A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles (geodesics) on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When completed to form a complete sphere, it is a geodesic sphere. A dome is enclosed, unlike open geodesic structures such as playground climbers.

Typically a geodesic dome design begins with an icosahedron inscribed in a hypothetical sphere, tiling each triangular face with smaller triangles, then projecting the vertices of each tile to the sphere. The endpoints of the links of the completed sphere are the projected endpoints on the sphere's surface. If this is done exactly, each sub-triangle edge is a slightly different length, requiring links of many sizes. To minimize this, simplifications are made. The result is a compromise of triangles with their vertices lying approximately on the sphere. The edges of the triangles form approximate geodesic paths over the surface of the dome.

Geodesic designs can be used to form any curved, enclosed space. Unusual configurations may require custom design of each strut, vertex and panel — resulting in potentially expensive, complex construction; so standard designs tend to be used.

History

The first dome that could be called "geodesic" in every respect was designed after World War I by Walther Bauersfeld, chief engineer of the Carl Zeiss optical company, for a planetarium to house his planetarium projector. The dome was patented, constructed by the firm of Dykerhoff and Wydmann on the roof of the Zeiss plant in Jena, Germany, and opened to the public in July 1926. Some 20 years later, R. Buckminster Fuller named the dome "geodesic" from field experiments with artist Kenneth Snelson at Black Mountain College in 1948 and 1949. Snelson and Fuller worked developing what they termed "tensegrity," an engineering principle of continuous tension and discontinuous compression that allowed domes to deploy a lightweight lattice of interlocking icosahedrons that could be skinned with a protective cover. Although Fuller was not the original inventor, he developed the intrinsic mathematics of the dome, thereby allowing popularization of the idea — for which he received a U.S. patent in 1954.

The geodesic dome appealed to Fuller because it was extremely strong for its weight, its "omnitriangulated" surface provided an inherently stable structure, and because a sphere encloses the greatest volume for the least surface area.

However, from a practical perspective, geodesic constructions have some disadvantages. They have a very large number of edges in comparison with more conventional structures which have just a few large flat surfaces. Each of the edges must be prevented from leaking, which can be quite challenging for a geodesic structure. Also, spaces enclosed within curved boundaries tend to be less usable than spaces enclosed within flat boundaries. (Since it would be impractical to produce sofas with every possible curved shape, they are normally constructed along straight lines, and so leave wasted space when placed in a curved space.)

The dome was successfully adopted for specialized uses, such as the 21 Distant Early Warning Line domes built in Canada in 1956, the 1958 Union Tank Car Company dome near Baton Rouge, Louisiana designed by Thomas C. Howard of Synergetics, Inc. and specialty buildings like the Kaiser Aluminum domes (constructed in numerous locations across the US, e.g., Virginia Beach, VA), auditoriums, weather observatories, and storage facilities. The dome was soon breaking records for covered surface, enclosed volume, and construction speed. According to a WAFB-TV of Baton Rouge news report on November 27, 2007, the Union Tank Car Company Dome has been demolished.

Leveraging the geodesic dome's stability, the US Air Force experimented with helicopter-deliverable units.

The dome was introduced to a wider audience as a pavilion for the 1964 World's Fair in New York City designed by Synergetics, Inc. This dome is now used as an aviary by the Queens Zoo in Flushing Meadows Corona Park after it was redesigned by Synergetics, Inc.

Another dome is from Expo 67 at the Montréal World's Fair, where it was part of the American Pavilion. The structure's covering later burned, but the structure itself still stands and, under the name Biosphère, currently houses an interpretive museum about the Saint Lawrence River.

A dome appeared in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice with the production designer of Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me using it as an inspiration for Dr Evil's moon base.

During the 1970s, the Cinesphere dome was built at the Ontario Place amusement park in Toronto, Canada. During 1975, a dome was constructed at the South Pole, where its resistance to snow and wind loads is important.

Methods of construction

Wooden domes have a hole drilled in the width of a strut. A stainless steel band locks the strut's hole to a steel pipe. With this method, the struts may be cut to the exact length needed. Triangles of exterior plywood are then nailed to the struts. The dome is wrapped from the bottom to the top with several stapled layers of tar paper, in order to shed water, and finished with shingles. This type of dome is often called a hub-and-strut dome because of the use of steel hubs to tie the struts together.

Panelized domes are constructed of separately-framed timbers covered in plywood. The three members comprising the triangular frame are often cut at compound angles in order to provide for a flat fitting of the various triangles. Holes are drilled through the members at precise locations and steel bolts then connect the triangles to form the dome. These members are often 2x4's or 2x6's, which allow for more insulation to fit within the triangle. The panelized technique allows the builder to attach the plywood skin to the triangles while safely working on the ground or in a comfortable shop out of the weather. This method does not require expensive steel hubs.

Temporary greenhouse domes have been constructed by stapling plastic sheeting onto a dome constructed from one-inch square beams. The result is warm, movable by hand in sizes less than 20 feet, and cheap. It should be staked to the ground to prevent it being moved by wind.

Steel-framework domes can be easily constructed of electrical conduit. One flattens the end of a strut and drills bolt holes at the needed length. A single bolt secures a vertex of struts. The nuts are usually set with removable locking compound, or if the dome is portable, have a castle nut with a cotter pin. This is the standard way to construct domes for jungle-gyms.

Concrete and foam plastic domes generally start with a steel framework dome, wrapped with chicken wire and wire screen for reinforcement. The chicken wire and screen is tied to the framework with wire ties. A coat of material is then sprayed or molded onto the frame. Tests should be performed with small squares to achieve the correct consistency of concrete or plastic. Generally, several coats are necessary on the inside and outside. The last step is to saturate concrete or polyester domes with a thin layer of epoxy compound to shed water.

Some concrete domes have been constructed from prefabricated, prestressed, steel-reinforced concrete panels that can be bolted into place. The bolts are within raised receptacles covered with little concrete caps to shed water. The triangles overlap to shed water. The triangles in this method can be molded in forms patterned in sand with wooden patterns, but the concrete triangles are usually so heavy that they must be placed with a crane. This construction is well-suited to domes because there is no place for water to pool on the concrete and leak through. The metal fasteners, joints and internal steel frames remain dry, preventing frost and corrosion damage. The concrete resists sun and weathering. Some form of internal flashing or caulking must be placed over the joints to prevent drafts. The 1963 Cinerama Dome was built from precast concrete hexagons and pentagons.

Dome homes

Fuller hoped that the geodesic dome would help address the postwar housing crisis. This was consistent with his prior hopes for both versions of the Dymaxion House.

Residential geodesic domes have been less successful than those used for working and/or entertainment, largely because of their complexity and consequent greater construction costs. Fuller himself lived in a geodesic dome in Carbondale, Illinois, at the corner of Forest and Cherry. Fuller thought of residential domes as air-deliverable products manufactured by an aerospace-like industry. Fuller's own dome home still exists, the R. Buckminster Fuller and Anne Hewlett Dome Home, and a group called RBF Dome NFP is attempting to restore the dome and have it registered as a National Historic Landmark.

In 1986 a patent for a dome construction technique involving EPS triangles laminated to reinforced concrete on the outside, and wallboard on the inside was awarded to American Ingenuity of Rockledge Florida. The construction technique allows the domes to be prefabricated in kit form and erected by a homeowner. This method makes the seams into the strongest part of the structure, where the seams and especially the hubs in most wooden-framed domes are the weakest point in the structure. It also has the advantage of being watertight.

Disadvantages of dome homes

Many of the disadvantages described below do no longer apply due to new materials and modern construction tehniques.

As a housing system, enjoying a wave of popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the dome can have numerous disadvantages and problems. Former proponent for, and author about, dome homes Lloyd Kahn is the founder of Shelter Publications. He has collected a lot of the criticisms and listed them on his company's Web site:

The shape of a dome house makes it difficult to conform to code requirements for placement of sewer vents and chimneys. Off-the-shelf building materials (e.g., plywood, strand board) normally come in rectangular shapes and so much material may have to be scrapped after cutting rectangles down to triangles, thus increasing the cost of construction. Fire escapes are problematic; codes require them for larger structures, and they are expensive. Windows conforming to code can cost anywhere from 5 to 15 times as much as windows in conventional houses. Professional electrical wiring costs more because of increased labor time. Even owner-wired situations are costly, because more of certain materials are required for dome construction.

Air stratification and moisture distribution within a dome are unusual, and these conditions tend to quickly degrade wooden framing or interior paneling. Privacy is difficult to guarantee because a dome is difficult to partition satisfactorily. Sounds, smells, and even reflected light tend to be conveyed through the entire structure.

As with any curved shape, the dome produces wall areas that can be difficult to use and leaves some peripheral floor area with restricted use due to lack of headroom. Circular plan shapes lack the simple modularity provided by rectangles. Furnishers and fitters usually design with flat surfaces in mind, and so placing a standard sofa (for example) results in a crescent behind the sofa being wasted. This is best overcome by purpose-built fittings, though it adds to cost.

Dome builders using cut-board sheathing materials (as was common in the 1960s and 1970s) find it hard to seal domes against rain, because of their many seams. Also, these seams may be stressed because ordinary solar heat flexes the entire structure each day as the sun moves across the sky.

The most effective waterproofing method with a wooden dome is to shingle the dome, but even this can be a problem at the top of the dome, where the slope is less than that required by most roofing materials. (One solution is to add a peaked cap to the top of the dome or to modify the dome shape.) One-piece reinforced concrete or plastic domes are also in use, and some domes have been constructed from plastic or waxed cardboard triangles that are overlapped in such a way as to shed water. Buckminster Fuller's former student J. Baldwin insists that there is not any reason for a properly designed, well-constructed dome to leak, and that some designs cannot leak (Bucky Works: Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today). However, Lloyd Kahn, after writing two books on the subject (Domebook 1 and Domebook 2), became disillusioned with domes. He calls domes "smart but not wise", and has collected many of the criticisms given above.

Chord factors

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Image:Géode V 3 1.gif Image:Géode V 3 1 duale.gif

Dual polyhedron>dual.

The mathematical object "chord" of the "geodesic sphere" corresponds to the structural "strut" of the physical "geodesic dome". The general definition of a chord is a (straight) line segment joining two points on a curve. For simple geodesic domes we recognize the associated curve to be the surface of a sphere. Here is how chords of geodesic spheres are generated. We first choose an underlying polyhedron with equal triangle faces. The regular icosahedron is most popular. The sphere we use is specifically the "circumscribing sphere" that contains the points (vertices) of the underlying polyhedron. The desired frequency of the subsequent geodesic sphere or dome is the number of parts or segments into which a side (edge) of the underlying polyhedral triangle is subdivided. The frequency has historically been denoted by the Greek letter "$\backslash nu$" (nu). By connecting like points along the subdivided sides we produce a natural triangular grid of segments inside each underlying triangle face. Each segment of the grid is then projected as a "chord" onto the surface of the circumscribing sphere. The technical definition of a chord factor is the ratio of the chord length to the radius of the circumscribing sphere. It is therefore convenient to think of the circumscribing sphere as scaled to radius = 1 in which "chord factors" are the same as "chord lengths" (decimal numbers less than one).

For geodesic spheres a well-known formula for calculating any "chord factor" $\backslash eta$ is:

$\backslash eta\; =\; 2\; \backslash sin\; \backslash left(\backslash frac\{\backslash theta\}\{2\}\; \backslash right)$

where "$\backslash theta$" is the corresponding angle of arc for the given chord, that is, the "central angle" spanned by the chord with respect to the center of the circumscribing sphere. Determining the central angle usually requires some non-trivial spherical geometry.

In Geodesic Math and How to Use It Hugh Kenner writes, "Tables of chord factors, containing as they do the essential design information for spherical systems, were for many years guarded like military secrets. As late as 1966, some 3ν icosa figures from Popular Science Monthly were all anyone outside the circle of Fuller licensees had to go on." (page 57, 1976 edition). Other tables became available with publication of Lloyd Kahn's Domebook 1 (1970) and Domebook 2 (1971). With advent of personal computers, the mathematics became more solvable. Rick Bono's Dome software outputs a script that can be used with the POV-ray raytrace to produce 3D pictures of domes. Domes based on the frameworks of different underlying polyhedra along with various methods for subdividing them will produce quite different results. Mathematical formulas developed by Peter W. Messer for calculating chord factors and dihedral angles for the general geodesic sphere appear in the Appendix of the 1999 Dover edition of Spherical Models by Magnus J. Wenninger.

Related patterns

Similar geodesic structures may be based upon the pattern of edges and vertices of certain platonic solids, or upon various expansions of these called Johnson solids. Such structures may be composed of struts of uniform length while having faces other than triangles such as pentagons or squares, or these faces may be subdivided by struts of other than the basic length. Plans and licenses for such structures derived from licenses of the Fuller patents were produced during the 1970s by Zomeworks (now a manufacturer of solar trackers). Both geodesic and non-geodesic structures can be derived similarly from the archimedean solids and catalan solids.

The building of strong stable structures out of patterns of reinforcing triangles is most commonly seen in tent design. It has been applied in the abstract in other industrial design, but even in management science and deliberative structures as a conceptual metaphor, especially in the work of Stafford Beer, whose transmigration method is based so specifically on dome design that only fixed numbers of people can take part in the process at each deliberation stages.

Largest geodesic dome structures

Many geodesic domes built are still in use. According to the Buckminster Fuller Institute, the world's ten largest geodesic domes are: Fukuoka Dome (福岡ドーム): Fukuoka, Japan, 710 ft (216 m) Nagoya Dome (ナゴヤドーム): Nagoya, Japan, 614 ft (187 m)

Tacoma Dome: Tacoma, Washington, USA, 530 ft (161.5 m)

Superior Dome: Northern Michigan University. Marquette, Michigan, USA, 525 ft (160 m)

MSC Dome: Bolivia, 140m diameter, by Geometrica, Inc.

Ruwais dome Abu Dhabi, 133m diameter, by Geometrica, Inc.

Walkup Skydome: Northern Arizona University. Flagstaff, Arizona, USA, 502 ft (153 m)

Round Valley High School Stadium: Springerville-Eagar, AZ, USA, 440 ft (134 m)

Former Spruce Goose Hangar: Long Beach, California, USA, 415 ft (126 m)

Formosa Plastics Storage Facility: Mai Liao, Taiwan, 402 ft (122 m)

See also

References

External links

The R. Buckminster Fuller FAQ: Geodesic Domes

Geodesic Dome Notes: 57 dome variants featured (1V to 10V) of various solids (icosa, cube, octa, etc.)

Article about the Eden Domes (PDF file 5.1 MB)

Geodaetische Kuppeln (Geodesic Dome) by T.E. Dorozinski

3D Warehouse - Geodesic Collection Catalog(s) of free 3D digital models for Google SketchUp and Google Earth

Category:Buckminster Fuller Category:House types Category:Industrial designs of the Museum of Modern Art Geodesic dome

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Coordinates	29°25′″N98°30′″N
Name	Buckminster Fuller
Birth date	July 12, 1895
Birth place	Milton, Massachusetts, United States
Death date	July 01, 1983
Death place	Los Angeles, United States
Occupation	designer, architect, author, inventor
Spouse	Anne Fuller
Children	2: Allegra Fuller Snyder and Alexandra who died in childhood }}

Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller (July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American engineer, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society.

Fuller published more than 30 books, inventing and popularizing terms such as "Spaceship Earth", ephemeralization, and synergetics. He also developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, the best known of which is the geodesic dome. Carbon molecules known as fullerenes were later named by scientists for their resemblance to geodesic spheres.

Biography

Fuller was born on July 12, 1895, in Milton, Massachusetts, the son of Richard Buckminster Fuller and Caroline Wolcott Andrews, and also the grandnephew of the American Transcendentalist Margaret Fuller. He attended Froebelian Kindergarten. Spending much of his youth on Bear Island, in Penobscot Bay off the coast of Maine, he had trouble with geometry, being unable to understand the abstraction necessary to imagine that a chalk dot on the blackboard represented a mathematical point, or that an imperfectly drawn line with an arrow on the end was meant to stretch off to infinity. He often made items from materials he brought home from the woods, and sometimes made his own tools. He experimented with designing a new apparatus for human propulsion of small boats.

Years later, he decided that this sort of experience had provided him with not only an interest in design, but also a habit of being familiar with and knowledgeable about the materials that his later projects would require. Fuller earned a machinist's certification, and knew how to use the press brake, stretch press, and other tools and equipment used in the sheet metal trade.

Academia

Fuller attended Milton Academy in Massachusetts, and after that began studying at Harvard. He was expelled from Harvard twice: first for spending all his money partying with a vaudeville troupe, and then, after having been readmitted, for his "irresponsibility and lack of interest." By his own appraisal, he was a non-conforming misfit in the fraternity environment. It was to be many years before he received a Sc.D. from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.

Wartime experience

Between his sessions at Harvard, Fuller worked in Canada as a mechanic in a textile mill, and later as a laborer for the meat-packing industry. He also served in the U.S. Navy in World War I, as a shipboard radio operator, as an editor of a publication, and as a crash-boat commander. After discharge, he worked again for the meat packing industry, thereby acquiring management experience. In 1917, he married Anne Hewlett. During the early 1920s, he and his father-in-law developed the Stockade Building System for producing light-weight, weatherproof, and fireproof housing — although the company would ultimately fail.

Bankruptcy and depression

By age 32, Fuller was bankrupt and jobless, living in public, low-income housing in Chicago, Illinois. In 1922, Fuller's young daughter Alexandra died from complications from polio and spinal meningitis. Allegedly, he felt responsible and this caused him to drink frequently and to contemplate suicide for a while. He finally chose to embark on "an experiment, to find what a single individual [could] contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity."

Recovery

In 1927 Fuller resolved to think independently which included a commitment to "the search for the principles governing the universe and help advance the evolution of humanity in accordance with them... finding ways of doing more with less to the end that all people everywhere can have more and more." By 1928, Fuller was living in Greenwich Village and spending much of his time at the popular café Romany Marie's, where he had spent an evening in conversation with Marie and Eugene O'Neill several years earlier. Fuller accepted a job decorating the interior of the café in exchange for meals, giving informal lectures several times a week, and models of the Dymaxion house were exhibited at the café. Isamu Noguchi arrived during 1929 — Constantin Brâncuşi, an old friend of Marie's, had directed him there — and Noguchi and Fuller were soon collaborating on several projects, including the modeling of the Dymaxion car. It was the beginning of their lifelong friendship.

Geodesic domes

Fuller taught at Black Mountain College in North Carolina during the summers of 1948 and 1949, serving as its Summer Institute director in 1949. There, with the support of a group of professors and students, he began reinventing a project that would make him famous: the geodesic dome. Although the geodesic dome had been created some 30 years earlier by Dr. Walther Bauersfeld, Fuller was awarded United States patents. He is credited for popularizing this type of structure.

One of his early models was first constructed in 1945 at Bennington College in Vermont, where he frequently lectured. During 1949, he erected his first geodesic dome building that could sustain its own weight with no practical limits. It was 4.3 meters (14 ft) in diameter and constructed of aluminum aircraft tubing and a vinyl-plastic skin, in the form of an icosahedron. To prove his design, and to awe non-believers, Fuller suspended from the structure's framework several students who had helped him build it. The U.S. government recognized the importance of his work, and employed his firm Geodesics, Inc. in Raleigh, North Carolina to make small domes for the army. Within a few years there were thousands of these domes around the world.

Best-known work

For the next half-century, Fuller developed many ideas, designs and inventions, particularly regarding practical, inexpensive shelter and transportation. He documented his life, philosophy and ideas scrupulously by a daily diary (later called the Dymaxion Chronofile), and by twenty-eight publications. Fuller financed some of his experiments with inherited funds, sometimes augmented by funds invested by his collaborators, one example being the Dymaxion car project.

World stage

International recognition began with the success of his huge geodesic domes during the 1950s. Fuller taught at Washington University in St. Louis in 1955, where he met James Fitzgibbon, who would become a close friend and colleague. From 1959 to 1970, Fuller taught at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Beginning as an assistant professor, he gained full professorship during 1968, in the School of Art and Design. Working as a designer, scientist, developer, and writer, he lectured for many years around the world. He collaborated at SIU with the designer John McHale. During 1965, Fuller inaugurated the World Design Science Decade (1965 to 1975) at the meeting of the International Union of Architects in Paris, which was, in his own words, devoted to "applying the principles of science to solving the problems of humanity."

Fuller believed human societies would soon rely mainly on renewable sources of energy, such as solar- and wind-derived electricity. He hoped for an age of "omni-successful education and sustenance of all humanity." For his lifetime of work, the American Humanist Association named him the 1969 Humanist of the Year.

Honors

Fuller was awarded 28 United States patents and many honorary doctorates. In 1960, he was awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal from The Franklin Institute. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1968. On January 16, 1970, he received the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects. He also received numerous other awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom presented to him on February 23, 1983 by President Ronald Reagan.

Last filmed appearance

Fuller's last filmed interview took place on April 3, 1983, in which he presented his analysis of Simon Rodia's Watts Towers as a unique embodiment of the structural principles found in nature. Portions of this interview appear in I Build the Tower, a documentary film on Rodia's architectural masterpiece.

Death

Fuller died on July 1, 1983, 11 days before his 88th birthday. During the period leading up to his death, his wife had been lying comatose in a Los Angeles hospital, dying of cancer. It was while visiting her there that he exclaimed, at a certain point: "She is squeezing my hand!" He then stood up, suffered a heart attack, and died an hour later, at age 87. His wife of 66 years died 36 hours later. They are buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Philosophy and worldview

The grandson of a Unitarian minister (Arthur Buckminster Fuller), R. Buckminster Fuller was also Unitarian. Buckminster Fuller was an early environmental activist. He was very aware of the finite resources the planet has to offer, and promoted a principle that he termed "ephemeralization", which, in essence — according to futurist and Fuller disciple Stewart Brand — Fuller coined to mean "doing more with less". Resources and waste material from cruder products could be recycled into making more valuable products, increasing the efficiency of the entire process. Fuller also introduced synergetics, an encompassing term which he used broadly as a metaphoric language for communicating experiences using geometric concepts and, more specifically, to reference the empirical study of systems in transformation, with an emphasis on total system behavior unpredicted by the behavior of any isolated components. Fuller coined this term long before the term synergy became popular.

Fuller was a pioneer in thinking globally, and he explored principles of energy and material efficiency in the fields of architecture, engineering and design. He cited François de Chardenedes' opinion that petroleum, from the standpoint of its replacement cost out of our current energy "budget" (essentially, the net incoming solar flux), had cost nature "over a million dollars" per U.S. gallon (US$300,000 per litre) to produce. From this point of view, its use as a transportation fuel by people commuting to work represents a huge net loss compared to their earnings. An encapsulation quotation of his views might be, "There is no energy crisis, only a crisis of ignorance."

Fuller was concerned about sustainability and about human survival under the existing socio-economic system, yet remained optimistic about humanity's future. Defining wealth in terms of knowledge, as the "technological ability to protect, nurture, support, and accommodate all growth needs of life," his analysis of the condition of "Spaceship Earth" caused him to conclude that at a certain time during the 1970s, humanity had attained an unprecedented state. He was convinced that the accumulation of relevant knowledge, combined with the quantities of major recyclable resources that had already been extracted from the earth, had attained a critical level, such that competition for necessities was not necessary anymore. Cooperation had become the optimum survival strategy. "Selfishness," he declared, "is unnecessary and hence-forth unrationalizable.... War is obsolete." He criticized previous utopian schemes as too exclusive, and thought this was a major source of their failure. To work, he thought that a utopia needed to include everyone.

Fuller also claimed that the natural analytic geometry of the universe was based on arrays of tetrahedra. He developed this in several ways, from the close-packing of spheres and the number of compressive or tensile members required to stabilize an object in space. One confirming result was that the strongest possible homogeneous truss is cyclically tetrahedral.

In his 1970 book I Seem To Be a Verb, he wrote: "I live on Earth at present, and I don't know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing — a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process — an integral function of the universe."

He had become a guru of the design, architecture, and 'alternative' communities, such as Drop City, the community of experimental artists to whom he awarded the 1966 "Dymaxion Award" for "poetically economic" domed living structures.

Major design projects

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	File:Géode V 3 1.gif>140px	A geodesic sphere.

The geodesic dome

Fuller was most famous for his lattice shell structures - geodesic domes, which have been used as parts of military radar stations, civic buildings, environmental protest camps and exhibition attractions. An examination of the geodesic design by Bauersfeld for the Zeiss Planetarium, built some 20 years prior to Fuller's work, reveals that Fuller's Geodesic Dome patent (U.S. 2,682,235) follows the same methodology as Bauersfeld's design.

Their construction is based on extending some basic principles to build simple "tensegrity" structures (tetrahedron, octahedron, and the closest packing of spheres), making them lightweight and stable. The patent for geodesic domes was awarded during 1954, part of Fuller's exploration of nature's constructing principles to find design solutions. The Fuller Dome is referenced in the Hugo Award-winning novel Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner, in which a geodesic dome is said to cover the entire island of Manhattan, and it floats on air due to the hot-air balloon effect of the large air-mass under the dome (and perhaps its construction of lightweight materials).

Transportation

In the 1930s, Fuller designed and built prototypes of what he hoped would be a safer, aerodynamic car, which he called the Dymaxion. ("Dymaxion" is said to be a syllabic abbreviation of dynamic maximum tension, or possibly of dynamic maximum ion.) Fuller worked with professional colleagues for three years beginning in 1932 on a design idea Fuller had derived from aircraft technologies. The three prototype cars were different from anything being sold at the time. They had three wheels: two front drive wheels and one rear, steered wheel. The engine was in the rear, and the chassis and body were original designs. The aerodynamic, somewhat tear-shaped body was large enough to seat eleven people and was about long, resembling a blend of a light aircraft (without wings) and a Volkswagen van of 1950s vintage. All three prototypes were essentially a mini-bus, and its concept long predated the Volkswagen Type 2 mini-bus conceived in 1947 by Ben Pon.

Despite its length, and due to its three-wheel design, the Dymaxion turned on a small radius and could easily be parked in a tight space. The prototypes were efficient in fuel consumption for their day, traveling about 30 miles per gallon. Fuller contributed a great deal of his own money to the project, in addition to funds from one of his professional collaborators. An industrial investor was also very interested in the concept. Fuller anticipated the cars could travel on an open highway safely at up to about 160 km/h (100 miles per hour), but, in practise, they were difficult to control and steer above 80 km/h (50 mph). Investors backed out and research ended after one of the prototypes was involved in a high-profile collision that resulted in a fatality. In 2007, Time Magazine reported on the Dymaxion as one of the "50 worst cars of all time".

In 1943, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser asked Fuller to develop a prototype for a smaller car, but Fuller's five-seater design was never developed further.

Housing

Fuller's energy-efficient and inexpensive Dymaxion House garnered much interest, but has never been produced. Here the term "Dymaxion" is used in effect to signify a "radically strong and light tensegrity structure". One of Fuller's Dymaxion Houses is on display as a permanent exhibit at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. Designed and developed during the mid-1940s, this prototype is a round structure (not a dome), shaped something like the flattened "bell" of certain jellyfish. It has several innovative features, including revolving dresser drawers, and a fine-mist shower that reduces water consumption. According to Fuller biographer Steve Crooks, the house was designed to be delivered in two cylindrical packages, with interior color panels available at local dealers. A circular structure at the top of the house was designed to rotate around a central mast to use natural winds for cooling and air circulation.

Conceived nearly two decades before, and developed in Wichita, Kansas, the house was designed to be lightweight and adapted to windy climates. It was to be inexpensive to produce and purchase, and assembled easily. It was to be produced using factories, workers and technologies that had produced World War II aircraft. It was ultramodern-looking at the time, built of metal, and sheathed in polished aluminum. The basic model enclosed 90 m² (1000 square feet) of floor area. Due to publicity, there were many orders during the early Post-War years, but the company that Fuller and others had formed to produce the houses failed due to management problems.

During 1969, Fuller began the Otisco Project, named after its location in Otisco, New York. The project developed and demonstrated concrete spray technology used in conjunction with mesh covered wireforms as a viable means of producing large scale, load bearing spanning structures built on site without the use of pouring molds, other adjacent surfaces or hoisting.

The initial construction method used a circular concrete footing in which anchor posts were set. Tubes cut to length and with ends flattened were then bolted together to form a duodeca-rhombicahedron (22 sided hemisphere) geodesic structure with spans ranging to . The form was then draped with layers of ¼-inch wire mesh attached by twist ties. Concrete was then sprayed onto the structure, building up a solid layer which, when cured, would support additional concrete to be added by a variety of traditional means. Fuller referred to these buildings as monolithic ferroconcrete geodesic domes. The tubular frame form proved too problematic when it came to setting windows and doors, and was abandoned. The second method used iron rebar set vertically in the concrete footing and then bent inward and welded in place to create the dome's wireform structure and performed satisfactorily. Domes up to three stories tall built with this method proved to be remarkably strong. Other shapes such as cones, pyramids and arches proved equally adaptable.

The project was enabled by a grant underwritten by Syracuse University and sponsored by US Steel (rebar), the Johnson Wire Corp, (mesh) and Portland Cement Company (concrete). The ability to build large complex load bearing concrete spanning structures in free space would open many possibilities in architecture, and is considered as one of Fuller's greatest contributions.

Alternative map projection

Fuller also designed an alternative projection map, called the Dymaxion map. This was designed to show Earth's continents with minimum distortion when projected or printed on a flat surface.

Quirks

Fuller was a frequent flier, often crossing time zones. He famously wore three watches; one for the current zone, one for the zone he had departed, and one for the zone he was going to. In this respect he follows the jazz drummer Buddy Rich, who in the Pete Atkin / Clive James song “The Wristwatch for a Drummer”, also “wears three, one on the right wrist, one on the left, and the third one around his knee”. The wristwatch in question is the imagined “Omega Incabloc Oyster Accutron 72” for which “Buckminster Fuller designed the case” Fuller also noted that a single sheet of newsprint, inserted over a shirt and under a suit jacket, provided completely effective heat insulation during long flights.

He experimented with polyphasic sleep, which he called Dymaxion sleep. In 1943, he told Time Magazine that he had slept only two hours a day for two years. He quit the schedule because it conflicted with his business associates' sleep habits, but stated that Dymaxion sleep could help the United States win World War II.

Fuller documented his life copiously from 1915 to 1983, approximately of papers in a collection called the Dymaxion Chronofile. He also kept copies of all ingoing and outgoing correspondence. The enormous Fuller Collection is currently housed at Stanford University.

If somebody kept a very accurate record of a human being, going through the era from the Gay 90s, from a very different kind of world through the turn of the century — as far into the twentieth century as you might live. I decided to make myself a good case history of such a human being and it meant that I could not be judge of what was valid to put in or not. I must put everything in, so I started a very rigorous record.

Practical achievements

Fuller introduced a number of concepts, and helped develop others. Certainly, a number of his projects were not successful in terms of commitment from industry or acceptance by most of the public. However, more than 500,000 geodesic domes have been built around the world and many are in use. According to the Buckminster Fuller Institute, the largest geodesic-dome structures are:

Seagaia Ocean Dome: Miyazaki, Japan, 216 m (710 ft).

Multi-Purpose Arena: Nagoya, Japan, 187 m (614 ft).

Tacoma Dome: Tacoma, Washington, USA, 162 m (530 ft).

Superior Dome: Northern Michigan Univ. Marquette, Michigan, USA, 160 m (525 ft).

Walkup Skydome: Northern Arizona Univ. Flagstaff, Arizona, USA, 153 m (502 ft).

Poliedro de Caracas: Caracas, Venezuela, 145 m (475 ft).

Round Valley High School Stadium: Springerville-Eagar, Arizona, USA, 134 m (440 ft).

Former Spruce Goose Hangar: Long Beach, California, USA, 126 m (415 ft).

Formosa Plastics Storage Facility: Mai Liao, Taiwan, 123 m (402 ft).

Union Tank Car Maintenance Facility: Baton Rouge, Louisiana USA, 117 m (384 ft), destroyed in November 2007.

Lehigh Portland Cement Storage Facility: Union Bridge, Maryland USA, 114 m (374 ft).

The Eden Project, Cornwall, United Kingdom

Other notable domes include:

Spaceship Earth at Disney World's Epcot Center in Florida, 80.8-meters (265 ft) wide (Spaceship Earth is actually a self supporting geodesic sphere, the only one currently in existence.)

The Gold Dome in Oklahoma City, formerly a bank and now a multicultural society and business center.

Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, is a geodesic sphere hosting the Telus World of Science, a science centre (formerly called Science World), that was originally the Expo Centre built for Expo 86.

The dome over a shopping center in downtown Ankara, Turkey, 109.7-meter (360 ft) tall

The dome enclosing a civic center in Stockholm, Sweden, 85.3-meter (280 ft) high.

The world's largest aluminum dome formerly housed the “Spruce Goose” airplane in Long Beach Harbor, California, USA.

However, contrary to Fuller's hopes, domes are not an everyday sight in most places. In practice, most of the smaller owner-built geodesic structures had disadvantages (see geodesic domes), including their unconventional appearance.

An interesting spin-off of Fuller's dome-design conceptualization was the Buckminster Ball, which was the official FIFA approved design for footballs (association football), from their introduction at the 1970 World Cup until recently. The design was a truncated icosahedron -- essentially a "Geodesic Sphere", consisting of 12 pentagonal and 20 hexagonal panels. This was used continuously for 34 years until replaced by the 14-panel Teamgeist for the 2006 World Cup.

Fuller was followed (historically) by other designers and architects, such as Sir Norman Foster and Steve Baer, willing to explore the possibilities of new geometries in the design of buildings, not based on conventional rectangles.

Language and neologisms

Buckminster Fuller spoke and wrote in a unique style and said it was important to describe the world as accurately as possible. Fuller often created long run-on sentences and used unusual compound words (omniwell-informed, intertransformative, omni-interaccommodative, omniself-regenerative) as well as terms he himself invented.

Fuller used the word Universe without the definite or indefinite articles (the or a) and always capitalized the word. Fuller wrote that "by Universe I mean: the aggregate of all humanity's consciously apprehended and communicated (to self or others) Experiences."

The words "down" and "up", according to Fuller, are awkward in that they refer to a planar concept of direction inconsistent with human experience. The words "in" and "out" should be used instead, he argued, because they better describe an object's relation to a gravitational center, the Earth. "I suggest to audiences that they say, 'I'm going "outstairs" and "instairs."' At first that sounds strange to them; They all laugh about it. But if they try saying in and out for a few days in fun, they find themselves beginning to realize that they are indeed going inward and outward in respect to the center of Earth, which is our Spaceship Earth. And for the first time they begin to feel real 'reality.'"

"World-around" is a term coined by Fuller to replace "worldwide". The general belief in a flat Earth died out in Classical antiquity, so using "wide" is an anachronism when referring to the surface of the Earth—a spheroidal surface has area and encloses a volume but has no width. Fuller held that unthinking use of obsolete scientific ideas detracts from and misleads intuition. Other neologisms collectively invented by the Fuller family, according to Allegra Fuller Snyder, are the terms "sunsight" and "sunclipse", replacing "sunrise" and "sunset" to overturn the geocentric bias of most pre-Copernican celestial mechanics.

Fuller also invented the word "livingry," as opposed to weaponry (or "killingry"), to mean that which is in support of all human, plant, and Earth life. "The architectural profession — civil, naval, aeronautical, and astronautical — has always been the place where the most competent thinking is conducted regarding livingry, as opposed to weaponry."

As well as contributing significantly to the development of tensegrity technology, Fuller invented the term "tensegrity" from tensional integrity. "Tensegrity describes a structural-relationship principle in which structural shape is guaranteed by the finitely closed, comprehensively continuous, tensional behaviors of the system and not by the discontinuous and exclusively local compressional member behaviors. Tensegrity provides the ability to yield increasingly without ultimately breaking or coming asunder."

"Dymaxion" is a portmanteau of "dynamic maximum tension". It was invented by an adman about 1929 at Marshall Field's department store in Chicago to describe Fuller's concept house, which was shown as part of a house of the future store display. These were three words that Fuller used repeatedly to describe his design.

Fuller also helped to popularise the concept of Spaceship Earth: "The most important fact about Spaceship Earth: an instruction manual didn't come with it."

Concepts and buildings

R. Buckminster Fuller's 28 patents

His concepts and buildings include: {| |

Dymaxion house (1928) See autonomous building

Aerodynamic Dymaxion car (1933)

Prefabricated compact bathroom cell (1937)

Dymaxion Deployment Unit (1940)

Dymaxion Map of the world (1946)

Buildings (1943)

Tensegrity structures (1949)

|

Geodesic dome for Ford Motor Company (1953)

Patent on geodesic domes (1954)

The World Game (1961) and the World Game Institute (1972)

Patent on octet truss (1961)

Montreal Biosphère (1967), United States pavilion at Expo 67

Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science |}

Influence and legacy

Among the many people who were influenced by Buckminster Fuller are: Constance Abernathy, Ruth Asawa, J. Baldwin, Michael Ben-Eli, Pierre Cabrol, Joseph Clinton, Peter Floyd, Medard Gabel, Michael Hays, David Johnston, Robert Kiyosaki, Peter Pearce, Shoji Sadao, Edwin Schlossberg, Kenneth Snelson, and Robert Anton Wilson.

An allotrope of carbon - fullerene, and a particular molecule of that allotrope C₆₀ (buckminsterfullerene or buckyball) has been named after him. The Buckminsterfullerene molecule, which consists of 60 carbon atoms, very closely resembles a spherical version of Fuller's geodesic dome. The 1996 Nobel prize in chemistry was given to Kroto, Curl, and Smalley for their discovery of the fullerene.

On July 12, 2004, the United States Post Office released a new commemorative stamp honoring R. Buckminster Fuller on the 50th anniversary of his patent for the geodesic dome and by the occasion of his 109th birthday.

Fuller was the subject of two documentary films: The World of Buckminster Fuller (1971) and Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud (1996).

During June 2008, the Whitney Museum of American Art presented "Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe", the most comprehensive retrospective to date of his work and ideas. The exhibition traveled to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago in 2009. It presented a combination of models, sketches, and other artifacts, representing six decades of the artist's integrated approach to housing, transportation, communication, and cartography. It also featured the extensive connections with Chicago from his years spent living, teaching, and working in the city.

On February 25, 2011, Chicago-based indie band Driftless Pony Club released their album "Buckminster," whose songs used the names of some of Fuller's essays and were dedicated to his life and ideas.

Bibliography

4d Timelock (1928)

Nine Chains to the Moon (1938)

Untitled Epic Poem on the History of Industrialization (1962)

Ideas and Integrities, a Spontaneous Autobiographical Disclosure (1963) ISBN 0134491408

No More Secondhand God and Other Writings (1963)

Education Automation: Freeing the Scholar to Return (1963)

What I Have Learned: A Collection of 20 Autobiograhical Essays, Chapter "How Little I Know", (1968)

Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (1969) ISBN 080932461X

Utopia or Oblivion (1969) ISBN 0553028839

Approaching the Benign Environment (1970) ISBN 0817366415 (with Eric A. Walker and James R. Killian, Jr.)

I Seem to Be a Verb (1970) coauthors Jerome Agel, Quentin Fiore, ISBN 1127231537

Intuition (1970)

Buckminster Fuller to Children of Earth (1972) compiled and photographed by Cam Smith, ISBN 0385029799

The Dymaxion World of Buckminster Fuller (1960, 1973) coauthor Robert Marks, ISBN 0385018045

Earth, Inc (1973) ISBN 0385018258

Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking (1975) in collaboration with E.J. Applewhite with a preface and contribution by Arthur L. Loeb, ISBN 002541870X

Tetrascroll: Goldilocks and the Three Bears, A Cosmic Fairy Tale (1975)

And It Came to Pass — Not to Stay (1976) ISBN 0025418106

R. Buckminster Fuller on Education (1979) ISBN 0870232762

Synergetics 2: Further Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking (1979) in collaboration with E.J. Applewhite

Buckminster Fuller Sketchbook (1981)

Critical Path (1981) ISBN 0312174888

Grunch of Giants (1983) ISBN 0312351933

Humans in Universe (1983) coauthor Anwar Dil, ISBN 0899250017

Cosmography: A Posthumous Scenario for the Future of Humanity (1992) coauthor Kiyoshi Kuromiya, ISBN 0025418505

See also

Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge

Cloud nine (Tensegrity sphere)

Design science revolution

Emissions Reduction Currency System

Noosphere

Old Man River's City project

Spome

Whole Earth Catalog

References

Further reading

Applewhite, E. J. Cosmic Fishing: An account of writing Synergetics with Buckminster Fuller. 1977 (ISBN 0-02-502710-7)

Applewhite, E. J., ed. Synergetics Dictionary, The Mind Of Buckminster Fuller; in four volumes. Garland Publishing, Inc. New York and London. 1986 (ISBN 0-8240-8729-1)

Chu, Hsiao-Yun. "Fuller's Laboratory Notebook." Collections, Volume 4 Issue 4 Fall 2008 (Lanham, MD: Altamira Press), 295-306.

Chu, Hsiao-Yun and Roberto Trujillo. New Views on R. Buckminster Fuller.(Stanford, CA; Stanford University Press, 2009) ISBN 0804762791

Eastham, Scott: American Dreamer. Bucky Fuller and the Sacred Geometry of Nature; The Lutterworth Press 2007, Cambridge; ISBN 9780718830311

Edmondson, Amy: "A Fuller Explanation"; EmergentWorld LLC. 2007 (ISBN 978-0-6151-8314-5)

Hatch, Alden Buckminster Fuller At Home In The Universe. 1974 (ISBN 0-440-04408-1) Crown Publishers, New York.

Kenner, Hugh. Bucky: a guided tour of Buckminster Fuller. 1973 (ISBN 0-688-00141-6)

Krausse, Joachim and Lichtenstein, Claude. ed. Your Private Sky, R. Buckminster Fuller: The Art Of Design Science. Lars Mueller Publishers. 1999 (ISBN 3-907044-88-6)

McHale, John. R. Buckminster Fuller. George Brazillier, Inc., New York. hardback. 1962.

Pawley, Martin. Buckminster Fuller. Taplinger Publishing Company, New York. 1991. hardcover (ISBN 0-8008-1116-X)

Potter, R. Robert. Buckminster Fuller (Pioneers in Change Series). Silver Burdett Publishers. 1990 (ISBN 0-382-09972-9)

Robertson, Donald. Mind's Eye Of Buckminster Fuller. 1974 (ISBN 0-533-01017-9) Vantage Press, Inc., New York.

Sieden, Lloyd. Buckminster Fuller's Universe, His Life and Work. 1989 (ISBN 0-7382-0379-3), explores Fuller's personal life, his beliefs and drives.

Snyder, Robert. Buckminster Fuller: An Autobiographical Monologue/Scenario. St. Martin's Press, New York. hardback. 1980 (ISBN 0-312-24547-5)

Sterngold, James. "The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller." The New York Times [Arts Section], June 15, 2008.

Ward, James, ed., The Artifacts Of R. Buckminster Fuller, A Comprehensive Collection of His Designs and Drawings in Four Volumes: Volume One. The Dymaxion Experiment, 1926–1943; Volume Two. Dymaxion Deployment, 1927–1946; Volume Three. The Geodesic Revolution, Part 1, 1947–1959; Volume Four. The Geodesic Revolution, Part 2, 1960-1983: Edited with descriptions by James Ward. Garland Publishing, New York. 1984 (ISBN 0-8240-5082-7 vol. 1, ISBN 0-8240-5083-5 vol. 2, ISBN 0-8240-5084-3 vol. 3, ISBN 0-8240-5085-1 vol. 4)

Wong, Yunn Chii, The Geodesic Works of Richard Buckminster Fuller, 1948-1968 (The Universe as a Home of Man), PhD thesis, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 1999.

Wühr, Paul, Das falsche Buch. (Fuller appears as a character in this book.)

Zung, T.K. Thomas. Buckminster Fuller: Anthology for a New Millennium. St. Martin's Press. 2001 (ISBN 0-312-26639-1)

External links

Buckminster Fuller Institute

Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom – February 23, 1983

Buckminster Fuller, a portrait by Ansel Adams

;Articles about Fuller

WIRED article about Buckminster Fuller

Dymaxion Man: The Visions of Buckminster Fuller By Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker (June 9, 2008)

The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller New York Times article questioning Fuller's supposed consideration of suicide, (June 15, 2008)

;Collections

Buckminster Fuller Digital Collection at Stanford includes 380 hrs. of streamed audio-visual material from Fuller's personal archive

Buckminster Fuller Papers housed at Stanford University Libraries

Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University – Archival photographs of Buckminster Fuller from the Toronto Telegram.

;Everything I Know

"Everything I Know" Session, Philadelphia, 1975 at Stanford University Libraries archives

The "Everything I Know" 42-hour lecture session — video, audio, and full transcripts.

;Media

R. Buckminster Fuller on PBS

Buckminster Fuller discussed on The State of Things

, a 1974 documentary , a 1996 episode of American Masters , a 2004 short animated documentary

;Other resources

CJ Fearnley's List of Buckminster Fuller Resources on the Internet

Buckminster Fuller at Pionniers & Précurseurs. Includes a good bibliography

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