The Push and Pull Building System, Part 2

    There is another root of structures that extended from nature and it began with Buckminster Fuller. His designs include geodesic domes made from complex webs of triangular and hexogonal units. His designs have also found many echos in natural structures. The geometric structure that he designed is called an icosahedron and it closely mimics the structure that is found in nature: the bacteriophage. The hexagonal/pentagonal sphere is seen not only in the nano world but also in micro, everyday human objects (soccer ball), and now architectural (Fuller's domes).
    An interesting area where biology meets structure is tensegrity. The word was made by Buckminster Fuller but he did not create the concept. The concept is combining tension and integrity. It's a structure that's held together by tension members but maintains it's shape. Below is a tensegrity structure:

    Kenneth Snelson is known in the architectural community for his tensegrity designs. In 2000, he made a sculpture named Dragon (above). At first, the structure seems to defy the law of gravity but under high tension, a cable may look straight but there will always be a sag. 

    It is understandable for some to not see the relationship between biology and architecture. But since nanotechnology is largely hidden from the human eye it is good to have some larger structures in industry that mirror some natural structures from nature. The clean and smooth lines that nature usually presents helped this movement come along and some believe that those qualities helped human industry move more modern.