A gate to the sky

Tensegrity are support structures consisting of a continuous system of tension elements and a discontinuous subsystem of pressure elements. The structure requires sufficient pre-tension to stabilize it. The term tensegrity was coined from the words ‘tensional’ and ‘integrity’. Tensegrity structures were discovered by the artist Kenneth Snelson (1927–2016) and the American architect and engineer R. Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983). Kenneth Snelson had already built small sculptures according to the tensegrity principle before the term tensegrity was even born.

R. Buckminster Fuller, with whom Kenneth Snelson studied architecture at the time, recognized the potential of Snelson’s sculptures and subsequently developed a variety of other basic systems with the aim of an application in lightweight construction: The largest roofing systems in the world, the so-called ‘cable domes’, are applications of open spatial tensegrity systems. For smaller buildings, tensegrity systems can be economical when the challenge is to create structures that can be easily assembled and disassembled. The addition of basic tensegrity elements to complete structures and the possibility of combining tensegrity systems with other support systems to form hybrid structures offer a wide range of design and development possibilities.