Proceedings of the IASS Annual Symposium 2016 “Spatial Structures in the 21st Century” 26–30 September, 2016, Tokyo, Japan K. Kawaguchi, M. Ohsaki, T. Takeuchi (eds.) Copyright © 2016 by Giulia Curletto, Luigi Gambarotta Published by the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) with permission. Design of a composed origami-inspired deployable shelter: modeling and technological issues. Giulia CURLETTO 1* , Luigi GAMBAROTTA 2 1* Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering Polytechnic School, University of Genoa Via Montallegro, 1 – 16145 Genoa, Italy Giulia.curletto@edu.unige.it 2 Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Genoa Abstract A novel and efficient approach to the design of foldable architectural structures based on rigid Origami is here proposed to obtain lightweight constructions. This kind of structures are made by rigid thin plates, easily assembled and transportable. In particular, a composed Origami in-plane structure is developed, testing two different typology of folding solutions. The model has been developed by applying parametric design, which allows to vary the geometric parameters to assess the sensitivity of the structural response, with the aim of finding the best structural morphology. Manufacturing issues have been integrated in this process to develop a feasible construction. Thin panels of composite material Hylite® have been considered as particularly interesting to develop a model in which panel’s core material can provide a hinge function, suitable to be used for deployable structures. Keywords: Origami, foldable structures, modular shelter, form-finding, parametric modeling 1. Introduction Rigid foldable structures inspired by Origami are becoming increasingly popular in Engineering and Architectural designs. Foldable principles are applicable to building structures for creating transformable spaces, which configuration continuously evolves during the deployment process. Foldable plates consist of triangular or quadrilateral panels connected together along their edges by cylindrical hinges, which allow the deployment mechanism according to an Origami pattern, as described by Schenk and Guest [13]. Although this model is potentially flexible, technological issues rarely enables the application of foldable principles to building structures. In case of folding motion, such as deployment mechanism, the thickness of the panels and its material has to be considered. Moreover, efficient hinges are required to be used as folds, and finally a mechanism to deploy the structure has to be developed. In the recent years, relevant foldable structures have been presented, proposing several materials, hinges, and deployment mechanism solutions. A bar steel structure connected by kinematic joints and a tensile shelter has been studied by De Temmerman et al. [7], a textile-reinforced concrete folded structure has been designed by Chudoba et al. [5], and a pedestrian bridge, whose deployment is realized using an hydraulic system has been realized by Heatherwick Studio [9]. The aim of this paper is to propose a novel and efficient approach to realize mobile structures easily transportable and assembled on site, using the potentiality of the material Hylite®, an aluminum