(PhD thesis) KOS – Kinetic Origami Surface

Kinetic Origami Surface. Prototyping a Kinetic and Interactive structure (2014- ).

In a world where the boundaries between architecture, digital design, technology and computation become everyday fader provokes the rise of new solutions for architectural spaces.

Kinetic systems offers new perspectives and design innovation in research and practice. These systems have been used by architects as an approach that embeds computation intelligence to create flexible and adaptable architectural spaces according to users changing needs and desires as a way to respond to an increasingly technological society. The presented research attempts to answer to this question based on the results of a multidisciplinary on-going work developed at digital fabrication laboratory Vitruvius Fablab-IUL in Lisbon. The main goal is to explore the transformation of the shape of a construction by mechanisms which allow adaptation either to environmental conditions or to the needs of the user. This paper reports the initial development of a kinetic system based on an origami foldable surface actuated by a user. The user can manipulate a small scale model of the surface and evaluate at all times if it is achieving the desired geometry.

This project was funded under SFRH/BD/100818/2014.