TRANS-TENSEGRITY DESIGN

This research moves from the study of tessellation and polyhedra as innovative path of drawings for the project. Such elements are taken and used as the basic inputs of an innovative generative design, and the obtained results applied to tensegrity structures. Tensegrity structures are systems in stable self-balance, composed of elements in compression immersed in tense elements. In our project, the structures are created, thanks to an algorithm, around the polyhedra and the tessellation of the surfaces, through rotations and translations of said surfaces. In particular, in case of polyhedra, the corners are replaced by poles that mark a process of rotation around an axis passing through the centre of the same polyhedra. In order to build a tensegrity structure, these poles are then connected by a series of tense cables. In case of tessellated surfaces, the sides of the geometries are replaced by poles and then subjected to rotations on the plane and alternating rotations in space. Eventually, the poles are all connected through tense cables. The newly created geometries can be connected to the concept of trans-polyhedra, convex polyhedra composed of entirety of the initial polyhedron’s faces, plus the faces of the dual polyhedron, plus a series of connecting quadrilaterals. The same concept works for the trans-tessellations. These concepts have been developed and applied in several design objects, which are able to maximize the peculiarity of tensegrity systems.