by Dave Nocera

Created on: May 17, 2008

Imagine a structure that is stronger than its individual parts, and that's exactly what Buckminster Fuller did when he first conceived of the geodesic dome. A geodesic dome is constructed of small triangles that distribute the weight across the entire structure. The geodesic dome can thereby support more weight than any of the individual triangular sections. The geodesic dome most closely approximates the shape of a sphere, which has the minimum surface area to enclose the maximum volume. Fuller invented the geodesic dome as a far more efficient means to enclose space than traditional housing.

The world's first man-made geodesic dome was designed by Walther Bauersfeld in the 1920s. Fuller rediscovered and patented the geodesic dome in 1954. Interestingly enough, the geodesic shape was again rediscovered in 1985, as the shape of carbon molecules, which were named "buckeyballs" after Buckminster Fuller. Since carbon in its crystallized state can form diamonds, one of the hardest substances known to man, the buckeyball shape at the molecular level clearly has some of the same structural advantages as it does in the macroscopic world.

Fuller designed and prototyped two versions of pre-fabricated geodesic dome homes. Both were heavily modified and lived in for many years. One of these original two homes survives today in the Henry Ford Museum. In keeping with his legacy, geodesic dome kits are available today on the Internet that are easy to assemble and provide the strength and durability of housing that Fuller first envisioned. Designs include homes, garages, green-houses and commercial structures.

Today every country has iconic geodesic dome buildings with names that each of us recognize. Canada started this trend with Biosphere, which was created for Canada's Expo 67. Florida has Spaceship Earth, part of Disney's Epcot Center. The United Kingdom has the Eden Project, with geodesic dome green-houses with plants from all over the world. The Louisiana Superdome was the refuge of many of the people trapped in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. When it comes to large public buildings, the geodesic dome's futuristic shape is both practical and beautiful.

Even though it is strong, even though it is beautiful, and even though over 500,000 geodesic domes have been constructed in the world; the geodesic dome is still considered more of a novelty than traditional square frame housing. Man tends to think in the perpendicular dimensions of length, width and height and we haven't quite yet grown to appreciate the dome shape as a replacement home. But perhaps someday we will. Since, didn't early man live in caves and weren't caves nothing more than natures' domes?

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