Concrete is the backbone of modern construction. However, the environmental footprint and costs of concrete are quite high. Researchers in Eth Zurich developed a origami -like concrete that reduced the use of materials while maintaining structural endurance.

Traditional concrete structures must use thick concrete molds with steel reinforcement to manage structural loads. However, researchers in ETH Zurich have managed to develop a vaulted concrete design that provides the same stability without much thinner sections and steel supplements.

Advantages of Origami Breeze Concrete

This concrete technique uses smart geometric designs inspired by origamid to distribute forces more efficiently. Thus, the use of concrete is 60 %and the use of reinforcement steel decreases by 90 %.

The idea began with a PhD student Lotte Scheder-Bieschin’s development of a foldable and reusable mold system, UNFold Form. Traditional concrete molds were usually made of oil -based materials such as styrofoam, while thin plywood strips were used for the new origami -inspired concrete.

Reusable mold system

This mold can be folded like a fan and mounted in minutes. After pouring concrete on it and drying, the mold can be removed and reused. The resulting structure has the same strength as traditional concrete structures.