land. Layering surfaces, lights, and finishes, the resulting installation engages the physical, cultural, and environmental context around it.
In describing the project’s design, Bieg and Odom note: “Defined by a dynamic line and angle, Alluvial gains resolution through variations informed by both internal and external variables. Formal gestures such as water droplets, rippling pools, waveforms, and lake topographies are overlaid to reflect the site’s evolving qualities, adding depth to the line with spatial eddies, surface articulation, and graphic projections.”
Fabricated in partnership with Andalusia Design, Alluvial’s construction employs a network of 3D tiles made from laser-cut, light-gauge folded steel that forms a perforated surface. Behind the surface, integrated lighting creates a soft, veiled effect that contrasts with the form’s sharpness. Projected shadows on the translucent back surface amplify the interplay of overlapping elements, enhancing the project’s complexity.
Bieg and Odom both specialize in using new and emerging technologies for experimental design. Odom’s research centers on the generation and manipulation of subjective outcomes — spatial, contextual, experiential, and para-cinematic — through advanced techniques, fabrication, and installation methods. Bieg is an active contributor to Austin’s technology ecosystem, serving as chair of the TxA Emerging Design + Technology conference and co-director of TEX-FAB Digital Fabrication Alliance.
Members of the Austin community will have the opportunity to view Alluvial and many other light-based installations from local artists and designers at Creek Show from Nov. 8-16. All proceeds from the ticketed event will benefit the Waterloo Greenway and its mission to maintain the 35-acre urban park system.
