Design and Analysis of Origami Emergency Sheltering: Implementation of Constraints for the Form Finding of Structures

Abstract

This project employs the art of folding, origami, to create designs from thin sheets of material. The Resch Pattern is used as the main case study due to its capability to employ different configurations. By implementing pre-engineered constraints on the facets of the pattern, this thesis designs multiple configurations of the pattern that can be used for varying architectural applications. This research will contribute towards a deeper understanding of deployable origami design for large scale architectural structures. Existing research on the application of origami design for emergency shelters typically uses patterns with only 1 degree-of-freedom, limiting the possibilities of origami design. This research proposes the application of intentional constraints within creases of the origami pattern. By doing so, not only does it enhance the stability of the resulting structures, but it also serves as a means of exploring novel form-finding techniques. Expanding the architectural expression of fundamental crease patterns. This approach relies on the creation of an efficient design workflow in which computational design and physical prototyping work seamlessly together, informing the parameters of the structures. The results of this research demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed method, producing four distinct structures from the same base crease pattern. The developed structures were then analyzed for strain, deflection, and incident radiation.