Sophia Vyzoviti - Super Surfaces

Supersurfaces - !ding as a method of generating forms for architecture, products and fashion Sop hia Vyzoviti

contents For all partners in this collective

work~in-progress

Acknowledgement_5 BIS Publ ishers Het Sieraad Building Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam The Nether lands T +31 (0)20 515 0230 F +31 (0)20 515 0239 bis@bispublishers. nl www. bispublishers. n I

From paperfolds to object~s pace prototypes_6 Ruling elastic paper band_12 lantern ette_16 twister_ 2o porou s screen_3o f lexicha ir_ 40

ISBN 978 90 6369 121 9

body wraps_ 5o Copyright© 2006 The authors and BIS Publishers 2nd print ing 2006 3rd printing 2007 4rd printing 2008 5th printing 2009 All right s reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduce d or transm itted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanica l, inc luding photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner(s) .

body donuts_58 multigarment_66 .meander chaise _ 74 curver_82 Triangu latin g contract ib le roof_86 k inetic truss_ 96 future machine_104 Crumpling creased tent_ 112 crumpled room_ 120 cave_126 - ambience maker_ 130 paper crump ler_ 136

BISPUBLISHERS

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acknowledgement Supersurfaces demonstrates the potential of folding as a method of generating forms relevant to architectural as well as industrial , product or textile design. The book comprises a report of ongoing design research conducted in the context of architectural education. The majority of this collection of projects is drawn from design studios and workshops that I have instructed between 2005 and 2006 at three academic institutions.

For enabling me to embed this research within the academic curriculum I am grateful to Professor Pantelis Lazarides, Head of the Department of Architecture , School of Engineering at the University of Thessaly in Volos; Professor Chye Kiang Heng, Head of the Department of Architecture, School of Design and Environment at the National University of Singapore; and Professor Tom Barker, Head of t he Department of Industrial Design Engineering of the Royal College of Art in London. For their support and contributions during the production of this publication I would like to thank Constantine Galanopoulos, Thanasis Totsikas, Yota Adilenidou, Constantine Kyriazopoulos, Zoe Vatti and Lim Jiahui. For priceless advice on the English texts I am indebted to David Greensett Robson.

5

From paperfolds to object-space prototypes

Since the early 1990s, the notion of surface has evolved into a formal trait in avant-garde architectural discourses. Conceptualized within the Deleuzian ontology of 'the fold' , it has become associated with diagrammatic techniques and digital morphogenesis, prolifically materializing in the projected and the built through continuity, curvature, smooth layering and manipulations of the ground .1 In the semantic network of present progressive architectural language , the verbs 'folding ' and 'unfolding' manifest high conceptual connectivity. Browsing through the dictionary of advanced architecture2 reveals the ubiquity of the terms , making explicit the establishment of a design world constituted by notions of surface , folding and unfolding, topology, land strategy, dynamic trajectories , flexibility, obliquity, systems, devices, paradoxes, origami , bends and unbendings, braids, coiling, and contortionisms. The design research in Supersurfaces explores the potential of paper folding as a method of form generation, consciously attending to literal transcripts of the practice. As a matter of fact, the term 'paperfold ' is a neologism; a synthetic word introduced here to describe the end result of a paperfolding session . In Supers urfaces , paperfolds are investigated as physical artifacts: how they are made, how we can model them , what their intrinsic properties are, and how they can be productive within a design methodology. Paperfolds are easy to make . In the paper-folding workshops given at the design studios - whose results comprise 6

:::the contents of this publication -we adopt a 'just

==;:;

i ' approach. We follow a step-by-step procedure :.=5 - g simple rules. The basic paperfold algorithm -= s :he fol lowing: =--=-:: ;ith a flat paper surface -=-s-=orm the paper surface [cut, score, crease, fold , ~ --: ·olve, co il , turn, rotate, pleat, pull , push, wrap, : _o; , ninge , kn ot, weave, compress, stretch, unfold .... ] · a t hree-dimensional paper surface . - _ = a e only two constraints in accomplishing the paper:: ~ gorith m ; maintaining continuity of the surface , and ·mout sticking. As a consequence, paperfolds have ~ --:enti a! of retrieving a 'flat-plane state' - comprising in =:_-s"'latical terms 'developable surfaces ' .3

=

ds are difficult to model . Describing paperfolds - cally, abstracting and representing their intrinsic _-::-alogy to a level of generalization, would essentially __ ""E math ematical formalization. In Supersurfaces, _c-a·ory models of paperfolds demonstrate the step-by-:: :;'ocedu re of transforming a flat plane into a three:;.-.s·onal surface; in other words , through algorithms. 4 - =--s· - an desc ribing the formal characteristics of the end - :.. me focus is on the process , on understanding the ~