Helix Tower
Helix Tower explores how a knitted textile can participate in a tensegrity structure. Curved PVC members rise in a helix around a series of stretched knit membranes. The membranes hold the members in tension and help stabilize the tower, making the textile an active part of its structural system.
The design developed through small physical studies alongside models in Grasshopper and Kangaroo. These tests examined how the knit would stretch between the curved members and how the assembled system would hold its shape. The final installation was fabricated during a 2021 residency at Arts Letters & Numbers.
Prefabricated textiles and simple connections allowed the lightweight tower to be assembled without tools. Its open form occupies a substantial volume while using relatively little material. The project examines the relationship between knit elasticity, structural stability, and rapid assembly at a small architectural scale.
Project information
Residency: Arts Letters & Numbers
Completed: August 2021
Project type: Installation and structural research
Materials: Knitted cotton and PVC
Design tools: Grasshopper and Kangaroo
Published research: Virginia Melnyk, “Soft Knitted Tensile Membrane Tensegrity Helix-Tower”, Enquiry: The ARCC Journal for Architectural Research 20, no. 2 (2023): 60–68