Filamentosa: An ultra-lightweigh skyscraper using an actuated tensegrity structure exo-skelital frame tethered internal core. (2004)

The Office For Robotic Architectural Media & The Bureau For Responsive Architecture (oframBFRA) is a small, award winning, architectural practice that designs buildings as well as systems. It is run by founder, Tristan d’Estree Sterk and Robert Skelton who joined as an equal partner in 2004. They specialize in the development of actuated structural & advanced sensor systems for use within the architecture."We conduct this work because many of the technologies that are necessary for producing responsive buildings don’t yet exist and because responsive technologies enable us to improve the performanceof our buildings. More than just building performance, we also hold the strong belief that this work enables us to design a whole new type of architecture that more closely reflects the social and technological conditions of our time."

Sensor/computer/actuator technologies are used to produce intelligent envelopes and structures that seek fresh relationships between the ‘building’ and ‘user’. Their buildings are covered by skins with the ability to alter their shape as the social and environmental conditions of the spaces within and around each building change. The image above shows a full-scale prototype of an actuated tensegrity structure for use within a responsive building envelope.

In particular I found an interesting paper on their website called "Using Actuated Tensegrity Structures to Produce a Responsive Architecture "