The first spatial structure was developed by the inventor of telephone, Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) in 1907. He worked with tetrahedral and octahedral units to create various shapes. Graham Bell’s grid structures consisted of multi-layered assemblages of bars with the same length and joined by simple connections. The base units were tetrahedral shapes.

The first commercial use of spatial structures in architecture was by Dr. Max Mengeringhausen (1903-1988), the German inventor of the Mero system in 1943. The connectors are spherical shape and made of solid steel. This is still one of the most common systems used, even after more than sixty years, due to its simplicity, practicality, and aesthetics. It is currently manufactured under various brand names.

<<Back to Knowledgebase