Buckminster Fuller developed and tested his first prototype geodesic domes during his summer sessions at Black Mountain College in North Carolina in 1948 and 1949. The first dome of 1948 lacked structural integrity and failed to rise, collapsing into a heap that Fuller and his students humorously nicknamed the "Supine Dome.” Fuller returned in the summer of 1949 with a sturdier design using aircraft tubing and internal cables. The photo shown here documents the BMC community after successfully erecting the Autonomous Dwelling Facility prototype, which was strong enough to support weight and paved the way for Fuller’s 1954 geodesic dome patent.
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Hazel Larsen Archer, Construction of the Geodesic Dome, 1949. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center.
From Black Mountain College FaceBook page
Expo 67 in Montreal featured a huge geodesic dome by Buckminster Fuller. That's the first I ever heard of those or him (I was 10 at the time).
ReplyDeleteI also went to Expo 67 and saw my first geodesic dome. I think there was also one in the NY WOrlds Fair...not sure of that date. One of them caught fire.
DeleteI've always wanted a dome house.
ReplyDeleteThe shape is really difficult to create rooms, to use furnishings. There are two at the UU church in Tampa FL...what first attracted me to Unitarian Universalism in 1970.
DeleteI assume the one at Expo 67 in Montreal still stands. I was there at the time. I heard him speak at our uni later.
ReplyDeleteI heard him speak in Atlanta in the 70s. Unfortunately the Expo 67 dome did burn down.
DeleteVergil's family has a long history with that piece of ground. That's where he and Jessie got married.
ReplyDeleteI forgot that Jessie was working at the camp on the college grounds when I met her this summer. Black Mountain is certainly a neat place.
DeleteI've been in a couple of those domes, built as private homes. All with buckets here and there. Our wind and rain shifted and separated the sections fractionally so that there were always leaks. It's a design fitted for a drier climate. Except I don't know how you'd deal with hot sun. And furnishing pie slice shaped rooms is a puzzle. Other than that!
ReplyDeleteYes, the design works well for setting up a biosphere, in my opinion.
Deletein the mid 70s Cardiff Art College had a geodesic dome greenhouse in the quad. With the wind currents generated by the architecture it was the only shape that would have survived. It was a pleasant place to sit on a windy day!
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