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Yuta Shimoda "Bridging Architecture & Fashion Through Origami Geometry"

2021.12.01

Fashion design seeks new encounters, and collaboration with different fields sparks new chemical reactions. Particularly, collaborations with the architectural field suggest new possibilities for structures and materials.

Yuta Shimoda, a structural engineer, researches origami geometry and structural mechanics, and has collaborated with the fashion brand noir kei ninomiya. In this interview, we discussed the possibilities of applying architectural ideas such as compact, foldable structures and lightweight tensegrity membrane structures to fashion.

PROFILE

Yuta Shimoda

Structural engineer. Graduated from the University of Tokyo Graduate School.
Awards include the "Colloquium Analysis and Generation of Structural Shapes and Systems" contest for the best creation in morphology creation. Research includes a joint study with Associate Professor Tomohiro Tachi, "Flat-Foldable Rigid Origami with Uniform-Thickness Panels" (AAG2020), among others.
Based on the geometry of origami and structural mechanics, he is engaged in research and production related to new forms of architecture, such as compact foldable structures and lightweight membrane tensegrity structures.
Website

（Image Credit: Shin Hamada）

Exploring Structures Inspired by Origami

First, could you please tell us about the overview and interests of your research?

My major is called structural mechanics in architecture, which is a field that considers the shape, materials, and mechanics of buildings. Sometimes it's about solving the problem of creating a large structure, and other times it's about exploring how to make complex shapes. Additionally, I am interested in the geometry of origami. In graduate school, I was researching how to integrate architectural structures with the geometry of origami.

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