I have invented the quickest, slickest way to make tensegrities. I call it the Klyp Styx system (pronounced “clip sticks”). It is an easy way to clip sticks together in an eloquent, flexible, multiple joint. You can see them in action at the unfinished web site klypstyx.com.

Klyp Styx is great for modeling polyhedra, floating compressions, Buckyballs, nanotubes, octet trusses and other space frames, and opens the doors to exploring other interesting structures (both rigid and dynamic). Curious? Let me know - eric@klypstyx.com.

Eric, the byg klyp styx kyd

There's a new ball for NYC's New Year!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/nyregion/04ball.html

There may be a trend beginning in cities around the US and in Europe. People living on the fringes of traditional shelter as well as some governments are considering new ways to solve the problem of day to day existance for people who are virtually without resources, especially people without land. Here is an article that pretty well sums up the current models for this new kind of living situation. I am talking about portable villages.

I will archive recent developements in ultra-low-cost survival options in well-to-do areas here. This thread is about the coexistance of the rich and the poor. I encourage you to share your experiences and knowledge of shelter-for-everyone.

The model that works well right here at home may be close to the one that could work in disasters areas and for refugees around the globe.

http://gainesville.com/article/2007705280328

This is interesting, too.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2000/wampler.html

By René K. Müller, Switzerland

http://housing.byrene.com/Polyhedra_Notes
http://housing.byrene.com/Geodesic_Polyhedra
http://housing.byrene.com/Geodesic_Dome_Notes

DOME is an open source utility for generating the coordinates of a geodesic dome or sphere develpoed by Rick Bono. Versions are available for 32-bit Windows platforms, Linux/Unix and MacOS. Full source code is available per the GNU General Public License.



Click here to find out more

Discover Magazine called Chuck Hoberman "the Buckminster Fuller of the 1990s." His unfolding spheres and domes bear a visual resemblance to Bucky's geodesic structures. Hoberman thinks the analogy is valid, but his work also differs from Fuller's.

The overarching theme of Bucky's work was "doing more with less." Hoberman says his point of departure is different: the idea of making structures that transform their size and shape. These may seem like different goals, but both approaches involve deep study of underlying principles. Things are designed not to look a certain way, but to act a certain way. The look of Fuller's geodesic domes, like Hoberman's Unfolding Structures, is a natural outcome of their governing principles.

When asked how else Fuller's work has influenced him, he says, "Well, I'm a fan." He adds, "After an extended dry spell, we are seeing a new interest in making innovative structures. If we develop our built environment with technologies that are both forward-thinking and beautiful, we help create hope for the future."


Click here to find out more about the Hoberman Sphere

John Kuhtik has been building domes with modular and repeatable fiberglass parts. His company, EMOD, hopes to "prototype the Fly's Eye shell, load it with essential equipment to make the dome a house, and make it available to the public at an affordable price. We would like to give families the option of having one parent at home again."

John is almost ready to put up the dome, but has a few more fiberglass panels to construct. His company is seeking funding and donations. The dome will constructed in Bayonne, NJ, sometime this year. The Fly's Eye was Fuller's last dome design, prototyped back in the mid-70s.

Some advantages of the Fly's Eye dome are:

• low cost, high strength
• light weight, easily transported components
• bolt together assembly
• lower heating and cooling costs than rectilinear buildings
• stronger and safer than conventional buildings
• savings on resources and labor: one third less material is used to enclose the same space with a dome than a cube

EMOD, Inc.
37 Parkview Terrace
Bayonne, NJ 07002-1708
(201) 823-0605

How can a dome be made using flat pieces of paper without the aide of any adhesive?



The answer I came up with is an origami geodesic dome. The first dome I designed was about 48" in diameter and displayed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in February. The event was written up and published in the most recent issue of Origami USA's official magazine, "The Paper".

Then, for this year's Origami USA convention at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, I designed an 8-foot diameter dome. I've looked far and wide and I believe it is the largest origami geodesic dome ever built, although origami structures based on the geodesic dome concept have been made before. Miyuki Kawamura, famous for her origami polyhedrons and author of the book 'Polyhedron Origami for Beginners' designed and exhibited a beautiful geodesic sphere that she calls the "cosmosphere" in 2004. Showing a beautifully gradated color scheme, it is roughly two feet in diameter. Also, in 2001, students at the Guadalaviar school of Valencia, Spain, built a paper geodesic dome using a design of Bela Garrido. Their larger 1.8-meter dome required tape. Bela's design is essentially a paper version of Buckminster Fuller's patented design.


OUSA Convention at the Fashion Institute of Technology in June 2005

The 8-foot convention dome was made from 201 sheets of square paper, folded into units that interconnect and lock without the aide of any form of adhesive. It took my partner Alessandra and I about 50 hours total to fold all the pieces, which we carried to New York City in four boxes and then assembled on site in about 5 hours. Gilad Aharoni's website referred to below contains pictures during assembly. When the apex was placed, there were five of us huddled comfortably inside the dome...there was plenty of headroom because the ceiling was about 7 feet high. We got out by crawling under the tables supporting the dome.

I also designed and exhibited an origami geodesic sphere at the convention. Alessandra's color scheme utilized lots of sparkly holographic origami paper to turn the sphere into a disco ball.


Also at the convention, I showed a modular origami disco ball made from all kinds of sparkly holographic paper.

I think the origami dome is a testament to Buckminster Fuller's vision because I think it is remarkable that a structure that large can be made out of paper without glue, tape, string, etc. It held firm without any sign of sagging. In fact, the disco ball can literally be held in the palm of one hand. The 48 dome shown at MIT could be flipped over without the slightest sign of distress. (In fact, paper seems to resist be stretched better than being compressed so it is probably happier upside-down!) At the convention, there was another big modular origami model...a level 3 Menger Sponger whose construction was organized by Jeannine Mosely. In a way, it was a perfect counterpoint to the dome. Whereas the dome is round, the Menger sponge is a cube (with holes). Whereas the dome had 201 pieces and was 8 feet in diameter, the Menger sponge had 66,048 pieces and was about 4.5 feet on a side. Whereas the dome took a total of about 60 hours to construct and build, the Menger sponge was made over a period of some 10 years. (The June 21, 2005 issue of the New York Times contained a photo of Jeannine with her Menger sponge.)

In addition, according to Jeannine, the Menger sponge cannot be enlarged to a level 4 sponge because it would collapse under its own weight.

On the other hand, I personally believe that the dome design can be made much, much larger. I hope someday to make a much larger origami geodesic dome...but this is just a dream right now because it would cost a bit and it would require more organization and time. I'd like to try to make one large enough that the dome itself can serve as an exhibition room containing origami exhibits within and so that people can comfortably walk inside and look at the exhibits and the dome from within.


The Science Club for Girls disco ball hanging at Boston's Children's Museum

After the Origami USA convention, I worked with the Boston Children's Museum and Science Club for Girls, a non-profit group created to foster an interest in science among school girls in junior high and high school. Working mostly with tenth graders, we built another origami disco ball bigger than the one shown at the convention. The ball was also used to introduce various topics in geometry. The girls did a fabulous job! None of them had prior origami experience and we started from zero. In about four weeks they had completed all 212 pieces and then built the disco ball on site at Boston's Children's Museum while teaching visitors some simple origami models. The disco ball has been hanging from a railing on the fourth floor of the children's museum since August 10 and still looks fine. The girls designed the color scheme and used shiny foil paper to give it a sparkle.


The origami diadem based on the same design principles...it is a layer from a geodesic dome.

Currently, I'm working on a small book that explains how to make the origami geodesic spheres and domes, as well as origami diadems based on the same design.

» Click here to visit the Science Club for Girls
» Click here to visit Gilad Aharoni's Origami USA 2005 photo album
» Click here to visit the Centro Virtual de Divulgacia de las Matematicas
» Click here to visit Boston's Children's Museum

Domes are nature's perfect structure and provide a unique and functional space for every use. These synergetic structures are perfect for a family dwelling, guesthouse, workshop, yoga or art studio as well as for events, trades shows, greenhouse and playground equipment. We combine the sacred geometry of R. Buckminster Fuller with our progressively designed covers to bring you this futuristic Zen structure. Our Domes illuminate with natural light creating an atmosphere of being close to nature in a comfortable environment.

Our domes are engineered with steel frames that withstand heavy snow and hurricane winds and are perfect for shelter systems. Available in many sizes, our weather tight, durable covers include windows, screens, and a wood stove set-up. Winterizing kits are available for colder climates. From Michigan winters to Arizona summers, people live comfortably in our Domes.

» Click here to find out more
» read 'Launching Spaceship Earth' an editorial about Bucky by Asha Deliverance, founder of Pacific Domes

Design office, New York City

Hoberman Associates, Inc. is the originator of transformation technology, and we lead this new field of making objects that change their size and shape. We create innovative products, structures, and environments. We have comprehensive design capabilities, integrating transformation technology into diverse applications such as medical, architectural, consumer products, and more.


Our inventive approach provides our clients with original and practical solutions to their needs. The results are demonstrable: over the years our product designs have sold many millions of units and our installations have been seen by many millions of viewers.

Hoberman Associates' work is centered on the fundamental idea that a designed object can transform the way a natural organism does. While the smooth transformation of size and shape is ubiquitous in the natural world, it is rare among man-made objects. The creation of transforming objects requires a new design theory, a conceptual framework that draws on mathematics, mechanics and structural engineering to integrate change as a basis for design.

Through years of exploration and experimentation we have identified critical parameters for the successful creation of transforming objects. The process of transformation should be:

• Complete & fully three-dimensional
• Smooth & continuous
• Reversible & repeatable

These attributes result in functional benefits for products, such as ease of use, fluid responsiveness and adaptability. They lead to an integrated design approach where structure and mechanism are combined, which offers the ability to build transforming structures at both large and small scale.



Over the years we have developed a number of systems for rapidly deployable shelters. Our designs for tents and temporary structures quickly and smoothly unfold from a compact state into large structural coverings.

» Click here to check out the Hoberman site

by Trevor Blake




The best way to understand the construction of the geodesic dome is to build a model of one. Here are step-by-step instructions written by Trevor Blake. Trevor works with homeless youth in Portland, Oregon and is building a Web site with models, photographs and texts which explore Synergetics and the ideas of Buckminster Fuller.


» Click here to view the instructions (PDF)

by Jay Salsburg



The first generation of Geodesics researched, developed, and Patented by R B Fuller happened in the late 1950s. Next he followed the same path and built many prototypes some of which were very large and expensive. This second generation, in the 1960s, embodied spaceframe technology where the skin was independently supported by the space frame. This is the time when many students and associates of Dr. Fuller spun off Manufacturing companies like Tempcor producing commercial Domes. This led to the third generation of Domes which departed completely from Geodesic geometry and concentrated on methods to support the skin in a balance of tension and compression with an endo-truss or tension-integrity truss that was modified to be rigid. Fuller coined the phrase "Rigid Tensegrity" to name this technology. There is only one reference to this concept that I know of in published literature, the author of which was obviously unaware of its significance, ( an introduction to tensegrity, ISBN 0-520-02996-8, page 66). After several years of work a few prototypes were commissioned which led to a fourth generation technology Bucky called the Rigid Tensegrity Fly's Eye Dome.

This is where I entered his life. I assisted an independent contractor hired by Dr. Fuller and financed by the architect Norman Foster to build a model of this new concept. Shortly thereafter Dr. Fuller died without any published plans or development funding to finish this project.

1st Generation Dome research - Geodesic; found that the geometry amplified the elasticity of the components, causing the skin or panels to be disrupted by this unforeseen effect. This effect is not a problem on very low frequency designs or small Domes but is catastrophic to larger Domes and eventually leads to failure.

2nd Generation research - Space Frame; found that geometry was complex and required difficult and expensive fastening technology to attach skin to truss. Insurance companies refused to insure these buildings.

3rd Generation research - Tensegrity Geometry; went two ways. First; found that the Tensegrity system of struts and wire was inherently problematic, the system of skin-to-support truss was prone to problems similar to those experienced by large tents in high wind, they would flap in the wind and fail catastrophically. Second; the wholly integrated self-supporting skin design was very inefficient and uneconomical when expanded to large sizes and failed from gravity stress of excess weight on skin but, again, worked well for small size Domes.

4th Generation research - Rigid Tensegrity; found that the skin could be supported in balance of tension and compression independent of the extremely strong and rigid support truss. The problem of integrating the skin with the frame was solved but was never brought to development.

I have evolved the 4th Generation to reveal the 5th generation solveing the engineering problems of supporting the skin with the internal frame providing systemic balance between them.

This has led to the 6th generation with an inner and outer skin, providing very high air-gap insulation and environmental isolation.

There is a fascination with Geodesic Geometry but the romantic notion that this technology is a panacea for housing is, perhaps, unobtainable and remains underutilized after several decades, a curiosity at best. I saw this early on in the early 1970s and followed Dr. Fuller's research very closely in the late 1970s which led me to actually being able to briefly work with him in Southern California. This caused me to take on the intellectual development of his last discovery, the "Rigid Tensegrity Fly's Eye Dome" which has led to several alternate technologies, further amplifying this technology.

June 29, 2005



"Illustrated Dome Building" provides advice to anyone attempting to self-build or renovate a home. The most common problems encountered during the construction of self-build houses are discussed in detail. If you want to make your vision of a dream house a reality, the self-build process can be exciting, challenging, and rewarding.

Hexadome structures are world famous. Inventor of the hexadome, Gene Hopster simplifies the "geodesic" concept in order to produce inexpensive, easy-to-make housing in form of a hexadome. These structures offer maximum strength and space at the lowest cost. They are also energy efficient constructions. A hexadome has only 24 triangles and 3 trapezoids, all assembled by their "skins" before the dome is erected. What's more, this modular construction book allows you to build your home all by yourself without professional help.

A wide range of topics are covered, starting from self-build insurance coverage, negotiation with real estate agents, locating building plots, finding competitive quotes for building materials, procuring raw material, and nittygritty details while commissioning actual work. A "Word of caution" is inserted appropriately in the book with regard to local authorities regulations while building. The list of topics is thorough, and simplifies the process of house building.

Clear internal and external plan diagrams that sequence the workflow from inserting stakes to completion is provided. Hopster discusses common pitfalls to avoid while building your own home. The topics in this practical, useful book range from site factors that influence building design to environmental protection adherence.

This book provides foresight that can save lots of time and money; commonly encountered issues like flooring work, electricity instillation and wiring, plumbing, sewage system (septic tanks vs. dehydration toilet systems), floor drains, basement drains, and firestops. By providing so much useful information, Hopster's book facilitates making effective decisions with regards to house building.

A glossary of terms at the end of this book serves as ready reference. Grab your copy today and build your dream home.

Domeplans Press, $29.95, paperback, (96p) ISBN: 0-9769116-0-4

A most ancient form of life in the ocean today is the Radiolarian which is a protozoan having a siliceous skeleton of spicules. The spicules which make up their skeleton are arranged in the most interesting order of simplicity of design. These creatures have survived for 100s of millions of years with little or no change. An analysis of the geometry of the radiolarian reveals the utilization of basic polyhedron and self-tessellating spherical webs.

"To understand the Universe, you must understand the language in which it's written, the language of Mathematics" — Galileo
by Jay Salsburg, July, 2001

The main issue, current building practices use ancient schemes and materials to make dwellings. These dwellings depend on gravity for support. When the Earth moves under them, or wind and water pushes against them, inertia and non-linear forces cause the dwelling to tear itself apart. This page reveals dwelling technology available that prevents this inane problem, but the general public, including government, research, and education institutions, are either unaware or is avoiding this primary technology.

"Traditionalists may argue correctly, that the main purpose of business is still to make a profit, but that begs the question of how profit is defined and how it is achieved. A thousand years ago enterprises pursued profit, but they operated in an agrarian world based on peasant labor. The industrial revolution that began in the 17th century brought a radically new economy (though it had its doubters, too). It did not eliminate the pursuit of profit in one form or another, but it transformed just about everything else from finance to family life, from work to war, from resource use to religion. Today, on an even bigger, faster scale, a new economic and social system is taking form. It, too, will transform just about everything else." -- Alvin Toffler

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clarke

This 'Magic' I will refer to as ClarkeMagic.

I shall use this new term as a figure of merit; the ClarkeMagic Quotient.

My inventions and the enhancements to other inventions constitute a system of dwelling that may, in a positive way, affect the entire underpinnings of civilization.

Civilization is a culture of human existence that depends on technology to provide the primary necessities of life; food - shelter - clothing.

Without Shelter (used here in Capitals to indicate the formal sense) the other two primal necessities would be only for survival. Shelter is the Artifact that sustains civilization. Civilization may be recognized by its Cities (no City, no Civilization). Cities are built-up as clusters of Dwellings and larger buildings supported by its associated infrastructure and institutions (governments).

Shelter is the all-important Artifact defining Civilization. The industrial revolution about which Toffler refers began in the 17th Century and progressed (in this case progress may be pejorative) to the point were today, Dwellings may be manufactured of sophisticated materials and abundantly mass produced. Since cities have defined the so-called industrial revolution, they affected the migration of humankind from the agrarian culture of the pre-17th Century to the present urban culture. The human population explosion that has marked the past 300 years may only be contributed to and sustained by technology. All the great Empires of the past perished due to a lack of technology to rebound from calamity, whether natural or man-made. The industrial revolution is giving way to a new and different revolution. This is marked by new technology, all of which are information-centric systems and devices invented in the past 50 years. I will refrain from mentioning most of them except the specific few that have helped me in my endeavors to create my inventions.

One of the main problems faced by humans in civilization is the acquisition of a Home. Housing in the manifestation of a home includes all the social encumbrances as institutionalized government, finance and religion. Housing has devolved into business for profit, and very profitable enterprise housing is. The housing construction industry consists of a major segment of the US Economy. The very word "Economy" is somewhat misleading in this application of the word. In its simplest definition - 'Careful, thrifty management of resources, such as money, materials, or labor' - the use of the word in application to the housing industry runs contrary to this definition.

In its truest sense, economy is a forced condition brought about by organized scarcity, therefore necessitating the frugal use of materials and resources. However, the use of the word in today's social standing means a system of economy; the way in which finance and resources are utilized to create material wealth. Wealth gives way to prosperity. Certainly a prosperous civilization is not preoccupied with the economy of resource utilization, but it should. The very nature of prosperity is the way in which resources are utilized. Abundance and flourish come to mind when the word prosperity is used to describe civilization. Yet economy means scarcity, there is seemingly a conflict of concepts.

The actual utilization of resources is decided by the artisans who fashion and produce our necessities. The artisan chooses materials based on the experiences taught by previous artisans through mentoring, education, apprenticeship and internship. However, when these experiences are exploited to produce products for profit, Institutions get involved in regulating the way products are produced. Standards and Codes are the result. One of these numerous standards is the "Uniform Building Code (UBC)." This is the 'Bible' for building houses. It consists of a blinding flurry of regulations and ordinances all supposedly created to put 'Safety' into modern housing. The major fallacy to this notion of safety is that there is no safety, only protection like the way a windbreaker protects you from the rain and wind on board a sailboat.

How do we currently protect ourselves with contemporary shelter? We protect ourselves with contemporary materials fashioned into structures made mostly of dirt and wood. Sounds like primeval man. The organization of these structures is ordained by the institutions of government, finance, and education. The UBC is the wall of babble that separates the common human from his or her control over their direct access to innovation in housing. If it were not for the extent of cities consisting of the massive engorgement of resources to construct them, there may not be the need to go beyond the present shabby methodologies of constructing houses. This is why there is an almost hysterical obsession with current contemporary housing design. Most people just want to get their piece of prosperity and retire. The complex system of regulation, inspection, licensing, franchise, finance, adjudication, construction, and maintenance, creates a barrier to design innovation. More logically, the gross defects out weight actual gains. If it were not for the current abundant utilization of resources, modern housing would not be possible. This abundance will, by nature, may become scarce. There must be an alternative means of building houses. When current dwellings are in need of rebuilding, say 50 years hence, these structures will not lend them to remodeling; they also do not lend themselves to recycling. They will be demolished and the debris placed in a landfill. That means the direction almost every house will take is back to the earth, buried and covered as the degradable materials they are.

Just like an aluminum soda can may be recycled, housing technology, by nature, must migrate to being recyclable and renewable without the use of resources other than other recycled materials. Thus comes the revelation, housing must be renewable. Current housing technology does not embody this concept. The institutions that have sprung up in the industrial revolution to support and extend the housing industry only exist to support unsustainable growth.

One of the side effects of the "Information Age" is that common people can receive and act on reliable information that may be viable alternatives to the "Status Quo" of contemporary methods for providing necessities such as shelter. Using modern design techniques and eternal natural principles of geometry, a controversial but welcomed alternative reveals itself.

A most ancient form of life in the ocean today is the Radiolarian which is a protozoan having a siliceous skeleton of spicules. The spicules which make up their skeleton are arranged in the most interesting order of simplicity of design. These creatures have survived for 100s of millions of years with little or no change. An analysis of the geometry of the radiolarian reveals the utilization of basic polyhedron and self-tessellating spherical webs.

I have made extensive study of Polyhedron, Tensegrity, and self-tessellating spherical webs and their application to buildings and houses. The use of Personal Computers and Solid Modeling Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Software provides a wealth of information from which to choose. This information comes in the form of living models that may be manipulated, analyzed, and tested to judge as to their suitability for application in housing. After many years of experimentation, a few models are reveled as viable structures which lend themselves to development.


There are a few criteria for selecting the models to develop.

1. All materials used in construction must be recyclable.
2. The entire structure must be able to be renewed by the owner without intensive labor and without demolishing and starting over as is seen in contemporary design (try to replace a corner wall in your house).
3. The design must be easily mass-produced with automation (robotic manufacturing).
4. The entire structure must allow erection by the owner without intensive manual or skilled labor, or highly specialized tools.
5. The structure must be alterable by the owner anytime in the future, that is, a window must be able to be replaced with a solid panel or door, without remodeling, or requiring highly specialized tools, or intense labor.
6. The model must afford a superior resistance to natural forces while providing a 'Garden of Eden' dwelling environment.
7. It must be less expensive than conventional housing per unit floor space through cost-reducing measures; by methods of mass fabrication, transportation of the finished structure to the erecting site, and the labor of erection.
8. Since contemporary Housing Authorities are very protective of their antiquated positions, these new designs must be approved by the myriad of government institutions that are speciously manifested to protect us from harm. This may allow lending institutions to provide mortgages for purchase by the prospective home owner.

Based on these criteria, there seems to be at least 4 designs worth pursuing.

Remember the ClarkeMagic Quotient? Dome technology may offer many advantages over contemporary housing designs, and I do not mean the current available dome designs. What are they?

1. Three times more interior floor space per dollar.
   My designs give the dweller the ability to install 1, 2, or 3 lofts. These lofts provide multi-story living space and double the foundation floor space in the dome. These lofts are supported by the dome and do not require support columns. Using my designs, a home may be constructed with up to three times more floor space per dollar spent than contemporary houses.
2. Strength Amplification.
   This is the magic part. My dome designs employ compound curvature. Forces are dissipated into the superstructure in all directions simultaneously; I call Omni directional Strength Amplification (OSA). These forces are absorbed and dissipated evenly by every structural member in the dome. Conventional houses using rectilinear beam-strut design as described in the UBC cannot, by design, dissipate forces evenly. These forces are unevenly channeled to the connections of the struts and beams. This is what causes the all-too common roof-leak into the narrow walls, or the roof to fly off as seen in those many Storm Videos. Conventional houses depend on gravity to stand upright, domes do not depend on gravity, and they are strong in all directions independent of gravity. The forces exerted on a dome are absorbed by the entire structure evenly in all directions.
   
   Because all forces are balanced is not the end of the Magic. Unlike rectilinear structures, my designs exhibit balance of the forces previously mentioned (Earthquake, Wind, Water). Movement occurring within the structure is called compression and tension. In conventional houses, the imbalance of forces is compensated by building up the connections between beams and the wall struts. Also, the number of struts and beams are increased and connections are made between the beams to dissipate sheering forces like in line and tornado winds. This makes the structure unnecessarily cumbersome to construct and many, many times heavier than necessary translating into higher cost.
   
   In my designs, compression and tension are balanced. Compression and tension occur naturally at 90 degrees to each other. Envision a rope being pulled from end-to-end in tension. The natural compressive force on the rope occurs on the girth of the rope, tightening and lengthening the rope and decreasing its girth at 90 degrees to the direction of tension. Compression on a strut exerts force to shorten the strut and tension at 90 degrees from the pressure pushing together each end forces the girth of the strut to expand.
   
   If these forces are balanced in a structure hence the ClarkeMagic. These forces will always be moving in any structure at an angle from the direction of greatest resistance. In my designs, as the force increases, resistance to the force increases directly proportionately and in direct opposition to the direction of the force. Balancing compression and tension in my designs amplifies the strength of the structure independent of the strength of its materials. This amplification is not revealed in the strength of the materials but in the geometry of the design. The structure or physical model itself is the only way to predict its strength, not a set of performance standards based on rectilinear load bearing. This strength is not predicted by methods used in the UBC. This rates my designs high on the ClarkeMagic Quotient scale. Hence the Authorities who depend on the UBC to judge building practices are ill-equipped to inspect or qualify my designs.
3. Clear span interior.
   Because my designs use sound geometrical construction, it is possible to create structures of greater than 60 feet in diameter without any internal support columns.
4. All metal construction.
   I have concentrated my designs on the use of commonly available metal stock. Concrete reinforcement can be used to increase the strength of the structure at the added cost of more weight, complexity and expense.
5. Extremely good wind and ice load resistance.
   Because of the previous descriptions, wind and snow loads are handled much better than any other structure for its price/floor space ratio.
6. Superior thermal insulation.
   My designs make use of the dome within a dome concept. An outer and inner skin with airspace of 5 feet between shells provides very high quality insulation and can be easily maintained allowing the dome to be used in any terrestrial environment including arctic and mountain top.
7. Superior window utilization (better view).
   My designs allows windows to be placed in any configuration, allowing views in any direction from horizontal landscape (vertical window at ground level) to vertical sky (near horizontal window near the top of the dome). This also allows superior Solar heating options in extreme low temperature environments. The surface area of the structure and its skin elements is only 25 percent of the total surface. In tropical environments, the side away from the sun may be transparent to dissipate heat. In low temperature environments, the sun side openings can be transparent to let in the sun through the 9 feet in diameter, 5 feet air gap windows. My designs allow 50 percent of the sun side to be transparent. The low angle of the sun of low temperature environments in winter is accommodated with ease. Inexpensive technology for controlling the transparency of the domes 9 foot windows allows the window to be automatically switched from opaque to transparent in seconds.
8. 48 foot ceiling.
   The top center of a 60 foot dome is 48 feet. If 2 lofts are spaced at 12 feet this gives a top loft ceiling of 24 feet.

located by Joe Moore, founder of the Buckminster Fuller Virtual Institute


Expo'67 dome in Montreal


Former Union Tank Car dome just NW of Baton Rouge, LA


Climatron dome in St Louis, MO


Tacoma dome in Tacoma, WA

Click on the images above to go to the actual location in Google Maps. All images courtesy of Google Maps