A tensile structure is a construction of elements carrying only tension and no compression or bending. The term tensile should not be confused with tensegrity, which is a structural form with both tension and compression elements.
Most tensile structures are supported by some form of compression or bending elements, such as masts (as in The O2, formerly the Millennium Dome), compression rings or beams.
Tensile membrane structures are most often used as roofs as they can economically and attractively span large distances.
Read more about Tensile Structure: History, Tensioned Cable Oscillations, Notable Structures, Gallery of Well Known Tensile Structures
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“Each structure and institution here was so primitive that you could at once refer it to its source; but our buildings commonly suggest neither their origin nor their purpose.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)