There’s more to origami than the paper crane. Despite its association with simple, folded constructions, the intricate practice has a growing history of being utilized in technical, real-world settings. And with the advent of new fabrication technologies, origami is seeing a new life beyond paper.
Last month, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign held a “Workshop on Origami Engineering” at the Thomas M. Siebel Center for Computer Science. There, participants from a range of disciplines attended lectures and discussed the practical applications of origami in engineering over a period of three days.
Neil Katz, SOM Associate, presented how origami structures, both derivative and true-to-form, can be scaled to be useful in architecture and interior design.