Design, fabrication and assembly of a cardboard pavilion based on an isogonal moulding surface

Paper in proceeding, 2026

This paper presents the design, fabrication and assembly of a cardboard gridshell pavilion constructed during a two-day workshop at Chalmers University of Technology. The project investigates how geometric constraints embedded within a computational design workflow can reduce part diversity and enable the construction of spatial structures using simple fabrication methods and limited tooling. The pavilion geometry was derived from an isogonal moulding surface, a subset of discrete Monge surfaces characterised by congruent torsion-free nodes and planar quadrilateral elements. These geometric properties were used to rationalise the structure towards a limited set of member lengths and node configurations while maintaining geometric continuity across regions of both positive and negative Gaussian curvature. A parametric workflow was developed to discretise and rationalise the surface geometry and to generate instructions for the manual fabrication and assembly. The structure was fabricated from flat cardboard strips of constant width cut from standard corrugated sheets, with connection details integrated directly into the members through controlled end-creasing, eliminating the need for separate connectors. The pavilion was constructed using basic hand tools through a modular assembly process carried out by groups of students. Despite its doubly curved non-developable geometry, the pavilion required only 20 unique member lengths and 6 unique fold angles across 684 members and 357 nodes. The project demonstrates how restricting geometric freedom at the computational design stage can support low-tech construction workflows for doubly curved spatial structures.