…so it has been a while I know, and it is raining, and I am too lethargic to do much more than bend paper so I thought it a good plan to do another WTF competition.

This fold is experimental in that I only have a kinda-sorta vague idea how to do it, but will bend it like … well … me I guess

After taking a 70cm square (yes, it is HUGE) and dividing it up into 32nds horizontally and vertically, I lay in some odd diagonal zig zags (you can make them out if you squint one eye, close the other, raise your left leg and hop on the spot), you get to this (the stage before the first round of collapses:

After a little wrangling (and adjustment of a set of diagonal folds) it begins to collapse:

And then, the paper stabilises into a semi-regular corrugation with some strategically places stickey-outey bits:

With a little bending and re-orientation of spatial dimensions it becomes:

I then put a “honeycomb” pleat down the middle(ish):

To bring the two constructions together and allow them to be stood up:

with a bit of twisting and some gentle wrangling, strategic bits are encouraged to stand up prior to shaping:

I then fan out, box pleat and flatten the concertina layers to form the “podium” on which the structure will stand, surely this is familiar to someone:

As a young kid, growing up in NSW (Blue Mtns), I was afforded early views of the Opera House in construction – I saw the ribs of the sail-like vaults rise from the podium and fell in love with the building there and then.

Shaping on this complex box-pleat continues – I have the main staircase and vehicle concourse done now, the back (that juts out into the harbour) is nicely proportioned, the “good side” of the paper now faces all visible surfaces (which took a bit of planning) and the sails are now in position – we have Bennelong restaurant (the 2 small shells at front), Concert Hall and Opera Theatre. Each shell has lots of paper inside to bring out and curve into spheric sections (still working out how I might do that)

Congratulations to Miriam for successfully recognising this building, I was beginning to think it was just me that thought it bore any likeness at all.

I will MC it to force it to keep it’s shape, once I have finalised what that shape is and worked out how the floop to get it there.