Sculpture, Model for "Greene Guide"

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It has been able to spend time at the museum on loan from Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Sculptor Kenneth Snelson is best known for his tensegrity (tensional integrity) structures, like this model, which are composed of multiple rigid struts that do not physical touch but are pulled up and open through interconnection with a series of tensile cables. These structures are found in nature – spider webs, inch worms – and are profoundly stable. Architect and engineer R. Buckminster Fuller introduced the idea to Snelson at Black Mountain College in North Carolina where he was a student in 1948-49.