The PangoFort

Inspired by an African mammal known as the pangolin, I decided to create a fort that would serve as a sort of armor or protection from the exterior world.

My initial explorations to create a pangolin-like form led me to folding and pleating. Though my studies I eventually discovered the diamond pleat, which is a structural fold that can be manipulated to compress and open much like an accordion.

My final design is a 10 sided regular polygon made up of a grid of diamonds that are 12 inches in the long dimension and 1.5 inches in the short dimension with an obtuse angle of 144 degrees (which is also the interior angle of the polygon). The assembled grid totals out to 8 ft wide and 20 ft long, but when folded in its final state as circular form is only about 3 ft in diameter.

As a folded structure that can compress and expand relatively easily, the PangoFort becomes a portable space that allows the inhabitant protection and safety within their small bubble of enclosure. The bubble creates a screen between the inhabitant and the exterior world, filtering light, sound, and air in a way that creates a sense of separation or removal from that world. Instead of providing physical protection as the armor of a pangolin does, the PangoFort provides a more conceptual preservation of personal space that could potentially be deployed according to the user's need in any environment, hostile or not.

PangoFort being set up:

Inside the PangoFort:

PangoFort in action!