Tensegrity and the Human Body
Introduction to Tensegrity, Biotensegrity and Fascia
Tensegrity is a structural principle based on a system of floating compression inside a network of continuous tension. Developed in the 20th century, tensegrity was named by architect and philosopher Buckminster Fuller in 1955 by blending the words tension + integrity. Fuller (1895 – 1983) and artist Kenneth Snelson (1927 – 2016), a student of Fuller’s, each developed tensegrity in unique ways (although they were not the first).
Tensegrity structures tell the story of polarity— how opposing forces are not mutually exclusive but rather interdependent. Tensegrity is a basic system consisting of two elements that relate in such a way that a “third thing” emerges. Tension and compression co-arise to produce a unified self-contained system. Jean-Claude Guimberteau, creator of the groundbreaking movie Strolling Under the Skin, describes our living tensegral architecture as a “chaotic, disorderly, fractal, fibrillar universe of fascia”.
“Essentially, [tensegrity] refers to structures composed of bars or tubes that do not touch and are held in place by tension cables. Simple as this pioneering work was, it pointed ahead to the possibility of structures in which form and function truly are, in Frank Lloyd Wright’s formulation, one, and the visible configuration of the sculpture is simply the revelation of otherwise invisible forces.
The essence of tensegrity is flexibility—things maintain their form through the outward push of the compression tubes and the inward pull of the tension cables. As a result, the tubes, which in a more conventional sculpture would form a rigid armature, here never touch one another. The resulting structures will bend, rather than snap, when subjected to pressure. And they will hold together independent of gravity.”
As Snelson describes it, ‘The sculpture could be put into orbit in outer space and it would maintain its form. Its forces are internally locked. These mechanical forces, compression and tension or push and pull are invisible—just pure energy—in the same way that magnetic or electric fields are invisible.’
Kenneth Snelson’s Needle Tower
Biotensegrity & Fascia
At the National Mall in Washington D. C. in the 1970’s, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Stephen Levin was inspired by Kenneth Snelson’s Needle Tower. He had been looking for a new design model for the human body that was more closely aligned with our movement function and organization. Levin established the term “biotensegrity” as a branch of science and brought the principles to the study of human posture and movement. Biotensegrity is the study of how the principles of tensegrity manifest themselves into biology and living systems. To hear about Dr. Levin’s journey and how he developed biotensegrity, watch this series with kinesiologist and movement scientist Leonid Blyum.
“Consistent with an understanding of biologic life as an evolutionary and developmental continuum of dynamic functional structure, biotensegrity posits tensegrity architecture as a fundamental of biology: biotensegrity. This applies ‘from viruses to vertebrates’. Biotensegrity is part of systems science, complexity science and systems biology.”
~ Dr. Stephen Levin, orthopedic surgeon and originator of the term biotensegrity
Cells, molecules and tissues demonstrate the structural design principle of tensegrity that we see in human-made models and structures. Dr. Ingber learned about tensegrity in a sculpture class he took during his under-graduate degree alongside his studies in cell biology. Beginning his research in the 1970s, he has shown that tensegrity structures mimic the behaviors of our body’s cells.
His ideas are a radical departure from the belief that a living cell is like a “balloon filled with molasses”. Instead, the internal structure of the cell (the cytoskeleton) along with the external structural support for the cell (the extracellular matrix) both contribute to the tension and compression forces of the cell. The cell’s nucleus is also tensioned within the network. Research has demonstrated that pulling on receptors at the cell surface produces changes deep inside the cell.
Ingber writes that tensegrity “refers to a system that stabilizes itself mechanically because of the way in which tensional and compressive forces are distributed and balanced within the structure.” The inherent property of pre-stress that exists in a tensegrity provides mechanical stability to the system through the interaction of forces. Our living architecture also exhibits this pre-stressed quality giving mechanical information the ability to flow through the network— cell by cell.
For hundreds of years, anatomists have focused on the specific elements of the human body, diligently perfecting the use of their scalpel in order to isolate the muscles, bones, organs, glands, vessels, tendons and ligaments from the whole body. The fascia and connective tissue, the scruffy, fibrous stuff was considered irrelevant and was removed and discarded.
Anatomist, embryologist and phenomenologist Jaap van der Wal explains, “Under the procedural and mental scalpel of the anatomist, the continuity of the connective tissue as the central matrix of the body has been lost. The primary connective tissue of the body is the embryonic mesoderm. The mesoderm represents the matrix and environment within which the organs and structures of the body have been differentiated and therefore are embedded.”
In the last several decades, fascia is a high interest topic and the practice of cutting away (and through) the “stuff” of fascia and disregarding it has clearly shifted. The fascial system, once treated as an inert packing material, is now known as a body-wide tensional network. The living matrix is a ubiquitous element that is both our structural design and sensory fabric, the base for function and form. The properties, behavior, function and structure of fascia cannot be understod through classical anatomy and biomechanics. The conventional science of anatomy and biomechanics has largely been based on reductionist principles and observations of how inanimate machines work. The physics and engineering of planes, trains and automobiles has been transposed to the “machine” of the human body.
As living organisms, we are governed by the Laws of Nature and biotensegrity is a science that aligns with this reality. The model of the musculoskeletal system to describe human movement and function is out of date— the map is inadequate for the territory. Biotensegrity is a complex-systems science that reveals how we develop and respond to physical forces through a fundamental set of self-organzing principles. Instead of a focus on the parts of our anatomy, biotensegrity recognizes wholeness first and seeks to understand the relationship between the parts of the organism.
In a recent paper by Graham Scarr, biologist and osteopath, he concludes, ” . . . anatomy is no longer considered to be a collection of separate ‘bits’ that operate like a machine—as its orthodox descriptions, classifications and analyses frequently imply—but rather a globally tensioned, fluid/fibrous network of ECM/fascial tissues that encloses a complex heterarchical system of regionally specialized compartments under compression, and which extends from the smallest cell to the whole body.”
There are a lot of misunderstandings about biotensegrity as it makes its way to movement, bodywork and wellness spaces. The School for Somatic Groundwork aligns with the education happening through Embodied Biotensegrity and the Biotensegrity Archive. We highly recommend their related projects and partners, such as Susan Lowell de Solorzano’s book, “Everything Moves: How biotensegrity informs human Movement”.