The
Traumasphere!
The
Traumasphere
was
a
modular
origami
piece
constructed
in
the
basement
of
the
Madsen
Building
at
Sydney
University
circa
1993
when
I
was
working
as
a
research
assistant
in
the
Basser
Dept
of
Computer
Science
[Photo
of
noticeboard].
It
was
named
the
Traumasphere
though
concern
that
a
space-time
anomaly
might
result
when
construction
was
complete.
Reality
remained
unwarped,
but
some
months
later
the
Traumasphere
did
indeed
collapse
under
its
own
weight.
Although
small
sections
would
hold
together
by
themselves,
glue
was
used
to
prevent
the
Traumasphere
falling
apart.
It
is
easiest
to
describe
the
shape
by
the
space
it
encloses:
a
central
dodecahedral
cavity
sprouts
12
pentagonal
anti-prism
tunnels,
each
leading
to
a
pentagonal
cupola.
The
Traumasphere
was
inspired
by
an
entry
in
B.
M.
Stewart's
wonderful
book
"Adventures
Among
the
Toroids".
Construction
took
(if
I
correctly
recall)
270
squares
trimmed
from
A4
wastepaper.
Each
was
folded
into
a
modified
Sonobé
module
and
used
as
an
edge
of
the
Traumasphere.
If
your
browser
supoorts
Java
you'll
see
below
a
model
of
the
polyhedron
which
inspired
the
traumasphere.
The
LiveGraphics3D
applet
lets
you
rotate
the
model
by
clicking
and
dragging
with
the
mouse,
and
zoom
in/out
with
SHIFT
drag
up/down.
