@DanielleM I like where you are headed with this design. The idea of disassembly is really intriguing and we were talking about it a bit at the office here. I'm curious how you could reinforce the connection structure of it so that it maintains rigidity during an impact. You could even have more than four quadrants and use something to keep them held together like an elastic or something. so that it collapses but then pops back into shape.

What kind of materials are you thinking that this would be made out of?

You could use magnets for alignment of the pieces but then have some sort of a latch mechinism to make a more sturdy connection between the pieces so it survives an impact better while still providing protection.