ArchiFolds: origami textile architecture by Samira Boon Studio

Samira Boon believes ‘textile is the future of architecture’. ArchiFolds is the result of her extensive, ongoing research in collaboration with Tilburg’s TextielLab in the Netherlands and Professor T. Tachi from the University of Tokyo.

Samira Boon believes ‘textile is the future of architecture’. ArchiFolds is the result of her extensive, ongoing research in collaboration with Tilburg’s TextielLab in the Netherlands and Professor T. Tachi from the University of Tokyo.

The innovative series of textile structures are inspired by origami. They embody Boon’s vision for healthy environments that are ‘flexible and dynamic like natural systems’. In these, she says, ‘adaptive textiles are able to accommodate and regulate changing needs on spatial circulation, efficient energy usage and acoustic ambience.’ As noted by COVER last summer, several designers are now turning to fabrics and textiles as an alternative for rigid barriers or permanent walls. This example uses the latest technology to translate traditional Japanese paper folding techniques into digital weavings, creating architectural interventions with flexible potential uses.

The first ArchiFolds commission—the Audax room at Theaters Tilburg— was the winning interior collaboration at the 2017 Netherlands’ Creative Heroes Award. Rob van Steen, theatre director says: ‘You can constantly give this object a different look, I always get the feeling as if I’m walking through a visual art work, while at the same time it is a very functional space.’