Structural design and distributed fabrication of folded sandwich structures (2016-2018)

This project aims to develop a new type of modular structural form that retains the streamlined construction of existing prefabricated systems, but can additionally be rapidly fabricated with non-specialist manufacturing plant. The form, termed folded sandwich structures, was developed by the CI at the University of Oxford following research in the emerging field of origami-inspired engineering design. Preliminary studies established numerous candidate folded geometries and demonstrated the potential extreme speed of fabrication and assembly. Fundamental structural behaviours remain unexplored, so this project will conduct numerical, experimental, and theoretical structural analysis and optimisation on plate and shell building components.