It is constructed of six struts and twenty triangles. It is the basic building block of tensegrity structures, and they can be combined in periodic arrays to create towers or structures of infinite sizes and shapes, all units being integrated with one another. Second, the structure does not behave in the way we expect most solid constructed structures to behave. If two opposite and parallel struts are pushed or pulled, all six members will move inwardly or outwardly, causing the icosahedron to contract or expand in a symmetrical fashion. These compression members do not behave like conventional engineering beams.
Ordinary beams deflect locally, tending to contract the building in axial asymmetry.
The tensegrity beam does not act independently but acts only in concert with the whole building, contracting symmetrically when the beam is loaded. Stated simply, the whole structure compresses when under pressure from outside, and rotates slightly, resembling the coupled motion in the spine as described by Panjabi. Because a tensegrity structure contracts symmetrically, the parts move symmetrically closer to one another. Therefore, gravity increases to the second power and the whole system gets uniformly stronger. We thus have a system that is omnidirectional, symmetrically compressible and expandable, and local-load distributing, like soccer balls and auto tires.