Abstract
This thesis seeks to explore the idea of non-conventional building structures which are not meant for permanence or finality but rather can be easily constructed and disassembled to provide shelter and comfort. Transformable and deployable structures whose effectiveness is predicated on their adaptability to external conditions, characterized by compactness, transformability, lightness, rapid assembly and disassembly, material reuse and ease of transportation. Such structures have been utilised by designers for outer-space applications, disaster relief housing, moving theatres and military installations that can be rapidly assembled. Deployable structures refer to the transformation of a structure from a compact closed configuration to a relatively large open configuration that solves different problems relating to geometry, mechanics and structure. Focusing on a particular branch of such structures and taking a closer look at membrane tensegrity structures, where the membrane and struts are both self-supporting, contributing to the inherent structure. The elongation of the struts results in compression and the membrane stretches to cater to the tension, creating a load transfer between the struts and membrane. A mechanised version of deployment is studied to enable the user to easily deploy the structure.