Abstract
This Master's thesis explores the potential of origami in digital fabrication for innovative product development in the South African context. By integrating folding techniques with digital fabrication, this research identifies opportunities and challenges in creating small dwellings that offer flat packaging, space and material-saving, and customisation. The thesis examines computational origami, parametric design software, and digital fabrication techniques to demonstrate how folding paper can be integrated into the production process. The research is qualitative in nature and implores the principles of Design through research, through a pragmatic lens. The leading theories that are followed include design theories, such as the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, metacognition, and Less is More, which help to build a solid foundation in the development of a thorough literature review on origami history, 4IR, and manufacturing. The literature review and data collection are based on interviews with experts in origami and digital fabrication, reflective and prototyping journals, and thematic analysis. The thesis highlights how origami, a combination of maths, geometry, and simple coding, can be utilised for various purposes, including teaching and learning, arts, crafts, and design. The research identifies an opportunity in the combination of utility brought by the 4IR, including the democratisation of technologies, with computational design software and large-scale prototyping. The methodologies selected help integrate folding techniques from an early stage of the design process, using their qualities as features of the design itself from a structural, functional, and aesthetic perspective. The thesis concludes with the production of a full-scale prototype of a dwelling that started from a simple Grasshopper code. The findings, including efficient production, materials, and overall shape, create a new starting point to study specific areas enabled by this research.
Keywords: origami, digital fabrication, computational modelling, foldable dwellings, 4IR, parametric design