Studio Vey
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Research · Textiles · Digital fabrication · 2024

4D Printing Architectural Textiles

Flat sheets that fold themselves into structure.

4D-printed textile prototypes: a blue ribbed cylindrical form beside white pleated and folded printed textile pieces.

This body of research develops design systems and prototypes for self-forming, self-supporting architectural composites. Thermoplastic is printed directly onto flat, tensioned textile; once the tension is released the sheet warps into a stable three-dimensional structure.

The work covers the full chain — material selection, print pattern logic, tensioning rigs, simulation of the resulting curvature, and physical validation across scales. Pattern geometry becomes the control mechanism: changing line direction, density and layer count changes how the textile folds.

Findings from this research were presented at SIGraDi 2024 and continue to inform the studio's workshops and commissioned work.

Pink thermoplastic lattice printed onto a white tensioned textile on the print bed.
Pale yellow 4D-printed textile vessel with horizontal ribbed folds.
Hand opening a cream textile structure with vertical printed ribs and cinched bands.
Cream textile form with a continuous spiralling printed seam.
Pale pleated textile cylinder formed by vertical printed lines.
Tapered cream textile column with stacked ribbed segments.
Blue 4D-printed textile shell with rippling folds and rounded bosses.
Hands holding a white printed textile sample folded into a corrugated wave.
Hands stretching a flat printed textile panel with a wavy line pattern.
Close-up of a blue thermoplastic lattice printed onto white textile.
Hand holding a lilac textile sample with a purple printed diamond grid buckling into relief.
Pale yellow textile column with tightly stacked horizontal ribs.
Cream printed textile shell splayed open like a pleated fan.
Ribbed pale yellow textile column seen from a second angle.
Cream textile vessel patterned with printed circular bosses.
Cream textile column with deep scalloped horizontal folds.
Hands holding a cream textile sample curling into concentric ribbed arcs.
Hands stretching a cream textile panel with printed rib bands forming a chevron.

Credits

Research and design: Amelia Vey Henry. Developed at Lund University (LTH).

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