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A University of Arkansas researcher's quest to create stronger and lighter structures using kirigami-based design

2024-05-08T12:28:00-04:00

By making a series of cuts and folds in a sheet of paper, Baker found she could produce two planes connected by a complex set of thin strips. Without the need for any adhesive like glue or tape, this pattern created a surface that was thick but lightweight. Baker named her creation Spin-Valence. Structural tests later showed that an individual tile made this way, and rendered in steel, can bear more than a thousand times its own weight.

MIT Technology Review highlights the digital fabrication work of Emily Baker, an architect and assistant professor at the University of Arkansas' Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. Baker began her research into lightweight and sturdy Spin-Valence structures as an architecture graduate student at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

A concept for a shade structure in rural Arkansas following this design principle by Baker and collaborators Vincent Edwards, Edmund Harriss, Isabel Moreira de Oliveira, Eduardo Sosa, and Reilly Dickens-Hoffman also recently won the 2024 Forge Prize for innovation in steel architecture.

University of Buffalo architecture students displayed 3D printed "Archi-texture" in special Hong Kong Design Centre exhibition

2023-11-08T15:50:00-05:00

Students from the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Urban Planning had the opportunity to display a folded paper apparel concept as part of a special exhibition called The Full Gamut organized by the Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC).

The project stemmed from a graduate architecture media seminar led by Gregory Serweta, Maia Peck, and Lukas Fetzko where students developed "wearable assemblies of folded paper and 3D-printed resin" to produce shirt and skirt combination "structures" called “sh/kirts.” The work was displayed in the Centre’s satellite Design Spectrum space over the summer.

Students blended architecture and fashion by working with 3D modeling software and a CNC milling machine to complete a process that helps them understand the relationship between two-dimensional planes and three-dimensional modeling, according to the professors.

Image still from “sh/kirts” video courtesy of Architecture and Planning | University of Buffalo.

“Paper is a material with infini...

Get Lectured: Florida Atlantic University, Fall '23/Spring '24

2023-09-25T19:56:00-04:00

Get Lectured offers a rundown of different events and public programs taking place at schools of architecture each semester. Today, our ongoing series continues with a look at what’s in store at the Florida Atlantic University School of Architecture in 2023–24.

The poster, designed by the school's Director, Joseph Choma, literally stands out with its unique folded creases, which turn an otherwise flat medium into a three-dimensional sculptural object. "Unlike typical two-dimensional posters, each poster is folded along curved creases to produce shadows based on the specific lighting condition," Choma told Archinect.

Image courtesy of Joseph Choma/FAU School of Architecture

The Fall’s events begin September 26 with an appearance from UPenn lecturer Barry Walk. He is followed on October 11 by Florida International University’s Elisa Silva. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Ted Krueger will visit campus on October 24 for the special interdisciplinary event ‘The Mission to Mars: An Out...

Hapi Homes donates 10 “foldable” residential structures in Odesa

2023-04-07T11:33:00-04:00

A new gift facilitated by the Ukrainian Red Cross has installed 10 new “foldable” modular home designs from Hapi Homes, LLC. to the beleaguered historic port city of Odesa.

The gift is meant to house local families that have been displaced as a result of the ongoing conflict. The two-bedroom units come fully furnished and are set to be delivered later in the month in an effort to alleviate the burden on local workers – all doctors, nurses, teachers, and engineers, respectively.

The company says: “The prefabricated homes are prebuilt and folded by Hapi Homes and assembled on-site. Each home is “plug-and-play,” and will be assembled in less than 8 hours. The homes will be located on a 2.4-acre site that the city hopes will ultimately house more than 70 homes."

Image courtesy Hapi Homes LLC.

Each design offers a total of 420 square feet of space for the workers’ families and includes a kitchenette, private bathroom, dining, and living room, with double-layered tempered glass windows, ...

Joseph Choma explores foldable shelters with his students at Clemson University

2021-12-20T14:24:00-05:00

Taking as the focus the possibility of his patented, foldable fiberglass technique for use in resiliency design efforts, Design Topology Lab founder Joseph Choma is once again breaking the mold on a typology that has become increasingly relevant in the era of intensifying natural disasters born out of climate change.

Choma is currently teaching a studio at Clemson that explores the potential of fully deployable shelters for disaster relief with foldable composites.

The Cone crease pattern. Image courtesy of Joseph Choma, Clemson University.

The studio was split into four parts. The first segment included analyzing the current state of deployable shelters for disaster relief, uncovering what he calls a significant gap between lightweight tents and more permanent dwellings made from prefabricated components. This gap resulted in people usually living in tents a great deal longer than originally anticipated. The challenge for his students then became to answer the question of how flat-p...

Create kirigami paper models of Le Corbusier's iconic works with this step-by-step guide — and win a copy of the book!

2020-01-23T12:26:00-05:00

For all you diehard Le Corbusier fans or architectural model enthusiasts out there, you don't want to miss out on the upcoming Le Corbusier Paper Models: 10 Kirigami Buildings to Cut and Fold, which will be released on February 4. Thanks to Laurence King Publishing, Archinect is giving away five copies of the book to our readers!

Authored by design director and kirigami paper artist Marc Hagan-Guirey, this step-by-step guide teaches you how to create 10 of Corbusier's iconic works using the cutting and folding art of kirigami, a variation of origami. You'll learn how to create paper models of: Villa Savoye, Maison Citröhan, Villa Stein-De Monzie, Maison de Week-end, Maisons Jaoul, Unité d’Habitation, Maison de la Culture, Villa Sarabhai, High Court Chandigarh, and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.

Villa Savoye. Photo courtesy of Laurence King Publishing.

High Court Chandigarh. Photo courtesy of Laurence King Publishing.

Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. Photo courtesy of L...

See how Joseph Choma built the “Chakrasana” arch using his fiberglass folding technique

2017-09-05T14:23:00-04:00

Design Topology Lab founder Joseph Choma continues to put his fiberglass hand-folding technique to the test in a new larger scale structure called “Chakrasana”, which is currently on display at Clemson University, where Choma is an architecture professor.

Weighing in at only 400 pounds, the accordion arch pavilion was designed, fabricated by hand, and installed by Choma and a team of four people within 30 days. Design Topology Lab further explains their fabrication process below:

Photo: Joseph Choma.

“Similar to paper folding, the process begins with a crease pattern composed of mountain and valley folds. Two 54 yard long rolls of 33.3" fiberglass cloth were stitched together using a full flat felled seam to create one continuous 32' 10" x 21' 9" sheet, with zero material waste. All the edges were precisely sewn to prevent sharp, rough or frayed edges. Using a painter's masking tape, a crease pattern was drawn on the fabric surface. The intricate pattern was composed of a total of 87...

Bjarke builds a model! (and explicates his design process)

2016-07-21T14:59:00-04:00

Proving that he can hold his own against 8 to 14-year old contenders, Bjarke Ingels demonstrates some model-building basics by participating in the "Build Your Own Pavilion" challenge, whose participants are usually still in grade school. Admittedly, Bjarke's nimble paper crinkling is integrated seamlessly into an explanation of the design concept behind his "unzipped" Serpentine Pavilion. Here's the full video:

Get Lectured: University of Cincinnati, Spring '14

2014-02-05T13:03:00-05:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter/Spring 2014

Archinect's Get Lectured is up and running again for the Winter/Spring '14 term! As a refresher from our Fall 2013 guide, every week we'll feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current season. Be sure to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Our next poster for this week comes from the University of Cincinnati, School of Architecture and Interior Design (SAID). Their two-sided poster shows the year's lecture events while the other side can fold up to reveal school acronyms. See it in action below.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

All lectures take place at 4:30 pm in DAAP Room 5401 unless noted: Aronoff Center for Design, 2624 Clifton Ave. Listed below are upcoming events only. Free and open to the public.

FEBRUARY

Feb 5
Michael Pyatok / Principal - Pyatok Architects

Feb 12
Stanley ...

RoboFold nominated for “Emerging Design Studio” at the ICON Magazine Awards 2013

2013-12-02T19:01:00-05:00

In light of the upcoming prestigious ICON Magazine Awards 2013 taking place on Dec. 5 at the Oval Space in East London, we're excited to feature industrial design studio RoboFold, who is one of this year's "Emerging Design Studio" nominees. Before RoboFold's establishment in 2007 at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London, Gregory Epp — who was a student there — spent more than a decade researching curved folding techniques.

“Arum” Sculpture by Zaha Hadid Architects. Image: Matthias Urschler.

“Infinity” Sculpture by Stathis Lagoudakis. Image: Tracy Woodford.

Get Lectured: University of Toronto '13-'14

2013-11-07T17:42:00-05:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2013

Here on Archinect we recently launched "Get Lectured", where we'll feature a school's lecture series--along with their snazzy posters--for the current season. (UPDATE: We've begun adding international schools!) Check back regularly to stay up-to-date and mark your calendars for any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Today's poster comes with nifty extras from the University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

Designed and handfolded in The Netherlands by catalogtree, the Daniels' poster uses the Miura-Ori fold -- a technique created by Japanese astrophysicist Koryo Miura to simulate large solar panel arrays for space satellites. The school's poster from last year also includes the Miura-Ori fold and was featured on Fold Factory (video below).

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Listed b...

Paper Craft Weds Japanese Tradition And Modern Architecture

2012-10-31T13:30:00-04:00

“Working with paper forces me to be humble, since this medium has a character of its own that asks for cooperation,” Siliakus explains on her website. In the beginning, she worked by hand, using an X-acto knife and a bone folder to prototype each piece dozens of times.