I am a carpenter by trade. I worked in commercial and residential construction. Owned construction company for 12 years. I built our family house in Brazil when I was 15 years old.
I attended UCLA from 1969 to 1973 majoring in Engineering and Design in College of Fine Arts.
I was first introduced to Buckminster Fuller’s work in a design class where we built geodesic domes and inflatable structures.
In 1981 after reading Critical Path I started studying Synergetics. I was impressed with how different the geodesic dome was from prevalent building thinking. I wanted to understand how Fuller arrived at the geodesic dome concept.
From my understanding in Synergetics, I collaborated with Tony Gwilliam building tensegrity systems. We started in November 1985 and our intent was to use the proceeds from our endeavors to support works in Synergetics. On December 1986 we applied for a patent and it was granted on Dec. 8, 1987 patent No. 4,711,062. Our company name was Tensegrity International Inc, in Ojai, CA. In January 1988 we co-sponsored with BFI a Synergetics Workshop by Yasushi Kajikawa.
Tensegrity International designed a foldable tensegrity display system, which we manufactured and marketed.
On Sep. 26, 1989 I was granted a patent no. 4,869,041 which I called it the Octet Truss Expansion System. It could be built in any pattern of the isotropic vector matrix. It is a method of building very large structures, using a robot, like structures in space. It is based on Fuller’s Miniaturization principle in Synergetics sec. 740.00. It also included an improved connecting system for the construction of the octet truss.
I no longer feel it is an advantage to humanity to take out a patent. I think the freeware and open source code model adopted by some computer programmers have contributed greatly to the computer revolution.
Hello Russell. My name is Sharona Paller Rubinstein, and I am the choreographer that worked with you in the 1980's. Do you remember designing the 14' Icosahedron that we built during my Master's Thesis dance piece "Geodesia"? I have thought about you over the years, and have spoken about you many times, and your name has been in several programs. I have restaged the dance, in New York City in 1990, and in Macon, GA in 1995 and 1996. The dance has evolved along the way, and we can see the structure moving around the stage without any fabric before we complete the Globe. It is such and incredible structure to behold. I have finally opened up the box again, here in Memphis, TN, and I plan to stage it again in March of 2013 in celebration of my turning 50! We just built it today to see if it still is in working condition, and it still stands strong!! Everyone who sees it is amazed. I would love for you to stay in touch, and be involved in any way you would like. I am looking for Bucky fans here in Memphis to help spread the word. You can find out more about what I've been up to, and about my last performance that my dance company produced on our website which is performanceartnetwork.org. I look forward to hearing from you. All the best to you in your endeavors, Sharona Rubinstein
ReplyDeleteHi, I am very interested in the octet truss and the patterns it contains. I see 3D Stars of David which replicate themselves on different scales. I have many images at the Synergeo Yahoo group. Most people focus on Fuller's domes but I think the grids are more important.
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