Origami Paper House | Architecture Global Aid

The project Origami Paper Houses is an idea that came out from the experience of building seven wooden Origami Houses in Japan for the refugees after the 2011 Japan tsunami. After considering the cost of each one of the houses, we decided to find a different material to build them in order to make them affordable for the refugees after a natural disaster. The chosen material was paperboard. We designed the Origami Paper houses at a human scale, with openings for light on the cover that transform the inner space into a bright and intimate shelter, and at the same time they protect it from the rain. The thickness of the paperboard walls is enough to support their weight and height (2cm) and thanks to it we avoided the use of structural side ribs to prevent the buckling of the walls. The light weight and space allow the users of Origami Paper Houses to feel intimacy and protection right after an earthquake or tsunami, which is, as we observed after the Japanese tsunami of 2011, the first human need right after eating and drinking. The Origami paper houses receive their name from the Japanese art of "Origami" that turns flat bi-dimensional surfaces into three-dimensional surfaces using paper as material. In this project, the decision to divide the houses into several pieces came out from the idea of intuitive construction, easy and understandable for all ages. Thanks to their design, the houses can be built in 3minutes, and unbuilt again in 3more, and then stored in flat boxes to be kept in community spaces, designed as refuges for the cities (sporthalls, theatres, offices...) The construction of the five Origami-Paper-houses was held at the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (COAM) and was exposed in between March 18 and April 11 at its main Hall. From April 20th they will be exposed at the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Jaén (COAJ) and then they will be donated to the council of the spanish region of "Lorca", known for its high sismic activity that left many people homeless after the earthquake of November