What is tensegrity and why is it always cool

Surely everyone has seen on the Internet, and some in real life, unusual furniture that seems to exist contrary to the laws of physics. But these things created using the principle of tensegrity, on the contrary, very clearly demonstrate to us the triumph of scientific thought in a single stool or coffee table.

Tensegrity is a term used not only in relation to furniture. This is a fundamental principle of the construction of nature, which stands for tensional integrity, and translates something like this: "integrity by stretching." This definition was coined by the American architect, designer and engineer Richard Buckminster Fuller, who believed that modern architecture should be closer to wildlife.

Fuller was born almost blind and created almost all of his creations based on tactile sensations. He believed that triangles and tetrahedra were the most stable forms. Back in the 20s, the architect proved that in nature everything is built on the principle of tensegrity, with a balance of strained ties.

Even a person entwined with flexible and contracting muscles, tendons and ligaments that unite the skeleton with joints, according to Fuller, completely fit into the canons of his theory. After the death of the engineer, whom many considered a visionary, science proved that the principle of tensegrity, as he claimed, is a fundamental principle of the construction of nature, operating at the level of organs, tissues, cells and even molecules.

In Russia, the scientist Karl Johanson (1890-1929) studied tensegrity. He, even a quarter of a century before the creation of this term by Fuller, delighted visitors to technical exhibitions with his "self-stressed constructions".

But we got distracted from the topic of our conversation — fantastic furniture. The principle of tensegrity is successfully used in the creation of all kinds of structures with cables, chains and rods, some of which work for tension, and others for compression, but in a complex provide structures with stability, strength and durability.

In Russian, such constructions using tension and compression are called tension-coupled. Their calculation and manufacture only seem complicated at first glance — in fact, everything is simple and very natural. You can easily understand how this furniture is arranged if you abstract from stereotypes and connect imagination and a little spatial thinking. See how beautiful and technologically advanced these interior items are, created from the simplest materials.

Someone makes complex calculations, reinventing the chair, and someone goes the other way, shocking with the realism and senselessness of their products. "Wolf" furniture from Dagestan is an excellent example of such bad taste and cheap "exotics".