Montana Origami 4-story Apartment

I am a freshman student at Oregon State University majoring in Mechanical Engineering. I know this is not my expertise in my study, but I have lots of interest in architecture. I try to participate in this contest by making an architectural concept by using origami as the main base of the building. I decided to explore building a four-story apartment building with origami inspired strategy. This design is created by using concept drawing to enhance environmental sustainability. By using folded origami roofing design, it can diffuse sunlight to reduce energy consumption.

All you have to do are have Autodesk Fusion 360, AutoCAD, and Adobe Photoshop software and computer. To make a 3D Model design in Fusion 360, you need to open Fusion 360 software. To make the floor plan and elevation, you need to have AutoCAD. And finally, for touch-up works, you need Adobe Photoshop.

Research is conducted for this project with inspiration from contemporary architectural combine with origami-based design.

1. NORD ARCHITECTS show geometric forms in their architectural designs, apply articulated facades to retaliate with climate and integrate their designs to sustain environmentally friendly, while they use materials efficiently. Their architectures highlight functionality and sustainability.
2. Origami PDX Piedmont, Oregon emphasizes origami principles into architectural structures with utilization of folding design method to form strength and efficiency structures.

I carefully choose the site location for this apartment building in North 7th Avenue & West Beall Street, Bozeman, MT 59715. It has relatively low population density and has a steady growth because of education, technology, and outdoor lifestyles. This location is near Montana State University and has an established residential neighborhood. This site has an adequate lot size for a four-story apartment and excellent solar exposure that is suitable for the folded origami roof in order to control daylight and shading. This form of origami apartment also embraces environmental conditions like strong sunlight, snow and winds, and fits with a low-density area.

The concept of this design determines the mixtures of origami principles into architectural structures by bonding a four-story apartment with folded origami in roofing system and angular geometries. Besides aesthetic, this folded origami idea has a functional approach to sustain environmental conditions and user experience. The folded roof is designed to maintain solar control, ventilation and material efficiency. Also, the design is created to enhance living experience by using variety of spaces and depth on the façades. This idea opens the pathway to create articulate architectural solutions in future designs. The drawings will concentrate on 2D drawings that explore front view and façade formation. This examines how origami principles can design roof forms and support shading and ventilation. The sketch is simply help us to examined how the folded origami and geometry will work on functionality throughout the four floors.

I build and construct 3D modeling of four-story apartment by using Autodesk Fusion 360. It starts with creating the building and structural grid. Later, I carefully model the origami inspired folded roof and also façade features with forming precise angular folds to determine thickness and joints and keep optimization. For the roofline features, I use an angular, crystalline or geometric design. To ensure consistency of all levels, I enabled parametric features, like floor heights, façades and balcony features. The workflow is essential to support how origami-based geometry can be inspired to create an apartment building through advanced 3D modeling techniques.

I generate this floor plan by using Autodesk AutoCAD. This floor plan shows standard rooms of the four-story apartment inspired by origami principles. It is arranged in central core accommodation with stairs to ensure movement efficiency and equal access for all residents. In AutoCAD, I use wall thickness, window and door placements, and furniture arrangements. Each apartment has same living room, dining room, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen, supporting the sense of welcoming.

I develop elevation drawings using AutoCAD to demonstrate how origami-inspired concept appeal throughout the apartment building by keeping accurate scale in architectural drawings. I use precise linework to highlight the origami folded roof, angular balconies and layered façade features. By doing that, I can study the proportions and shading depth of how the origami features impact the interior space, ventilation, and structures.

For rendering, I use Autodesk Fusion 360 to depict the folded geometry roof and materials of architectural form. This process lets me bring realistic materials and lighting of the roof and façades. I can test the responsive of origami shapes to natural daylight that will come in reality. This rendering assists me how to enhance the conceptual design and architectural presentation.

For the final touch-up work, I improve the clarity of the origami four-story apartment from rendering in Fusion 360 to refine the work using Adobe Photoshop in color, shadows, and textures. In this step, I add some line weights, color balance, and shading to emphasize the folded roof geometry and façade features.

With this project, I realized that origami principles can create strong identity and functionality in controlling light, shades, and wind of modern architectural design. In addition, some research of origami-inspired architectural design emphasizes innovation that increases both aesthetic and technical knowledge. I have experience understanding the process flow from hand concept drawings to 3D Modeling and simple geometry can open the pathway to complex architecture in order to sustain environment.