Mor Gan I & II prototypes
These prototypes were designed for a design class in the Architecture school of Madrid during the year 2005 with professors Aranguren + Gallegos. The main idea was to create a membrane that would cover the user, that was foldable and transportable and that could be built using simple materials and folding operations. We wanted to avoid utopic ideas, so we worked on the real-scale model from the very beginning.
Material
We were looking for a large-scale recyclable material and we realized that any industry generates waste at a much higher speed than any domestic environment. We chose the PVC canvas used in advertisement banners, discarded in the printing process or reused once it has fulfilled its purpose. PVC is ductile and tenacious; it presents dimensional stability and has very good resistance to environment and flames.
Building process
We proceeded with an old origami technique. The folds were reinforced with staples and we tried to use scissors as little as possible.
Mor Gan I
Starting with a 2.7×2.7 meters rectangular canvas and based on a series of origami folds, a semicubic element of 0.6×0.6×0.6 m was generated. Once folded it fitted into a regular Ikea plastic bag.
Mor Gan II
From a square canvas of 3.7×3.7 meters a semicubic space of 0.9x 0.9×0.9 m was generated. The structure was reinforced with two fiberglass rods, 3 mm in diameter and 185 cm long used in the construction of kites. Once folded it could be carried in a classic blue Ikea bag.
Visit the website: https://aaandnn.com/lab/less-is-mor-gan/
The theme of this years projects class was "Less is More". Each student had choose a previously used material and give it a second use. The results were awesome, everyone created great things. I will post some photos of the presentation one of this days. My idea was to reuse those big commercials canvases that hang on the buildings fold it as a cube so that children could use it as a tent.
This following video is the making of the second Morgan. The canvas was bigger that the room so I had some complications. This is a time lapse resume of one hour fighting with the PVC. I used a traditional stapler commonly used to staple paper and an classic origami folding system so that I didn't have to cut material. From a 2 dimnsional square to a habitable 3 dimensional cube. Voila! -Ioannes
