23/10/21 18:02 Simple tensegrity structures

TENSEGRITY
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simple
well-known
four struts
X-module
architecture
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Simple..
Three struts up in the air. This is what a tensegrity is all
about. I think I've made over one hundred tensegrities,
but this one is still my favourite. It's simplicity makes it
magic. It is the most simple tensegrity one can imagine.
The basic brick of all tensegrities, with that unique
tensegrity characteristic: the twist.
History

It may not seem difficult to invent (or is it discover?) this

tensegrity. Nevertheless, as far as we know, it is not
invented by the Ancient Greeks, the Romans or any other
old civilization. In fact, it's history is very young. This 3-
strut prism was probably first made either by a Lithuanian
artist Karl Ioganson around 1920 or by a Fuller student at
the University of North Carolina in the early 1950's named
Ted Pope. But both Karl's and Ted's contribution towards
the development of the tensegrity stops here. In fact we
are not even sure they actually build this basic tensegrity.
The real start of tensegrity was in a basement somewhere
in Pendleton, Oregon in the autumn of 1948, where a
young student called Kenneth Snelson experimented with
thread, wire, clay, metal from tin cans, cardboard, etc... Or
maybe it started a little earlier, when Snelson attended a
summer course in North Carolina at Black Mountain
College and got "electrified" by a charismatic visionary
designer, architect and inventor named Richard
Buckminster Fuller..
Practice

This site is full of information about tensegrities, but a

great deal of the experience is in practice. If you want to
get some understanding to the meaning of a tensegrity, it
should be wise to turn off the computer once in a while,
and do some practice. A good start would be for instance
the following experiment: saw three sticks equal in length,
drill a screw in each end of each stick, take some rope and
try to make your own 3-strut prism... ..and by the time
you are back at this site you realize that it is not that
simple..
Description

This basic tensegrity, with many names such as "3-strut T-

prism", "simplex", "elementary equilibrium", "3 struts, 9
tendons", "twist element", "3 struts single layer ", "
(3,9;2,1)", shows what a tensegrity really is. But what is
it? Since the existance of the tensegrity there have been
many discussions of what it is and what it is not. From a ...with one loose end the whole structure false apart..

technical point there is a wide range of opinions varying

from "purists" like Kenneth Snelson himself to people with
a broader, less critical, mind, who think a bicycle wheel, a
balloon and a spider web also belong to the family of
tensegrities. These many discussions have led to nearly as
many definitions of a tensegrity.
Apart from these technical discussions there are people
who are so impressed by the characteristiscs or the
qualities of a tensegrity that they want to have a part of it
one way or another. For instance there is someone called
Carlos Castaneda who teaches "tensegrity" and his
definition is: "Tensegrity is the name given to the modern
version of the magical passes: positions and movements of
body and breath that were dreamt and stalked by men and
women seers who lived in Mexico in ancient times."

Another person called Timothy Wilken speaks about

"Ortegrity", a word he made up from Organisation and
Tensegrity, as a system based on synergic principles for
organizing two or more humans. Where a continuous pull
of "decision" is balanced by the discontinuous push of
"action". In his mind tensegrity is the pattern that results
when push and pull have a win-win relationship with each
other.

Personally, I received a question from a certain Linda who

wanted to use one of my tensegrities as a logo for her
business. She has a life coaching business for women in
which she emphasizes the importance of achieving balance
in life. different variations with three struts

Espessially the "technicians" or the "purists" among us

may laugh about this, or even get a little angry, but I think
it comes with the charme of a tensegrity itself. People
don't like to refer to a few struts and strings, but in this
case they do because a tensegrity shows that the total is
much more than it's individual parts. And that is just one
of its characteristics.

In fact, the charme of tensegrity is that it shows a lot of

qualities we encouter in our lives: Indeed the most catchy
one is probably that the total is more than the sum of the
individual parts but there is more. For instance, tensegrity
is full of the "daily" push-and-pull we experience in our
lives, especially when we want to get something done. But
more subtal, it is delicate and strong at the same time and
the reverse of "the total is more than the sum.." means
that the structure needs every strut and every string. No
one can fail, because when one strut bends, or one string
breaks, the structure will collapse..
History & Description

There is one person who is everywhere in describing

tensegrity. His name is Buckminster Fuller, also well-known
as "Bucky" and he even invented the word TENSEGRITY by
the contraction of TENSIONAL INTEGRITY. In his book
Synergetics he gives the following definition: "Tensegrity
describes a structural relationship principle in which
structural shape is guaranteed by the finitely closed,
comprehensively continuous, tensional behaviours of the
system and not by the discontinuous and exclusively local
compressional behaviors." Quite a mouthful, but he also
could say it in a different way, like: "...compression
elements in a sea of tension..."

..and more variations

Description

In general one could say that the longer the definition, the
more accurate and precise the description and the less
fascinating. Bucky spoke of "compression elements in a
sea of tension" which gives a clear picture. In my opinion
Rene Motro gives a good definition:"Tensegrity system is a
system in a stable self-equilibrated state comprising a
discontinuous set of compressed components inside a
continuum of tensioned components." But one that
anticipated best on my imagination came from a Dutch
article from Chris Heunen en Dick van Leijenhorst and
sounded like "De touwtjes houden het hele bouwsel bijeen
en de houtjes uit elkaar." Which is something like "A
Buckminster Fuller in 1949
tensegrity is a set of strings that keep the construction
together and the sticks apart."
This man expected a lot, if not everything, of the
Characteristics

tensegrity principle. He saw tensegrities wherever he

With the picture below, I hope to demonstrate that
looked, which is illustrated by the following text, also in his
tensegrities can be quite strong. But this doesn't mean
book Synergetics: "All structures, properly understood,
that it's practical value has developed very easily or very
from the solar system to the atom, are tensegrity
fast. Robert E. Skelton, a professor of mechanical and
structures. Universe is omnitensional integrity." And in a
aerospace engineering, expressed himself in an article in
letter to Robert Burkhardt : "I simply found that the
the Science Daily, april 2006
with the following strong
Universe is compressionally discontinuous and only
words for both history and future of the tensegrity:
tensionally continuous. The structural integrity of Universe
"Tensegrity, as a concept, has been around for more than
is tensional as Kepler discovered. I gave this phenomena
50 years, but until now we have lacked the mathematics
the name "tensegrity". For him, it was not strange he
needed to make it an engineering tool.. ..There are lots of
"preached" tensegrity the way he did. Already in 1932
ways to put sticks and strings together that give you
Bucky famously philosophized: "Don't fight forces. Use
nothing but a useless pile. However, our new
them!", which is exactly what a tensegrity is all about, so
computational tools enable us to design an airplane wing
he must have been delighted when Snelson showed him
structure that can extend and retract like a bird's wing."
the first tensegrity in 1949. After 17 years this was the
structure that showed that the fundamental phenomena Practice

tension and compression were not opposites, but Just in case you want a little help making your first
complements that could always be found together and tensegrity: Try three struts of 30 cm each and nine
never found apart. tendons of 20,4 cm each. Good luck!

..some "strange struts"..:

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23/10/21 18:02 Simple tensegrity structures

.. and a few three strut tensegrities knit together..

Marcelo Pars info@tensegriteit.nl

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