Thesis Defense: "Gluing and Creasing Paper along Curves: Computational Methods for Analysis and Design of Compositions of Developable Surfaces"

Curved geometries that can be obtained from flat sheets of material have numerous applications in design and engineering. Inspired by artistic sculptures, we explore shapes formed by joining planar patches of material along their curved boundaries, with a particular focus on curved-crease origami. We discuss the theory behind the computation of shapes made of developable patches and highlight a simplified computational approach for cases where the connected patches are either cylinders or cones. Moreover, we illustrate how to compute a crease connecting a patch to a generalized cylinder or cone. Drawing inspiration from artistic origami, we showcase examples and introduce parametric design tools for curved crease origami design.

Committee: Erik Demaine, Justin Solomon, and Tomohiro Tachi