Art of Engineering Workshop, 2014
Teamwork with Nakisa Dehpanah
This project has been done in collaboration with Nakisa Dehpanah. In this project, we had the possibility to participate in building a tensegrity structure, which is around 1.30 meters high and consists of 4 stable tensegrity glass sculptures. Tensegrity refers to structures, where compression members(rods) are only connected to each other by tension members(cables). The end result is that the structures appear to float in the air. This structure consists of 16 glass tubes and 60 cables. All tubes are pre-stressed with interior steel bars to guarantee their compression during the construction process. Every glass element is pin-ended with a stainless steel piece.
The glass tensegrity model is a sculpture that embraces 4 stable smaller pyramids. Each of them consists of 4 glass tubes and 12 cables. The elements combine t gether to build each pyramid, while they create a new small pyramid in the middle of them. The interior steel bars in each tube not only increase their compression but also make the tubes connected to each other by the rings, which are pinned to the bars. Furthermore, a thicker ring is joined to each tube to cross the cables through its holes.