Taut, Light & Flexible: Visiting Compression, Tension, & Modularity

摘要

A single module design, well conceived and constructed, is generally superior to multiple modules of mediocre design or craft. R. Buckminster Fuller was a master designer and builder of light, flexible structures and objects. Undoubtedly the most ubiquitous design to emerge from his energetic mind was the geodesic dome. These lightweight structures have been employed around the world from the extremes of Antarctica to mundane work on the farm. While the success of this Building system is legend, one of his other important, but lesser known designs, is the tensegrity structure. Perhaps less useful than the geodesic dome, this structural concept serves to illustrate a wide variety of forces and design issues present in almost any object or structure. The term tensegrity comes from the word combination of tension and integrity. One of the obvious features of the tensegrity structure is the coupling and balancing of compression and tension forces. At the same time, it has a powerful visual elegance that is reinforced by an economy of material and the dynamics of internal and external forces.