Great Dome v1

(MIT's Great Dome / Building 10)

Designed	Apr 2013
Crease Pattern	Yes
Diagrams	No
Inspiration

This model represents Building 10 on the MIT campus, where MIT's iconic Great Dome sits atop. The Great dome is one of the most recognizable architectural elements of the MIT campus. I often walked under it as an undergraduate student at MIT.

When designing this model, there were several features that I was careful to include: exactly ten columns, the combined front columns and steps, the building's unique T-shape, the multi-level character and roundness of the dome, and proportions faithful to the building. Among these, the columns were the most difficult to reproduce, and part of the design required shifting the columns to center them. I also put effort into distributing the layers of paper to increase stability and reduce unwanted bulk in conspicuous places, such as the dome. The model uses a 52x52 starting grid. Since the paper is thin, you can see the light shining through when illuminated from within.