About the Writer

I describe myself as an engineer, artist and photographer. My primary career has been in engineering, initially a time served structural draughtsman progressing through the ranks to attain positions in engineering design and more recently CAD management.

CAD is not a new phenomenon for me as I was fortunate to be introduced to this medium in 1985 when I was doinga course learning to use Pafec Dogs, I also had the opportunity to test run a trial copy of the new PC based CAD system by Autodesk known as Autocad. Throughout the years that followed it was fascinating to see CAD evolve and eventually replace the drawing board as the mechanism for engineering design in both 2D and 3D.

This blog records my exploration of Spatial Geometry and Structure in the context of engineering, geometric symmetry and the aesthetics appeal of artistic sculpture. As with so many of today's Architectural forms my work explores the engineering in art and the art in engineering.

My First Foray into Spatial Designs;

In 1980 I was given the opportunity to work on a new project to prepare the fabrication drawings for something called a Nodus Space Frame. This was my first foray into Space frames and I was immediately fascinated by this design, the spatial qualities and the idea of a lattice work of relatively thin struts forming a unique structure that could span large distances unsupported. The interaction of the structural struts in conjunction with mechanical designed nodes was truly amazing.

I was lucky to have the opportunity to visit the site during construction and the visual appeal of this structure was truly awesome, I had never seen anything like it. From then on all I wanted to do was work with Space Frames, but alas that was the only time I have had the opportunity to do so!!

This was probably one of the most interesting projects I worked on during those early years and it was because of this that I started researching other space frame designs which invariably led me to the Geodesic work of Bucky Fuller and Tensegrity work of Kenneth Snelson.

From an engineering perspective:

My aim is to explore various aspects of all types of spatial structures; although primarily tensegrity at this time I eventually will include other spatial structures. The blog explores the process of developing tensegrity structures using 3D CAD to my exploration and discovery of the underlying geometric symmetry inherent to most Tensegrity Structures. This symmetry I would collectively refer to as "Tensegrity Symmetry" encompassing axis/rotational as well as geometric symmetrical concepts.

The 3D CAD systems I use are Autocad Inventor and Solidworks.

As a photographer;

My other main interest is photography, where I do a lot of macro work and close up photography, trying to capture the essence of the subject, the form, texture, structure and definiton.
See my online gallery: http://www.pbase.com/hught







This blog also includes a number of 3D PDF model files, which are created from the original CAD files and can be downloaded from the relevent postings. These files are available for personal use only. Commercial use of these files is not permitted without my express permission...please ask!