Fold Architecture

 

Architect: Douglas Garofalo (Chicago Architect)

• Garofalo described Fold Architecture as a series of “undulating surfaces.”
• It provides different ways of perceiving space, and is able to create space because surfaces can twist, bend and fold.
• It unfolds a one point perspective of a space.
• It stimulates creativity and develops different techniques rather than a single form.

Examples of Folds:

Reiser and Umemoto. 

West Side Convergence
New York, 1999.

 

"This design competition entry spans a site in Manhattan from the 30th to 34th Streets and from 8th Avenue to the West Side Highway. A vast undulating spaceframe roof covers the Global Parkscape (the top level) and allows for the multiple scales of activities. This roof visually reads as an unfolding landscape in the city." (Joseph Rosa, Folds Blobs + Boxes, Architecture in the digital era)

Peter D. Eisenman.

Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences.

Staten Island, New York, 1997.

"The Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences is located in the main hall of a new ferry terminal. The various modes of movement through the building by pedestrians and vehicles generate the design of series of folded spaces. These folds convey the idea of fluidity." (Joseph Rosa, Folds Blobs + Boxes, Architecture in the digital era)

Joel Sanders.
Five-Minute Bathroom (prototype)
Project for Wallpaper magazine, 2000.

"Sanders designed the freestanding Five-Minute Bathroom with efficiency in mind. The dressing closet, water closet, smart mirror,and bed area blend together, creating a seamless sense of spaces that gently fold into each other. Prefabricated of molded fiberglass, this unit could be installed in existing or new construction." (Joseph Rosa, Folds Blobs + Boxes, Architecture in the digital era)