De novo designed proteins often provide a simplified scaffold by which one may interrogate metal behavior in biocatalytic systems. We will present work that exploits three-stranded coiled coils that bind a variety of metals in a wide range of coordination environments with the intent to define precise structural environments and enhanced catalytic activities. Systems that will be explored contain cobalt(II), which may serve as a spectroscopic probe as well as a catalytic center. Different perturbations from the classical canonical coiled coil architecture will be presented and discussed from evolutionary approach to protein design.