Folding can be found everywhere, in the nature and in our human body. Today scientists are beginning to use origami-like crease patterns and folding to analyze and classify natural phenomenon, from the folding and self-assembly of amino acids and the unfurling of new leaves to the tessellated formation of cosmic structures by the force of gravity. For some scientists, the universe, at both the macroscopic and microscopic scales, ‘folds’ rather than ‘builds.’ Though paper folding is easy to make by hand, it is can be difficult to understanding mathematically and physically. Describing paper folding scientifically to a level of generalization, and representing the morphology happening when a flat sheet of paper is folded, requires complex mathematical modeling. This three-hour lecture/workshop introduces you to the basics of computational paper folding. In particular, we will focus on the Yoshimura pattern and learn how to transfer it from small scale paper model to large scale architecture. Both paper model and computational techniques will be explored.

For detailed information, please email Dr. WU Jiangmei at jiawu@indiana.edu