Modular Origami: the DeZZ Unit

by Robert J. Lang
Edited by Thomas Hull
modular
simple
low intermediate
math
geometric

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Comments

Submitted by malachi.brown on June 18, 2012 - 8:53pm

There is quite a bit of overlap between some of these models and models that are quite natural when folding US business cards. In particular the cube and deltahedra as well as the dipyramids.

http://spencerandbrown.com/mbb/origami/buscard/#DiamondEdge

Submitted by bugfolder on August 1, 2016 - 5:01pm

The deltahedral version of the DeZZ unit is pretty close to a unit that Tom Hull invented in 2007, taught at the OrigamiUSA convention in 2007, and published in the 2008 OrigamiUSA Convention book. The diagrams for Tom's unit were also
published in the 2012 BOS Liverpool Convention book and the 2012 CDO's "Quadrato Magico Magazine."

Submitted by thomas.hull on April 9, 2019 - 11:42pm

Pretty close, yes, but not exactly the same. The unit of mine that you're referring to (which I've sometimes called the "Icosahedron Plus Unit") starts by folding the square into thirds, which is not mathematically perfect for folding a strip of equilateral triangles (needed for deltahedra). I chose to go with folding into thirds because it's fairly quick and easy to do. Lang's version here constructs the perfect length, which takes more work but does result in units that fit together better.