DESIGN CONCEPT- FOLDING DESIGN (ORIGAMI)

INKLINE studio and workshop is an office project we embarked on to house our design studio and the workshop for our furniture/product manufacturing.

The design is an example of Vernacular Architecture heavily inspired by Japanese crafts – Origami, which is easily seen in the design of the roof. Origami was used to develop the roof structure which is the main element of the structure as it canopies over the frame of the building. Several iterations later using parametric modelling in Revit to control the undulation of the roof structures after establishing nodes and folding line, we realised this. A roof structure with open façade to portray a welcoming embrace to the studio which has the entrance also used for the showroom of products and furniture.

We have used locally available materials for construction with the most being WOOD. We have used wood extensively for the building frame and roof structure, also using louvers for the windows. We however used cement board for the external frame to create a canvass for the upcoming murals on the walls. The Japanese methods also came in handy once again in the waterproofing of the fence (arranged in a woven pattern) and the window hoods with the weathering technique- Shou-Sugi Ban.

We have carried over the shape of the roof into the building with exposed beams and columns and roof structure elements, the ceiling is installed along the undulation of the roof. Roof beams are however covered using plywood which is then polished to create clean lines in the interior.

For extra security at the entrance of the building and to create some illusion we have used shipping container doors as the entrance door. The entrance roof soffit is achieved using wood strips which are laid in tongue and groove installation method to accentuate the grooves, and weather naturally as the colour changes over time.