Otto, Frei

Read here about a person significant to tensegrity research.

Overview

Otto is the world's leading authority on lightweight tensile and membrane structures, and has pioneered advances in structural mathematics and civil engineering. Otto's career bears a similarity to Buckminster Fuller's architectural experiments: both taught at Washington University in St. Louis in the late 1950's, both were architects of major pavilions at the Montreal Expo of 1967, both were concerned with space frames and structural efficiency, and both experimented withinflatable buildings. The work of both men go far beyond traditional methods of calculating structural stresses. His designs are regarded to have been heavily influenced by Australian architect Barry Patten, and his most famous design, the Myer Music Bowl (1959) in Melbourne.

Otto did not construct any pure tensegrity structures, but his membrane and fabric structures were a critical influence on today's tensegrity explorers.

Links and References

Selected works website, http://www.freiotto.com/

Wikipedia article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frei_Otto