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.