Multistable Curved-Crease Origami Blocks for Reconfigurable Modular Building System

This study proposes a reconfigurable modular building system that assembles multistable curved-crease origami blocks. Curved-crease origami is designed with even-vertex polygonal trajectories and an elastica curvature profile. We then connect the matching ends to impart multistability. Through this design approach, we create various blocks and investigate their snapping and load-bearing behavior using finite element analysis. We design block assemblies of multi-story and quasi-continuous wall surfaces and fabricate a series of desktop and large-scale prototypes to demonstrate the flexibility and adaptability of our system for architectural use. Furthermore, by introducing a tension cable to the assembly, the assembled modules can be snapped into multiple configurations.