Building Blocks of a City

A very long time before I consorted with crease patterns, I had played with precreased (albeit heavily) paper, and I found out what I thought and still think is a new type of folding: Creating structures and other buildings from a simple piece of paper, with the folded structures sticking out of the paper. No sides/edges are to be used, such that several structures can be linked together (with the remaining paper form the floor) to form something like a city.

The first sub-structure I chanced upon was the Building Block. It is a way of creating a cuboid shape rising above the paper. The building block technique can be repeated upon itself again and again, so a tall building appears.

Here's a CP depicting the building block technique:


The raised platform (the black square in the middle) can be of any rectangular shape. To repeat this technique on the same structure, just make sure the original raised block is within the new raised platform. Take note that although the technique can be repeated, it does not allow for the new raised platform to be smaller than the original raised block.

This technique is rather similar to boxpleating, the difference being it has a 3-D result. In the next few posts, I will introduce more techniques to you guys so that you will be able to create a whole virtual city by yourself!



Origami as Pure as Snow
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