{"id":33282,"date":"2019-12-03T11:30:52","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T10:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/?p=33282"},"modified":"2025-12-12T00:39:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:39:26","slug":"the-art-and-engineering-of-folding-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/2019\/12\/the-art-and-engineering-of-folding-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art and Engineering of Folding Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Folding paper can simply be for fun, but when taken to its limits, it can<\/strong> also be a useful technique in several fields of science and engineering.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matt Shlian<\/a> is an artist who creates unique works out of various materials, particularly folded paper.<\/strong> His works are a sort of engineering of complex,<\/strong> varied structures<\/strong> that ranges from harmoniously conceived paper sculptures to objects reminiscent of plants or foldable mechanisms that take impossible shapes. But beyond the pure art of his work, it is also being used in research in science and engineering.<\/p>\n

An important mathematical principle is evident in his work, and Shlian himself recognizes that he was really good at algebra and geometry in school \u2013 although he doesn\u2019t consider himself to be a mathematician, but a professional paper engineer.<\/em> \u00a0Some of his designs follow precise curves, have a peculiar geometrical distribution, or form complex patterns reminiscent of works such as those by Buckminster Fuller.<\/p>\n

\"complex \"Origami<\/p>\n

For most of his work, he simply uses white paper, but for some, he uses brightly colored metallic paper with textures, as well as eye-catching light and shadow displays. Shlian says that his inspiration comes from many sources and that his art \u201cdoesn\u2019t try to answer any questions,\u201d as that is left up to those who reflect on his creations. Why<\/strong> paper?<\/strong> The main reason is its immediacy and geometrical simplicity, the fact that folding it in different ways is somewhat like solving a puzzle. He believes that what is truly important is the path from the raw material to the final result. His work cannot be easily classified: it is both art and science, architecture and engineering.<\/p>\n

From art to science<\/h2>\n

As Shlian \u00a0recounts in one of his videos<\/a>, it was simply by chance that he found a practical application for his artistic techniques when he tried to reach out to university leaders to see if his interest in folding paper could be of any use there. That led him to give a talk at the molecular biology department and forging a relationship with a team that was very interested in his techniques.<\/p>\n

\"Work<\/p>\n

There, they noticed that some of the paper folds were highly similar to those in cell membranes and living tissues. So for years, they worked together to explore how the mediums fold, rotate, and move: to first illustrate scientific concepts and then move on to something more practical: research on protein folding, which could lead to better understanding of certain diseases and developing new drugs. From there, they switched to designing \u201cmobile\u201d photovoltaic panels , and finally to experimenting with flexible nanoscale<\/a> materials <\/a>\u00a0with interesting properties, all related to different types of folds. There are essentially two techniques: origami (folded paper) and kirigami (trimmed paper).<\/p>\n

Matt <\/a>Shlian\u2019s various videos<\/a> on the Internet include a TEDx Talk,<\/a> an appearance on S<\/a>e<\/a>same Street<\/a>, and a talk on his scientific work for the National Science\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Foundation at the Materials Science Department at the University of Michigan.<\/a> On his YouTube channel<\/a>, you can also see\u00a0 some of his moving designs \u201cin action.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Origami<\/p>\n

From paper folding to engineering and architecture<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Origami and its ability to collapse a large area into a small space has long served as inspiration for designing folding structures, such as solar panels <\/a>\u00a0on space probes (this video shows them in action<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"Manuelle<\/p>\n

The structures of geometrical origami can also be adapted to construction, and in fact, there are architects who find in them inspiration for their designs. One example is the\u00a0 Manuelle Guatrand’s Origami Building<\/a> in Paris, which serves as the headquarters for Barclays. When it was renovated, they added a fa\u00e7ade that looks like origami folded out of marble and glass, instead of paper. The result is 30 meters of continuous facade along a seven-story building.<\/p>\n

In Spain, this style can be found in a few buildings by Coll-Barreu Arquitectos: Bilbao\u2019s Osakidetza<\/a> Building <\/a>and the E8 Building in Vitoria\u2019s Technol<\/a>ogy Park: polyhedrical faces clearly mirror folded paper structures. The flat, glass structures around the building are integrated into the park\u2019s natural environment, including large atriums and a sort of two-layered skin that provides dynamic insulation to minimize changes in temperatures, thereby making them more sustainable.<\/p>\n

\"Coll<\/p>\n

An article by \u00c1lvaro Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Folding paper can simply be for fun, but when taken to its limits, it can also be a useful technique in several fields of science and engineering. Matt Shlian is an artist who creates unique works out of various materials, particularly folded paper. His works are a sort of engineering of complex, varied structures that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"nivel-1":[4654],"nivel-2":[4746],"nivel-3":[4848],"nivel-4":[],"nivel-5":[],"topic":[7296,7300],"coauthors":[3794],"class_list":["post-33282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","post_format-post-format-image","nivel-1-construction","nivel-2-innovation","nivel-3-united-states","topic-construction-and-infrastructure","topic-technology-and-innovation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Art and Engineering of Folding Paper<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Folding paper can simply be for fun, but when taken to its limits, it can also be a useful technique in several fields of science and engineering.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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