Modular Origami

 

Everyone knows that in origami, you take a square piece of paper, make certain folds in it and at the end, you have a box, a crane, a swan, or other item.  Modular origami, also known as unit origami, is when you take two or more pieces of paper that you fold into specific shapes and put together to create a larger 3-dimensional mathematical based form that is often symmetrical.

These smaller units are building blocks of the larger, final form.  The mathematics involved is with assembling the final form and discovering the patterns needed to create it.  Often the patterns use different base units but they use similar ways of combing the units into larger creations.

The shapes that have the most symmetry, are referred to as Platonic solids.  These are named after the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato.  A Platonic solid is a 3 dimensional shape made from two dimensional shapes aka regular polygons so every side and every is identical.  There are only five Platonic solids and they are the tetrahedron made up of four triangles, a cube made up of 6 squares, the octahedron made up of eight triangles, the dodecahedron made up of 12 pentagons, and the icosahedron made up of 20 triangles.

The basic building block is the sonoboe unit also know as the son oboe modules. It resembles a parallelogram with two flaps folded behind. They are easy to learn and can be used to create a variety of three dimensional shapes. The more units you combine the more complex the final product and you just might end up with more questions about what can be done. 

Historically, there is evidence of modular origami dating as far back as 1734 with instructions in the book Ranma Zushiki by Hayoto Ohoka in Japan. In this book, there is an illustration which shows several items but one is a modular cube. It is shown from two different directions and is referred to as a "magic treasure chest". The same model of modular cube appears in a book published in 1965 by Isoa Honda called World of Origami.  This modular cube uses a traditional paper fold called Menko to make the 6 parts needed for the cube. Modular origami was rediscovered in the 1960's first by Robert Neale who worked for NASA in the United States and later by Mitsonabu Sonobe of Japan.

If you need a place to start, head to  this site in Australia because it has instructions for the basic sonoboe unit and directions to make a cube, dodecahedron, and a faux dodecahedron.  These are a wonderful place to start while it gives students a chance to have fun learning more about 3 dimensional shapes.  If you want to explore other shapes, just do a simple web search and you'll find them. Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.