ten30/GALLERY
“ten30 is our tensegrity icosahedron-based luminaire made with thirty struts held in suspension and tension by composite cables. ten30 has a restful but fascinating structural presence in any large environment.”
Geometry. ten30 brings a lightweight geometry to spaces. ten30 with carbon fibre struts. Image: Fabian Moller/Actualthing
Accuracy. Each of the 30 struts is held in suspension under tension. ten30 in walnut. Image: Joey Davey/Actualthing
Surface style. ten30 in Walnut, black cable and accessories. Image:Actualthing
Shadowcaster. ten30 casts some intriguing shadows as well as providing a dynamic light. Image:Khai Sze-ong/Actualthing
Nightlight. ten30 Carbon, struts catch the light. Image: Actualthing
Our ten30 luminaire is technically called a tensegrity icosahedron.
This means that it’s thirty struts are are parallel or in a straight angle to each other (this is unusual for tensegrity) and we feel it explains it’s elegant, restful and ordered appeal.
With tensegrity there are parallels with the way our bones are held in suspension inside our bodies by tissue, ‘biotensegrity’ in other words. If you look at nature there are many examples of tensegrity, and it could be argued that the icosahedron is the link between natural construction and human building blocks.
We must thank Buckminster Fuller for inventing the concept of tensegrity in the 1960’s. According to him there are only three stable structures that have flexible joints; the tetrahedron, octahedron and the icosohedron. This means that all biological structures must be constructed from- or be a combination of - one of these three. We chose the icosohdron for Ten30 for reasons of symmetry and pleasing geometry, but also for this connection with nature. This sums up our approach at Actualthing in fact.
