Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Tensegrity Structures

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everybody! Back in January with many interesting posts, stay tuned!

Tensegrity structures in Switzerland

Switzerland is a pioneer when it comes to tensegrity structures. Here is a series of pictures of Swiss tensegrity structures:

World Cycling Centre (Aigle)

Blur Building (Yverdon)*

*This structure was constructed only for the duration of the Swiss Expo'02 and therefore it no longer exists.

IMAC tensegrity (Lausanne, EPFL)

Tensegrity Torus (Trubschachen)

Tensegrity structures will continue to arise hopefully not only in Switzerland but all around the world.

Jakob AG and the Tensegrity Torus III

As previously presented, Jakob AG - a rope-system manufacturer in Trubschachen (Switzerland) - decided to construct with the help of Blue Office Architecture a large Tensegrity Torus. The torus will be used as a landmark for their site. Here is a series of pictures from the final stage of the construction:

You can find Jakob AG on: http://www.jakob.ch/ and Blue Office Architecture on: http://www.grenoble.archi.fr/enseignement/cours/tixier/boa.html#haut.

CO2PENHAGEN 2009

Tensegrity sculptures were used in the CO2PENHAGEN 2009 Festival, the world's first CO2-neutral festival. The sculptures were designed by the architectural enginnering students Katrine From, Tobias Øhrstrøm and Jacob Drachmann from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). These sculptures were placed at the entrances and next to the information area; they helped to create an identity for the festival site.

The photos are taken by Tobias Øhrstrøm. The sculptures were made of 2mm thick glassfiber allowing LED lights to shine through the 3m long tubes. This created the "light sword" effect seen on these pictures.

Personally, i think that it was a great idea to use the principle of tensegrity for this festival. Plus, the final result was an excellent fit.

You can find more about CO2PENHAGEN Festival on: http://www.co2penhagen.com/. Many thanks to Jacob Drachmann for this post!

Tensegrity footbridge: an update

As you might know from one of the first posts, my thesis is focused on a tensegrity footbridge. Today, I have decided to share a hint of this idea with the help of a video made by Govind Gopinath. The video is an excellent visualisation of the structural system of this peculiar footbridge.

If you are interested and you want to know more about the project, just contact me.

Kurilpa Bridge opens... and the controversy continues!

Kurilpa Bridge is described as the first ever tensegrity bridge by architect Michael Rayner and the Department of Public Works of Brisbane. The bridge is situated in Brisbane’s inner city in Australia linking Brisbane City center with South Brisbane. The structural system contains a multiple-mast system which looks like a tensegrity system. However, there are always doubts about the structural nature of this bridge. One thing is sure, tensegrity is getting a lot of attention these days and this may be a turning point for the recognition of this structural system.

Check out the Kurilpa Bridge opening from Channel 9:

For more information about the bridge visit the official website of the Department of Public Works: http://www.publicworks.qld.gov.au/majorprojects/Pages/KurilpaBridge.aspx.

"City Bike" by Ionut Predescu

City Bike is a bike conception by the romanian designer Ionut Predescu. The bike structure is made out of cables and struts using the equilibrium between tension and compression in order to create a stable structure.

The designer describes the bike as a "high strength tensegrity frame made of carbon fiber and kevlar cables. A balance between compression and tension elements is able to offer a lighter alternative to traditional bike frames by producing a stiff structure where elements seem to float one against the other."

There are many discussions online about this design such as whether it can be a safe or useful concept for bikers. For Tensegrity structures the question is whether the word tensegrity can be used for such a structure. Personally, i think that the appropriate term would be tensegrity-like.

You can find more about Ionut Predescu and the City Bike on: hhttp://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_file.asp?from_url=true&portfolio_id=1645688&individual_id=168463.

Tensegrity sculpture by Buckminster Fuller in UW-Madison

The University of Wisconsin-Madison awarded R. Buckminster Fuller with an honorary doctorate for his work as an inventor (incl. the geodesic dome and the tensegrity concept), architect, engineer, artist, humanitarian, mathematician, poet and cosmologist. His sculpture, the Sixty Strut Tensegrity Sphere, was placed in 2002 in the building's Engineering Drive entrance.

You can find more about the sculpture in UW-Madison on: http://www.engr.wisc.edu/news/headlines/2002/Aug12.html.