Steel structures - Cable structures

With their formal roots in examples of human achievements dating back thousands of years (nomadic tents, Roman velumes) or centuries (cable suspension bridges made by weaving plants in Asia, Oceania and Peru), as well as in natural models (the spider's web), cable structures have developed in the contemporary period using technology directly derived from civil engineering (suspension bridges, prestressed cables).

As the title at the top of this article indicates, this article deals with the use of cables as such as structural components in permanent constructions. This does not include their use as temporary elements (bracing), in lifting gear, conveyors, etc.

In recent years in particular, we have seen the impact of a certain architectural trend known as high-tech, which, all too often, fails to make the best use of elements that are, or could have been, stretched, generally rectilinear, and not necessarily made of cables. However, it should be noted that the types of structures that represent the most accomplished outcome of cable structures (grids of entirely stretched elements, the Poet's Ideal?) have unfortunately remained relatively confidential, despite some exemplary achievements in the previous decade, notably the installations for the Munich Olympic Games.

In spite of this, we can assume that, given their technical (relatively high strength grades) and morphological potential (long spans; the way in which this type of structure can play its role as a structural system (i.e. modify the distribution and/or direction of actions) in defining and marking the space created; new combinations with composite materials), cable structures could see increasing development.

"...I can pull the cable to sound the Ideal..."

Stéphane Mallarmé