Sterner,eric art150b2 pre2014 final project

ORIGAMI_17AD vs. TODAY

a visual in the digital methodologies and current uses for origami form yoshimura__________ fabrication

uses

applications

ERIC STERNER Art 150B2 Summer - Pre 2014

ORIGAMI (noun)_ the art or process, originally Japanese, of paper folding

1

fig. 1a

paper crane

An ancient Japanese legend states that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish. Some stories believe you are granted eternal good luck, instead of just one wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury.

1 Origami, Dictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/origami (accessed: June 1, 2013).

BACKGROUND

Many architectural examples can be found that have used origami as the inspiration and precedent for the purpose of large spans. Exploiting the ideas and principles of folding paper by creating a specific pattern and then inducing stiffness and flexibility, origami can be transformed into what was initially just an art form, to a tool that can be used in engineering and architecture.

“ Folded plates are thin structural surfaces that can achieve remarkable spans without the 2 complexity of constructing a single or double curved surface.”

-Martin Bechthold

co-director of the Doctor of Design Program and director of the Harvard GSD‘s Technology Platform

2 Martin Bechthold, Innovative Surface Structures: Technologies and Applications, 1st edn (Taylor and Francis, 2000), p. 103.

INTRODUCTION Origami’s potential and use has certainly changed since 17AD. Origami has the potential to generate structurally efficient forms that are collapsible and both flexible while being rigid. There are several crease patterns such as the Yoshimura, Miura Ori, Fishbone, and Water Bomb.

All of these crease patterns have the potential to create different levels of strength and stiffness within different material applications as well as the ability to fold to a completely flat form.

For this assignment, I am looking specifically at the Yoshimura pattern. I hope to explore the potential of this form and its ability and potential to create a building fabric for temporary architecture. This pattern in particular offers structural properties that far surpass the structural capabilities of most origami forms and patterns. This is because this pattern provides increases in bending stiffness for a minimal increase in weight. The form also creates an arch form. This pattern also is capable of being altered which in turn affects the kinematic behavior of the overall geometry of the Yoshimura pattern. The other interesting property of this patterning is the fact that it has an effective Poisson’s Ratio that is negative. This means that the compressive form reduces in all directions which is favorable for architects in situations where space is an issue and the 3 need for collapsible components is crucial.

fig. 2a

yoshimura pattern flat

Today, there are two ways or methods to generate and explore the patterning of any origami. You can use computer modeling to search for the most efficient crease patterns as well as looking for the limitations of the patterning to find how the form is both efficient and weak. Secondly, and more obviously, is physical modeling of the pattern that will allow the play on materiality, and begin to play with scaling issues and constructabil4 ity questioning. Questions of gravity, nature of connections and the general behavior of the structure and structural stability are all questions I hope to examine and how this form that was used originally as a Japanese pattern has evolved over time and can be seen in modern architecture, but also can be studied to figure out future uses for the Yoshimura pattern. fig. 3a

yoshimura pattern folded

3 Vinzenz Sedlak, “Paperboard Structures” (Surrey University, 1973).

4 Tomohiro Tachi, Motoi Maubuchi and Masaaki Iwamoto, “Rigid Origami Structures with Vacummatics: Geometric Considerations,” ,http://www.tsg.ne.jp/TT/cg/VacummaticOrigamiTASS2012.pdf> (accessed 1 June 2014).

YOSHIMURA PATTERN Osvaldo L Tonon, a researcher of geometries in folded forms, allowed some insight into the science of the Yoshimura pattern in which will also be the basis for the case study later described in this paper. Tonon states that there are several parameters in which affect the way in which the pattern is able to move. Tonon uses a method in which he explores regular and irregular folding of the pattern. From this, Tonon explored the static behavior of the patterning and has led to the question of what this pattern does if stretched many different ways or twisted from a corner. In other words, how does Yoshimura work when one changes the patterning as well as what spatial relationships happen when one changes the standard patterning as shown in figure 2a. 5 In traditional origami, one only finds precedent of paper folding and rarely ever finds a different material being used. Therefore, one must question whether or not the patterning can work with different materials.

Mark Schenk, a researcher for MIT geometry and form analysis, has done a lot of research into the behavior of sheets that have been textured to use for the Yoshimura pattern. His study looks specifically at the modeling of the kinematics of the patterning and started the revolution of the research necessary to use this pattern in building form and become an architectural form standard for which can be structural and spatial for people to 6 inhabit.

Architecture over the past 100 years has now seen great change in patterning and form and forms that could not even be dreamed of before are now being built in the computer and then being built all over the world by skilled craftsman. From this change in digital technology and the research of Mark Schenk, one can now find many precedents of this form being used for practical use.

5 Osvaldo L Tonon, “Geometry of Spatial Folded Forms,” International Journal of Space Structures, 6 (1991), p. 227.

6 Mark Schenk, “Origami Folding: A Structural Engineering Approach” , ENG Journal of Space and Form, 17 (2001), p.125.

USES OF THE YOSHIMURA PATTERN

fig. 3a

United States Air Force Academy Chapel, Colorado, SOM http://www.pinterest.com/pin/113575221822691060/

USES OF THE YOSHIMURA PATTERN

air force academy building

fig. 4a

Cruise Terminal, Yokohama, FOA http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/fe/f1/dd/fef1dd10c2e0f759ccef4276312cb8c5.jpg

USES OF THE YOSHIMURA PATTERN

fig. 5a

One Way Color Tunnel, Olafur Elaisson http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/fe/f1/dd/fef1dd10c2e0f759ccef4276312cb8c5.jpg

USES OF THE YOSHIMURA PATTERN

fig. 6a

St. Paulus Church in Neuss by Fritz Schaller http://images.cdn.baunetz.de/img/1/3/4/1/9/9/5/56e31060d3406fc9.jpeg

USES OF THE YOSHIMURA PATTERN

fig. 6a

Biomedical Research Center, Vailloa Iriga

http://c1038.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/group5/building43939/media/mihu_fpc197896_full.jpg

PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION

CASE STUDY INTRODUCTION After looking at the precedents of the Yoshimura pattern in architecture, I have decided to fold the form myself and test various principles of the design in order to learn more about Yoshimura. The test was done using 2-ply chipboard that was laser cut in order to be folded and played with. The investigations were hoping to find what spatial conditions could be investigated without manipulating the pattern or the sheet of laser cut material. Rather, just a change in the overall form that could inform thinking of architects for spatial mapping and form finding.

PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION

[tubular] The overall form of the Yoshimura pattering is interesting because it always forms an arch. The size of this arch is of course able to be manipulated by the size of the pattern on the flat piece of paper that you choose. However, this pattern also creates a very spatial area that is interesting for architects to think about. Manipulation of the patterning could create an in interesting relationship between the human body and the building as we see in the Air Force Chapel where the form is defined by the patterning and the very massive modulation begins to define the relationship between user and building.

Hypothesis: Regular placement of the Yoshimura pattern places the least amount of strain on the form and generates a tubular form which has great efficiency structurally.

[irregular tube] The idea of how to throw off the overall symmetry was a question of how to manipulate the pattern in order to have part of the pattern be folded inward or outward to offset the height of the tube. What I have found from this investigation is that the pattern can be offset by folding inward the form so that it creates a leg. What happens is the top of the pattern is now angling downward and creating a completely different spatial relationship from the tube that we created in case study “[tubular].�

Hypothesis: By both expanding and contracting, the Yoshimura pattern can create curves and bulges in the overall form. These moments could be studied further by architects to create moments in their overall schemes.

PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION

[enclosure] Both “[tubular]” and “[irregular tube]” do not allow for a spatial relationship for a building that relates to the human. In order to scale the form down, one end of the pattern was expanded allowing for the form to be gradually brought to the ground.

This form reminds me of the shell of a concert hall that would allow one to project sound. The patterning for this form is unlike any others tested because it needed a change in the patterning and proves that the symmetrical patterning of this form will not allow the Yoshimura pattern to be adjusted in the x or y axis without re-patterning.

Hypothesis: By expanding one part of the pattern, an enclosed space is possible within the overall form of the Yoshimura.

[split] By literally cutting the form in half we are left with the form that is very spatial, but lacks any use for connectivity to construction or architecture. Interestingly enough, the form did prove to be a combination of all the case studies done thus far due to the fact that it had the asymmetrical qualities of “[irregular tube]” and the arch of “[tubular]” and the change in both the y and x axis from “[enclosure].”

Hypothesis: By cutting the form in half, the amount of flexibility significantly increased and allows for the play of several interesting forms. The places where the form meets the ground could be interesting places for integrated furniture or circulation cores.

PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION

[twist]

The last and most impressive form generation of the Yoshimura patterning is twisting the form in order to test the spatial qualities. Twisting the structure created a dynamic form which curls itself onto the ground, much resembling the principles of “[irregular tube].� The idea of this shape could begin to be thought about in terms of a landscape that acts as an enclosed pathway.

Hypothesis: By twisting the structure, a form that is dynamic emerges and curls giving it an interesting articulation that could be used in response to the site of a building.

CONCLUSIONS After testing and looking at the Yoshimura pattern, I have learned that the pattern angle and the fold angle which, when working together or against each other, affects the efficiency of the form and the radius of the arch. The pattern of the Yoshimura has a limited degree of freedom due to the strict layout of the patterning that needs adjustment if it is to be manipulated in form. That is why after looking at this pattern and the architecture that uses this pattern, we see that there is not much manipulation within the form, rather we see the form made into modules that covers a great span.

The future of this form can be greatly manipulated in architecture with materials that allow more flexibility to get forms that perform like “[twist].� I believe that origami truly allows designers to think in very interesting ways about materiality. The Yoshimura pattern is truly an excellent example of a Japanese pattern that needs further testing to truly define the limitations of the pattern. Imagine what the future of architecture can be if one can figure out how to manipulate the paper crane.