Many residential developments today try to balance the issues of density and materiality with neighborhood scale, and the Origami residences by Waechter Architecture are no exception. 

The 12-unit townhome development occupies an entire city block in northeast Portland's Piedmont neighborhood and is designed by the architects to present a sculptural configuration that simultaneously gestures to the surrounding ranch houses while also pointing toward a more urban vision for the city. 

To achieve this somewhat contradictory design objective, the architects deploy a continuous wall of folded facades that hearkens to old school row house and pitched roof typologies all at once. "We wanted to avoid a strategy of either fragmented individual buildings or a monolithic block," writes Ben Waechter, founder and principal of Waechter Architecture. 

The middle ground the designers strike combines this striking formal approach with humble materials like Hardie siding and asphalt shingles to create formal and visual ties between the new buildings and the surrounding neighborhood. The flattened materials, when combined with vertically oriented, flush-mounted windows, help to create a series of optical illusions that define the project's urban character. From certain views, the facades appear paper-thin, while from other vantages, their volumetric character channels more traditional housing types.

Inside, the buildings feature streamlined floor plans that position interior rooms in conflict with the facade articulations and crystalline roof geometries. The arrangement results in dramatic interior vaulting along each unit's upper floors, where lofted, mis-aligned gables help to create dramatic overhead spaces. 

Along the backside of each home, CMU block walls divide each parcel to create secluded garden courtyards that open up toward an alleyway.