10 // ADVANCED STRUCTURAL RESEARCH

Beyond the Hex-Cell platform, the division maintains a structural research program investigating tension-dominant deployable architectures — structures that transport in compact form and erect rapidly on site.

Project Carbyne Weaver. For five thousand years, construction has been defined by compression — stacking heavy materials against gravity. Project Carbyne Weaver investigates the opposite approach: tension-dominant superstructures using high-performance fiber and composite cable systems. The near-term structural material is carbon nanotube composite cable. The long-term research target is carbyne — a linear allotrope of carbon with theoretical tensile stiffness of 32 TPa, approximately twice that of graphene. Stabilizing carbyne at macro scale remains a materials science frontier.^[29]

The IS-100 concept. A 100-story macro-tensegrity superstructure in which compression members float in a continuous network of tension cables. During seismic events, the structure dissipates energy through distributed oscillation rather than rigid resistance. In its collapsed configuration, the cable mesh is designed to fit inside standard shipping containers for rapid deployment to disaster zones or remote sites. Erection sequence: site anchoring to bedrock, buoyancy-assisted raising of the cable network, origami-folded composite floor plates unfurling at every 4 m interval, and cable pressurization or resin cure for rigidification. The IS-100 depends on materials advances — macro-scale CNT or carbyne cable production — that are not yet commercially available. The architecture and deployment methodology are the current research focus.