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Oru Origami-Inspired Folding Kayak is Back with an Updated Design

15 Aug

[ By SA Rogers in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

City dwellers with small apartments and limited storage can now own a kayak that folds up into a suitcase-sized package perfect for toting on your bike or public transit. The Oru Kayak originally debuted on Kickstarter in 2012, and every few years since then, they’ve released an updated model, with their lineup including the casual Beach LT for day trips, the Bay ST for longer days and the Coast XT for rugged conditions in surf and wind.

Earlier this year, they returned to Kickstarter to raise funds for a limited edition design in collaboration with 1% for the Planet with a custom green tree print, and now, they’re offering another limited edition: the United by Blue style.

The Oru Beach LT Kayak: United by Blue edition has all the same features as the standard Beach LT, but with the addition of a seamless graphic print in either orange or navy blue. The collaboration is a natural fit considering that United by Blue has spent the last few years organizing volunteer ocean and river cleanups using Oru kayaks, and lots of urban kayakers donate their time on the water in a similar manner.

The origami-inspired folding design of Oru’s Beach LT folds from flat and compact into a standard-sized kayak in under five minutes, while the more complex models take 10 or 15 minutes to assemble. As anyone who’s ever owned and transported a kayak can imagine, the ability to fold such an unwieldy object is a welcome innovation, especially if you don’t have a garage or basement to store it in, or a vehicle of your own. But the design isn’t just for newbies – it was made for everyone from the weekender to the fisherman in mind, for short trips or multi-day excursions.

Get your exclusive UBB x Our Kayak Undercurrent Pack at the United By Blue website, or check out the other offerings at OruKayak.com.

[ By SA Rogers in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Posted in Creativity

Origami-Inspired Architecture: 14 Geometric Structures

11 Nov

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

Origami Architecture Main

For all the effort, skill and time it takes to produce a typical work of origami, the result can be ephemeral, limited by the delicate nature of paper. But apply the same techniques and visuals to architecture, and suddenly the intriguing geometric and mathematical qualities of this ancient Japanese art take on a sense of awe-inspiring scale and permanence. Here are 14 faceted structures, from flat pack emergency shelters to multi-story museums.

Bilbao Health Department

Origami Architecture Bilbao

The folded facade of this Health Department building in Bilbao, Spain is not only a striking architectural feature, but a creative solution to a building code that requires setbacks for multi-story buildings along major streets. The origami-inspired glass is a second skin that increases energy efficiency.

Instant Flat-Pack Origami Shelter

Origami Architecture Emergency

A series of sheets unfold from a small, compact package into a three-dimensional shelter. The design, by Doowon Suh, is envisioned as a modular emergency shelter that could easily be transported and set up in the aftermath of a disaster.

Origami Office Building, Paris

Origami Architecture Office Paris

Looking like a cross between the Japanese art of origami and Art Nouveau, Manuelle Gautrand’s Origami Office Building in Paris features a double-layered curtain wall of glazing and faceted marble. The folded marble panels add an extra dimension to the building’s exterior, creating textural patterns that look fresh and modern yet blend with the adjacent historic architecture.

Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theater, Rockford, Illinois

Origami Architecture Bengt Sjostrom

Folding roof panels that open up to the sky give the Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theater at Rock Valley College in Illinois an origami feel. The transforming roof closes in poor weather conditions to ensure that the show can always go on, but maintains the feel of the outdoor theater that was formerly on the site.

Origami Disaster Cave

Origami Architecture Disaster Shelter

With a design based on a water molecule, the Digital Origami Emergency Shelter by LAVA offers temporary shelter after a disaster while “giving an opportunity for personal expression.” The wooden units can either be shipped flat-pack or cut using local plywood. Each can sleep two adults and one child, and is fitted with battery or solar-powered LED lights.