Modular ② — medium number of units

This page lists modular origami models made from a medium number of units (more than 12, not more than 90).

Dodecahedron (Penultimate Unit)

Dodecahedron (Penultimate Unit)

A regular dodecahedron made from Penultimate Unit, designed by Robert Neale. These units are very simple to fold and very versatile.

Daisy

Daisy

In early 2023, I went back to an idea I had in 2016 to make a modular daisy out of bent modules, all connected in the center of the flower. My first attempt ...

Spiked Icosahedra from Three Sonobe Variants

Spiked Icosahedra from Three Sonobe Variants

Comparison of three related Sonobe variants of mine, from left to right: Paper Airplane Sonobe, Checkered Sonobe, and Bow-Tie Sonobe. Each icosahedron is fol...

Dodecagonal Kaleidocycle

Dodecagonal Kaleidocycle

This origami kaleidocycle is an example of a flexible polyhedron, and an action origami model. You can see the cycling action in this video by Ed Holmes, in ...

Cube (BBU E7)

Cube (BBU E7)

Another cube from BBU-s: 6 × E7, 6 × D4 6 × A1.

Caffeine (Springy Unit)

Caffeine (Springy Unit)

Revisiting my Springy Unit, a design from more than 10 years ago, I realized it would be perfect for folding models of hydrocarbon molecules and aromatic com...

Hexagonal Honeycomb II (SBA-15)

Hexagonal Honeycomb II (SBA-15)

I designed this model for the cover illustration of my father’s book on nanoparticles. It represents the structure of SBA-15, a type of mesoporous silica. My...

90-Edge Buckyball (PHiZZ Variant IV)

90-Edge Buckyball (PHiZZ Variant IV)

This was an experiment with yet another PHiZZ variation of mine, conducted a few years ago. I chose too soft paper (or too large sheets) for this model which...

Spiked Icosahedron (Paper Airplane Sonobe)

Spiked Icosahedron (Paper Airplane Sonobe)

Spiked Icosahedron made from my new Sonobe variant, Paper Airplane Sonobe. When you look at an individual unit before assembling the model, you can spot a re...

Tent-Like House

Tent-Like House

A simple house from my Building Block Units, designed for a workshop with architecture students.

Cottage 1.1

Cottage 1.1

This is an improved version of my origami Cottage, made from Building Block Units.

Mesos Logo (Cube-Hexagon Illusion)

Mesos Logo (Cube-Hexagon Illusion)

This is the logo of Apache Mesos (cluster management software) rendered in origami. A colleague at work suggested I try designing this object in origami afte...

Aton Kusudama

Aton Kusudama

Aton Kusudama, variant A (many more are possible). Spiked icosahedron made from 30 units. Designed and folded by me. More variants are possible, some with in...

Purple 90-Edge Buckyball (PHiZZ Variant II)

Purple 90-Edge Buckyball (PHiZZ Variant II)

90-edge buckyball made from a variation of Tom Hull’s PHiZZ unit. I know that other people have also designed this simple variant of the unit independently f...

BBU Doghouse

BBU Doghouse

Dog house designed by me using several modified variants of Building Block Units. All units (3 for the roof and 13 for the walls and entrance) made from squa...

Lotus Cube

Lotus Cube

Lotus Cube, made from a variant of my BBU (Building Block Units). Even though it is possible to make a cube from just 6 lotus BBU units, such an assembly is ...

Six Intersecting Pentagrams (SIP)

Six Intersecting Pentagrams (SIP)

This modular woven polyhedron not only looks nice, but it also has a very interesting history of different people designing it independently. Those credited ...

Coaster Cube

Coaster Cube

This cube is made from a slightly modified variant of my Woven Slit Module (WSM). 36 units are used (6×4 = 24 for the faces and 12 for the edges), made from ...

Flower Icosahedron (StEM)

Flower Icosahedron (StEM)

This is an icosahedron (or dodecahedron, depending on how you look at it) made from a modified version of Sturdy Edge Module (StEM), a 90-degree unit variant...

Spiked Octahedron (WSM)

Spiked Octahedron (WSM)

Spiked octahedron made from my Woven Slit Module (WSM), 48 units from 3:1 paper.

Hydrangea Icosahedron

Hydrangea Icosahedron

After I made a Hydrangea Cube, Hydrangea Icosahedron was the next logical step. Just as in the cube, the Hydrangea Tessellation by Shuzo Fujimoto is used as ...

Adjustable Cube

Adjustable Cube

This cube is a mechanical toy. Its size can be adjusted: the cube can grow or shrink by a factor of about two. It starts out as a cube with a pattern resembl...

Knobby Cube

Knobby Cube

Another combination of Building Block Units and tessellations, this time Fujimoto’s Clover Folding, folded without the decorative margin. 18 modules: 6 × BB...

Clover Cube

Clover Cube

This model is a combination of Building Block Units and Fujimoto’s Clover Folding. The models amounts to 18 units, 12 of which are BBUs (6 × D10 variant, 6 ×...

Möbius Strip III (BBU)

Möbius Strip III (BBU)

A single-sided surface, the Möbius Band is one of the more interesting mathematical objects that can be reproduced in origami.

2×2×1 box

2×2×1 box

This is a practical box made from Building Block Units connected using the hook method. I use this box to store all my Crease Pattern drawings of BBU variant...

Makalu

Makalu

Makalu is one of the models in Robert Lang’s Himalayan Peaks series. Its more scientific name is six intersecting pentagons, or: 6 × 5 × 1 polypolyhedron. Se...

Annapurna from StEM modules

Annapurna from StEM modules

Annapurna (also known as ten intersecting triangles or 10 × 3 × 1 polypolyhedron) was designed by Robert Lang, but the model presented here uses my Sturdy Ed...

Spiked Icosahedron (BBU D2)

Spiked Icosahedron (BBU D2)

The structure of this model is similar to spiked icosahedra made with variants of the Sonobe unit and other similar modules. However, in the case of BBU, a t...

Hexagonal Honeycomb

Hexagonal Honeycomb

This structure can be extended indefinitely to fill the plane with a hexagonal pattern. By adding more layers it can also be expanded up and down.

Expanded Hexagonal Prism

Expanded Hexagonal Prism

This is a shape created by placing cubes on the outer square walls of a hexagonal prism. This way, the outer outline becomes a dodecagonal prism. Seen from t...

Cube (BBU E10)

Cube (BBU E10)

Due to the E10 tile’s small flaps, it can’t be directly attached to the flaps of inner A1 tiles. An additional “sizing” layer of A2 tiles is needed for prope...

Cottage

Cottage

A very simple building without many details. I later improved the design while preserving its simplicity (see Cottage 1.1).

Bell Tower

Bell Tower

Inspired by traditional Polish wooden churches and the wooden belfry in Paczyna.

14-Spoked Wheel

14-Spoked Wheel

Mathematically speaking, this wheel is a tetradecagonal prism. This construction, which uses a mix of units made from 1:√2 and 1:2√2 paper, isn’t mathematica...

Large Cube

Large Cube

This cube uses PVM Edge Connector Units to create extra distance between the Vertex Modules.

Spiked Icosahedron (StEM)

Spiked Icosahedron (StEM)

In this model, each face of an icosahedron was replaced with a triangular pyramid made from three units.

Spiked Icosahedron (StEM face variant)

Spiked Icosahedron (StEM face variant)

The unit is a variant of an edge unit; I call usage like this the “face variant” since the unit covers a face rather than an edge of the solid. When I invent...

Octahedron with Inverted Spikes on all Faces

Octahedron with Inverted Spikes on all Faces

This model’s structure is an octahedron whose each face was replaced with a pyramid of three equilateral right triangles, pointing inwards. Units are located...

Spiked Octahedron (rotated link method)

Spiked Octahedron (rotated link method)

This model demonstrates the rotated link connection method that can be applied to SEU units folded from square paper, which can be considered a Sonobe varian...

Spiked Icosahedron (Sonobe link method)

Spiked Icosahedron (Sonobe link method)

This model demonstrates the Sonobe link connection method that can be applied to SEU units folded from square paper, which can be considered a Sonobe variant...

Spiked Icosahedron (SEU link method)

Spiked Icosahedron (SEU link method)

This model demonstrates the SEU link connection method that can be applied to SEU units folded from square paper, which can be considered a Sonobe variant. T...

Spiked Icosahedron

Spiked Icosahedron

I designed the simple unit used for this model and later learned that it had been already published before by Jose Arley Moreno.

Truncated Octahedron

Truncated Octahedron

This was one of my early modifications of the 60° unit. Note that in this modification, the angle at the module’s tip is NOT 60 degrees.

Flower Icosahedron (60°)

Flower Icosahedron (60°)

Compare with a dodecahedron constructed from units modified by me in a similar manner, and with a model with the same structure but using StEM units.

Spiked Icosahedron (Sonobe variant)

Spiked Icosahedron (Sonobe variant)

I think this is my first Sonobe variant. Since it’s one of the simplest modifications possible, it has probably been independently discovered by many others.

Icosahedron

Icosahedron

You can compare this model, which uses straight, unmodified units, with two models made from the same units after slight modification: Flower Icosahedron and...

Umbrella Dodecahedron

Umbrella Dodecahedron

The module, originally designed just for folding this dodecahedron, can be also used for other kinds of models. See, for example, this spiked icosahedron.

Poinsettia Ball

Poinsettia Ball

Model is placed near a real Poinsettia flower for comparison.

Decorated Dodecahedron (Penultimate unit)

Decorated Dodecahedron (Penultimate unit)

This model is made from 90 modules (modified variant for triangular faces). Each face of the dodecahedron is made from a 5-triangle group, where the triangul...

FIT (Five Intersecting Tetrahedra)

FIT (Five Intersecting Tetrahedra)

At only 30 modules, this model is still much more challenging than most models with several times that many units, but also a lot of fun to fold. See the lin...

Truncated Cube (PHiZZ)

Truncated Cube (PHiZZ)

Generally, PHiZZ units are always connected in such way that three modules meet at each vertex. However, one can connect just two modules at some points, thu...

Jitterbug Icosidodecahedron

Jitterbug Icosidodecahedron

You can squeeze this model and transform it into an icosahedron, closing the empty space between units. This is called the jitterbug transformation.

Spiked Pentakisdodecahedron (Sonobe)

Spiked Pentakisdodecahedron (Sonobe)

There is one spike placed over two adjacent faces of the pentakisdodecahedron in this model. I haven’t checked if the angles actually add up, so it might be ...

WXYZ

WXYZ

Model is also known as WXYZ Diamonds.

Tux, the Linux penguin

Tux, the Linux penguin

Tux the penguin is a mascot of the Linux operating system. The logo was created by Larry Ewing () using The GIMP.

Spiked Icosahedron (Trimodule)

Spiked Icosahedron (Trimodule)

Apart from this basic version, I also made a variant of this model which has additional “fins” on the icosahedron’s edges.

Spiked Icosahedron (Penultimate Unit)

Spiked Icosahedron (Penultimate Unit)

One way of looking at this model is to see it as an icosahedron with a pyramid placed on each triangular face. Another is seeing it as a dodecahedron where e...

Möbius Strip II (Trimodule)

Möbius Strip II (Trimodule)

This is one of the rather few modular origami designs which use an odd number of units. Compare also with another similar model.

Möbius Strip I (Trimodule)

Möbius Strip I (Trimodule)

This is one of the rather few modular origami designs which require an odd number of modules. Compare also with another similar model.

3D Koch Snowflake (Trimodule)

3D Koch Snowflake (Trimodule)

This fractal is an analogue of the standard Koch snowflake. Level 0 is a tetrahedron. In each iteration, a tetrahedron with half the edge length is placed in...

Blintz Icosidodecahedron

Blintz Icosidodecahedron

There are six intersecting planar surfaces, each in the shape of pentagonal star, in this model. This leads to the most popular coloring with six different c...