Book (Full version)
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Paper is a fascinating material that we encounter every day in different variants: tissues, paper towels, packaging material, wall paper or even fillers of doors. Despite radical changes in production technology, the material, which has been known to mankind for almost two thousand years, still has a natural composition, being made up of fibres of plant origin (particularly wood fibres). Thanks to its unique properties, relatively high compression strength and bending stiffness, low...
Book Chapters
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Paper is a universally found, easily available material of natural origin. It is cheap in production, eco-friendly and easy to recycle and re-use.
Paper has been part of European culture since the twelfth century, when it arrived from the Arab countries through the Iberian Peninsula. Since then it has become a common material, occurring in many different variants and forms: books, greaseproof paper, wallpaper, posters, playing cards, etc. Despite the fact that this ‘evolved wood’,...
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Paper is a material we know from our day-to-day lives because it is used in newspapers, tissues, packaging, etc. Its web-like structure consists of wood fibres and can be visualised by comparing it to the cooking of a portion of spaghetti that is later served onto a plate.
Paper is often associated with traditional materials and production technologies. Brought to life in the second century AD, paper has had a significant role in the history of civilisations, from the Chinese...
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Paper base products such as corrugated cardboard, paper tubes, honeycomb panels and strong papers like Kraft and Washi can be successfully used for the production of interior design, products for everyday use, furniture, indoor partitions, pavilions and bigger architectural structures. Paper and its derivatives are often used for other purposes such as educational (origami) or social and artistic events.
Moreover, paper and cardboard are cheap and eco-friendly materials. Therefore,...
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The examples of paper architecture presented in this chapter show the wide variety of materials and compositions used. The chosen examples are divided into two sections. The first section, entitled ‘The History of Paper in Architecture,’ embraces the projects realised from the late nineteenth century to the late 1980s. The examples provided in the ‘Case Studies’ section were assessed more thoroughly for their function, structural system, usable area, used material, connections and details...
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The deteriorating situation of the inhabitants of many countries, especially in the Near East and Africa, has resulted in a growing number of people being forced to leave their homes. UNHCR has reported that the number of forcibly displaced people increased to 65.6 million in the year 2016 as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human-rights violations. This was an increase of 6.1 million over the 2014 figure. It was also the highest number on record since the end of World War...
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This part of the dissertation is dedicated to the practical approach to cardboard as a building material through prototyping. Taking a practical approach here means conducting research by design and prototyping architectural structures in which paper and its derivatives are used as the main structural material. The theoretical research and knowledge presented in the previous chapters of the dissertation will be now used as input.
The research by design and the realised prototypes...
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TECH: Transportable Emergency Cardboard House was a project involving shelters for people in difficult housing situations.
The TECH project was based on previously conducted research. The fundamental research on paper, presented in Chapter 2, focused on the material itself, its mechanical properties, its chemical and physical structure, its production methods and elements mass-produced by the paper industry. Next, research was conducted on the applications of paper products in...
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Cardboard is generally regarded as an eco-friendly or ‘green’ material. The sustainability of cardboard as a building material can be researched from different points of view, and different aspects should be taken into account. To answer the question as to whether cardboard is a ‘green’ or sustainable material for building applications, we must first define the meaning of these words. Next we need to research the various types of impact cardboard used as a building material may have on the...
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This study has demonstrated how paper and its derivatives can be used as a building material and main structural material in design and architecture. The usage of paper in architecture is limited by many factors, including its vulnerability to moisture, humidity and water, creep and the limited variety of products created by the paper industry. However, paper and paper products can be successfully used in several types of architecture and design. The advantages of using paper in...
