MIT’s origami construction offers a new way to build lightweight curved structures

Flat metal sheets can become curved structural shells when carefully folded pieces lock together into a continuous network. A new origami-inspired method turns that idea into modular building blocks, allowing complex forms to grow from manageable parts. The approach could simplify fabrication without requiring builders to fold one enormous sheet. Alfonso Parra Rubio, a graduate student at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, led the research with collaborators in Italy, Austria and Japan. Their paper, published in the International Journal of Space Structures, describes a system of interlocking folded cells. Small aluminum prototypes demonstrate the geometry, while a room-sized sculpture at the Boston Public Library extends the fabrication approach beyond the laboratory.