Paper Structures (and a short reflection on failing)

The second learning activity accompanying the design process of a ‘Portable Learning Space for the UP’ was based on experience with folded plate structures. Folded surfaces, frames and domes are particularly easy to visualize by crafting with paper and might be a possible suitable solution (but not the only) for a portable architecture design. Folded plate structures are assemblies of flat plates rigidly connected together along their edges in such a way that the structural system capable of carrying loads without the need for additional supporting beams along mutual edges. Therefore, these structural designs are particularly efficient in the proportion of the necessary material (structure’s weight) with respect to the covered surface dimension (span length) (e.g., To span 30 m shell, the thickness required is 60 mm only).

The activity was scheduled in two sessions. During the first one, students were asked to create several pieces of folded plate surfaces and folded plate frames. They were encouraged to produce a wide range of folding structures by variating dimensions, combining different folding patterns and testing several kinds of papers. The results looked great and as a general conclusion, it was clearly visualised that the higher the number of folds was the more resistant the structure was. Additionally, it was shown how some geometries corresponded with relevant portable architecture works (e.g. The well-known IBM travelling pavilion by Renzo Piano (1982-1986) is based on a simple X-form span resulting from a square sheet).

During the second session, building a geodesic dome was the purpose. The students made two groups in order to test two different techniques for a simple geodesic dome 2V. Group A started from an already printed pattern, and even being quite organized in keeping a constant routine (cutting pieces, pasting hexagon…), several corrections were needed before arriving at a successful result. Group B had a more challenging objective: their dome was made from sticks of rolled paper and they had to build everything from scratch. They used a dome calculator and began to roll paper… but the assemblage process was somehow messy and more than an hour later, failure was assumed.

Failing is, however, a fundamental way of learning. I soon discovered that behind their frustration a consideration was made on the way the group interacted. They recognized a lack of leadership among the group members as the main reason for instinctively acting before reflecting on the whole strategy… and therefore, they were lucky enough to have an extra training (not only on geodesic domes but also on group communication).

Author: ddc

PhD Architect. Professor Department of Architectural Projects Universitat Politècnica de València Spain View all posts by ddc