The geometry of the mushrooms is based on the folding pattern of an origami ‘magic ball.’ The beauty of that structure is its ability to expand and contract; the challenge is that it’s much harder to control, and, as we found out later, much harder to fold at scale.
When I moved to the Bay Area to join IDEO, I had never even heard of Burning Man. But once I got here, it came up almost every time I showed someone my Ha-Ori shelter, a collapsible origami structure I designed and built while studying at the Royal College of Art in London.
