Ori-ssors: research processes in between vegetal crease patterns, expandable scissors and miura-ori solutions

Abstract

This work compares three kinds of morpho-kinetic studies: first, patents developed by the architect Pérez-Piñero; second, operating principles of deployable structures made of rigid surfaces without voids (Miura-ori surfaces); and third, dynamic responses of natural growth patterns (some kind of leaves and petals). It is a fact underlined by Escrig that well-known designers like Candela, Fuller or Dali admired Pérez-Piñero’s deployable modular designs when he was alive, but their scientific observations were not enough to encourage researchers to deeply explore the legacy of Pérez-Piñero until the end of 20th century. Nowadays and thanks to the development of digital parametric modelling this field of knowledge has produced different approaches, intuitive or expertise, developing model combinations changing the slope of bars, the kind of cross-connection, the basic modularity, the kinetic process, etc. In this context, this research explains the design process of the hyper-cubic stained glass projected by Pérez-Piñero for Figueras Museum in Spain (his client was Salvador Dalí), adding a new set of parametric developments to understand how the movement of unfolded surface can be combined with a twist opening of planar stained glasses, as the hornbeam leaf (Carpinus betulus) does when it grows, or the miura-ori crease pattern does when it opens. By paying attention to the compatibility and feedback of both movements (surface and twist), we identify a line of future studies for smart kinetic systems suitable for deployable constructions, as well as other technical devices.