Abstract:
Origami is the art of paper
folding which originates from Japan
as a recreational activity. By limiting
the input to strictly folding, the craft
puts an emphasis on building forms
with planar facets, resulting in designs
with distinct geometrical appearances,
symmetry and proportion.
Rigid flat-folding origami is a subset
of paper folding that begins to bridge
the simple craft with practical
applications. Rigid origami treats
facets as non deformable surfaces
and allows components of origami to
be interpreted as buildable elements.
On the other hand, flat-folding origami
taps into the transformative properties
of folding facets whereby an origami
structure can be flattened to a smaller
volume through a single motion.
Origami has been recently explored
in engineering and has shown great
potential in the fields of astronomy and
nano-engineering. In comparison, the
use of origami in architecture mostly
exists as seldom, static planar forms,
leaving much to be desired. There are
many overlooked elements to origami
that can benefit the ways structures
are manufactured, transported and
assembled.
Foldable structures differ from
conventional construction processes
as they are able to be manufactured
offsite, stacked for transportation, and
assembled onsite. The fundamentals of
origami is to create structures through
the process of folding, and can be
adapted to the fields of architectures.
This thesis will explore the kinematics
of folding surfaces, the means to
design tessellated models and the
process of converting two dimensional
origami to buildable structures which
thickness. A discussion will be made
on the viability of folding structures
in architecture, and the thesis will
showcase a final design that highlights
the capacity of origami.
