Tensegrity: what is it and what does it consist of? Who better than the proponent of this term – Buckminster Fuller - to explain it? “This term – he says – describes self-tensioning structures composed of rigid structures and cables, with forces of traction and compression, which form an integrated whole". In simple words, tensegrity is the property demonstrated by a system that employs cables and rigidity of other elements capable of acting under the intrinsic stresses together and simultaneously, giving greater resistance and formal stability.

But how does the system work? Simply by joining opposing forces. Precisely this game of oppositions is for Fuller the "structural basis of nature; capable of, with a minimum of elements, forming a strong structure". His student-sculptor Kenneth Snelson, working with pieces composed of rigid and flexible components, also played an essential role in the development of the structural system to prove the researcher's study. Among his most emblematic works of this system there is the Needle Tower sculpture created in 1968 and characterized by significant measures: 18 meters in height, 6.18 in width and 5.42 meters in length. The Tower allowed Fuller to theoretically develop the idea from the analysis of the traction integrity. The geodesic dome designed by the architect already hinted toward the notion of the tensile structures in 1948, despite the difficulties met in the assembly process of the prototype which stood only for a few minutes. The rigid bars, arranged in isolation, without contact and integrated by steel cables that receive tensile forces, act on compression forces. The initial concept has been expanded with the incorporation of "structures that may not be self-balanced, but which contemplate the principle (...), formed by tension cables and compressed bars isolated from each other" [7] like Fuller's geodesics. The system has attracted the attention of several researchers, first of all Deifeld and Pauletti who found the largest architectural structure to use this system in the roof of the Georgia Dome [8] in Atlanta, Georgia. Kuan-Ting Lai, in his research "Reconfigurable Tensegrity Systems", assessed the possibility of using the principles to build a reconfigurable structural system following an understanding of the basic rules of the system, with the construction of a prototype of pneumatic cylinders and polycarbonate panels demonstrating what the potential shows. There is much more to be done in understanding and using this system, but incredible scenarios that could be opened up.