Math Art - Group response

Group: Doreen, Minami, Yikang

Original Artwork: Neel Shrestha - Origami Snub Dedecahedron 

Remake & Issues: 

We aimed for a complete replica, but with more colors to better demonstrate the number of shapes required to enclose the volume. One major issue in our process appeared on our first few attempts at assembly, the dodecahedron required a very specific orientation of each piece, where mirrored or chiral pieces would not fit in. In the end we realized all pieces require the same orientation, and remade several to complete the assembly.  Below are pictures of the two mirrored pieces.

One interesting aspect of making this structure was seeing how the 2D papers linked together to form the final 3D structure.  The folds we made needed to be precise and creased thoroughly, otherwise the locations of connection wouldn’t align with each other perfectly.  You can see this in the pictures below.  With just two pieces, the origami still lies relatively flat.  When we begin to link them all together, it introduces the curve that we see.

Alterations: 

After the snub dodecahedron was finished, we realized that this piece would be too difficult for the class to make, both in individual making and the assembly stages. So we decided to use another polygon as the class activity topic for demonstration. During planning phases, we believed that adding names to everyone’s own pieces would be a nice addition to encourage group work spirit, so it was added to the plan.

This second structure that we made was an icosahedron, which was an interesting counterpoint to the dodecahedron that we had previously made, since their faces and vertices were swapped.  Additionally, it had faces that rose up in pyramids as opposed to being empty space like the snub dodecahedron.  Below is an example of the icosahedron we made.  Another interesting observation about this second creation was that it was structurally quite sound.  This is actually common for origami, but it can be strange to think that all of these pieces of paper interlock to form a ball that can be handled more roughly.

Interactive Activity:

We decided to use our interactive activity as our alterations to show the class what they might be able to do with their own classes in the future.  This included a walkthrough of how to fold the basic piece of a Sonobe unit, as well as a little exposition on how they might talk to their class about playing with origami.  When designing the activity, we tried to make sure that it would be fun and accessible to both beginners and experts, as well as creating a sense of community by contributing a small part to end up with one cool structure.  If we had more time, it would have been nice to give the class a chance to try and explore to put some structures together themselves.