Paper Suspension Bridge--no Tape Needed

This project is great because it enables you to create something amazing that demonstrates the power of modern architecture even with limited time or resources. It doesn't require any use of expensive or hard-to-use technology and can be done on a small scale, if you want to just make the basic bridge, or you could make several to extend to make a longer one. You could also do this and make the legs shorter, and skip the railing and suspension cords to make the boardwalks of an Alaskan village! You could even use the same basic techniques and building blocks of the bridge to make other projects, such as highly detailed ships, building that you can go inside and outside of, and even bookshelves. This bridge is great as a standalone, but it's also the keystone of so many other projects that only you could dream up.

1. Four pieces of printer paper
2. Scissors, knife, or desired cutting instrument
3. Pencil
4. Ruler or straightedge

To do this, take a piece of printer paper and fold it widthwise into fourths. Cut along the creases to make four strips and fold each strip lengthwise into fourths to make long square prisms. These will form the planks of the bridge. Then fold a second piece of printer paper in half lengthwise, cut the crease, and place the four planks, lying down and put together side-by-side, onto the center of one half of the second piece. Trace their outline on the paper with a pencil and then take them away. Extend the lines you drew when tracing to the end of the paper with a ruler and cut along the extensions of the two longest lines. (Do NOT cut anything but the extensions of the two longest lines.) Then fold along the lines of the rectangle to make the "walls" come up. Fold the long walls in on the extensions of the two short lines in so they rest on the inside of the short walls. The short walls should be slightly higher than the longer ones, so fold the excess down to hold the folded in portion of the long walls in place. You should now have a pan-like shape, so put the planks into it to complete the main body.

To do this, repeat the steps used to make the planks, but then, to support the main body of the bridge, lightly draw a line slightly below the halfway point along the two sides of each leg that will be facing inward, which should be the on the cut in the paper. The lines must be the same height on each leg. This is where the bottom of the main body of the bridge will rest. Then cut flaps coming up from each line, and fold them down. Draw a square on the top and bottom of the main body of the bridge on each place where the legs will go and put the legs through. The flaps should hold the main body of the bridge up.

Cut four thin strips of paper the slightly longer than the length you want the suspension cords to be. Fold each end back on itself and cut a horizontal slit at the top of each leg where you want the cord to be attached, and another at the centre of the bridge. Put the end of each suspension cord through the slits, and the folds should keep them in.

Take the other half of the paper you used to hold together the planks of the main body of the bridge and put the bridge on top of it. Trace along the bottom of each leg, and then out cut each square hole you just drew. Put the legs of the bridge down a little bit through these holes and cut up along the corners of the legs to the base. Make sure to cut the same height up each time. Then, fold the bottoms of the legs so they spleen outward, keeping the base in place.