Origami-based construction method yields lightweight, load-bearing structures on architectural scales.
MIT researchers and collaborators developed a modular origami-based method for building lightweight, rigid structural shells from flat sheets, and demonstrated it with a 23-foot aluminum sculpture at the Boston Public Library.
Researchers at MIT have developed a construction method based on origami that builds lightweight, load-bearing shells from modular pieces cut from flat sheets of material. According to MIT, the structures can be cheaper and easier to assemble than those made with some conventional techniques, and they use less material.
The work draws on folded tessellations created by the artist and scientist Ron Resch in the 1960s. Instead of folding one sheet into a whole shape, the team makes unit cells that are folded individually and then connected. Lead author Alfonso Parra Rubio, a graduate student at MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, developed a way to combine two tripod-shaped unit cells into a building block with zero degrees of freedom, meaning it is completely rigid. Connected blocks form a network of interwoven beams that is very stiff and light, and the shell needs no interior support columns.
Designing such blocks by hand would be very difficult, so Parra Rubio and graduate student Erik Strand built an automated solver. It produces a set of manufacturable unit cells for a user's desired structure. The design files can go to a CNC milling machine, which cuts the pieces from flat sheets such as aluminum.
Builders fold the units and join them using only hand tools such as screwdrivers, with no large-scale welding equipment. The cells are designed so they settle into the correct shape during assembly. Simulations indicated the structures were about 3.5 times stiffer than those made with some other origami-based techniques, while using less material. MIT says the technique needs only about two-thirds as much material as some other forms of structural origami.
To show the approach at scale, the team assembled a 23-foot folded aluminum sculpture hung in the atrium of the Boston Public Library. Parra Rubio said a team with no professional construction experience built it in a matter of days. The researchers next want to test the method on larger architectural structures, explore more complex unit cell geometries, and develop a user-friendly design interface.
The paper appears in the International Journal of Solids and Structures. Co-authors are Riccardo Foschi of the University of Bologna, Rupert Maleczek of the University of Innsbruck, Tomohiro Tachi of the University of Tokyo, and senior author Neil Gershenfeld of MIT.
At a Glance
- The method produced structures about 3.5 times stiffer than some other origami-based techniques in simulations, and the technique needs about two-thirds as much material.
- Researchers assembled a 23-foot folded aluminum sculpture, hung in the Boston Public Library atrium.
- A team with no professional construction experience built the sculpture in a matter of days, according to Parra Rubio.
- The findings appear in the International Journal of Solids and Structures, with authors from MIT, Bologna, Innsbruck and Tokyo.
Sources
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