Tensegrity sphere
2018 Wiesloch, Germany

Spherical shaped construction with 4.6 m diameter, consisting of 30 bars and 30 ropes where no rod touches the other. The 2,8 m long 60 x 4 mm steel rods are held in their position only by 10 mm thick and 3 m long steel ropes. Each rod is fitted with specially developed, rotable cable fastenings and a welded fasteners for the steel ropes. The ropes are mechanically pre-streched to their final length but can also be further adjusted. The 120 rodes of the rope fastenings allow the complex spherical shape, whose dimensions and elongations were calculated in several rounds with the use of the 3D program. The technical principle of the rod-rope construction called "Tensegrity" originates from the American designer, visionary and philosopher Buckminster Fuller (1895 -1983), who is still considered one of the most important developers of geodetic domes. The extraordinary thing about this principle is the separation or combination of solid and flexible materials such as rods and ropes and thus the creation of a completely new design technique. The forms are variable, so that with this technique each object receives an individual character and gains complexity in its mathematical structure.


Client: "Bürgerstiftung Kunst für Wiesloch e.V." (initiated and financed)
Organization, supervision: Grete and Dr. med. Helmut Bergdolt in cooperation with the city Wiesloch
Assembly and location: technical service, Stadtgrün und Umwelt, city Wiesloch
Structural engineering: sbp, schlaich bergermann and
partners, engineers, Stuttgart
Supervision: Mathias Widmayer, sbp rope and metal construction: central workshop of Technical University of Munich
Rope technology and material: Pfeifer, Seilbau Memingen
Metal construction: Menges-König, Rauenberg near Wiesloch