MATERIALS & FASTENERS
Week 05 | 09/30/2022
Tensegrity Structure Model
“Tensegrity, tensional integrity or floating compression is a structural principle based on a system of isolated components under compression inside a network of continuous tension, and arranged in such a way that the compressed members (usually bars or struts) do not touch each other while the prestressed tensioned members (usually cables or tendons) delineate the system spatially.
The term was coined by Buckminster Fuller in the 1960s as a portmanteau of "tensional integrity". The other denomination of tensegrity, floating compression, was used mainly by the constructivist artist Kenneth Snelson.”
source: tensegrity - wikipedia
Inspired by a structure in front of Myrtle Hall at Pratt Institute, I decided to make a model of the tensegrity system.
The main materials are wood dowels and fish lines. For the connections and fasteners, I found two great items from an old tool box that has not been opened since 2015 — crimp beds and some tiny metal eyelets.
figure 1 - some old friends from 2015
figure 2 - parts and tools
figure 3 - wood dowels were cut to 6” long
figure 4 - crimp bed can be secured on the wood tightly
figure 5 - its teeth help to grab the wood dowel
figure 6 - they fit perfectly
figure 7 - dowels are connected by fish lines
figure 8 - connect, rotate, connect again — done
figure 9 - one of the fish lines is cut and redone to make it tighter
figure 13 - perspective view
figure 10 - the beauty of Newton’s Third Law
figure 14 - top view
figure 11 - the second one is made
figure 12 - different dimension, same method
The goal of this project is not to make a beautiful tensegrity model, but explore the beauty of delicate connections and fasteners in a small scale — how the crimp bed is secured on the wood dowels, how the fishline is crimped on the crimp beds by the metal eyelets. Material wise, personally thinking, wood dowels are budget friendly, however it is too widely used. If time and budget permit, I would replace wood dowels with metal ones. The selection of the fish line, in my humble opinion, was a great one — its transparency and strength help to stabilize the structure.