Design Discussion Week 1: Origami

Before watching the assigned video, I had my doubts as to the usefulness of origami in making designs to create engineering solutions. I had originally thought of origami more so an artform rather than a solid way to prototype designs. What use is there for the use of only one sheet of paper in prototyping? You could use multiple sheets of paper or some other material to the same or even better effect. Those were the thoughts I originally had, but after watching the video I can very much understand the usefulness of origami in designs to create engineering solutions. 

To sum up the video, origami has a number of positive qualities in using it to make design solutions. These include transforming a flat material to a more complex shape with little processing, increasing the rigidity and portability of a design, coming up with new and innovative designs for existing devices, and helping make designs that create specific motions. With watching the video, I can see the potential of origami in creating designs with these qualities in mind. Being able to take a single flat surface and turning it into a solution is very practical in mitigating material use and costs while creating something that is highly functional for its intended use. 

However, one doubt that I have after watching the video is with all the usefulness of origami has in creating these sometimes complex designs from only one flat sheet, actually creating these complex designs is a time consuming process. It is mentioned in the video that it took 7 years to make a origami cactus from just one sheet. You can only imagine how long it could take for some other complex designs. I can only really see origami being viable in some simple designs such as the bullet proof wall without having to sink a huge time commitment into a more complex design. 

Overall, I had originally had my doubts as to the usefulness of origami designs to create engineering solutions, but with watching the video, it has changed my mind and I can definitely see the potential of origami, so long as time allows for coming up with a complex design.