Spanish Woven Building Inspired by Tensegrity

Readers of this blog and Snelson's work know that tensegrity can be usefully considered as a form of weaving. The Spanish pavilion at the Shanghai World's Fair, just closed, was a tour de force of woven and triangulated frameworks. While I see no pure tensegrity in this complex structure, in the sense of sharply divided tensile and compressive elements, the marketing materials make this tensegrity-oriented claim:

The free form of the structure is characterized by complex curvatures that made necessary the development of an independent structural system to support the form. The search for this structural expression is defined by a search for the "tensegrity" of the form, the double curvature wrapping facade that constituted, simultaneously, the solution to the problem and a challenge.

The building is clad in wicker and is translucent, in a deliberate evocation of Spanish basket weaving techniques. The wicker panels were woven by local wicker craftsmen of the Shandong region (Northeast China).

Each panel is made of woven wicker fibers that wrap around a slightly distorted metal frame to give the panel a warping effect. The different densities of wicker fibers let through to the interior of the pavilion changing light and shade.

In the center of the pavilion is a giant baby. Hmmmm. Do they claim the baby's diaper is a tensegrity as well? Why not--all cloth is tensile technology.

Links http://www.architypereview.com/ar_v4n4-spanish-pavilion.php