For more information, images, movies, and location, see http://www.wholeo.net/wholeodome.htm

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

The University of New Hampshire ocean aquaculture program's new aquapod fish cage was submerged in the water at the state pier in Portsmouth on Wednesday September 21st 2005.
Due to the strength of the geodesic design and the use of vinyl coated galvanized steel mesh instead of synthetic twine netting, the AquaPod is suitable for growing fish in pristine offshore waters, which, due to rough conditions and storms are unsuitable for existing fish pen designs.

Moving the farming of fish such as cod to open ocean sites will reduce pollution and conflicts with other coastal resource users. The AquaPod is designed to be operated fully submerged as much as 20 meters when there are storms, at depths which are unaffected by the surface conditions. OFT plans to build a 20 meter diameter pen this summer, to test this larger pen over the winter of 2005 -2006, and begin selling these pens to fish farmers in the North Atlantic and Caribbean in 2006.

As our ocean's fish populations dwindle and as fishing fleets face decreasing quotas there is increasing interest in new ways to harvest fish.

Supported by the Maine Technology Institute, Maine, USA, a prototype AquaPod was launched in November 2004. The AquaPod is a net fish pen made with a frame of triangles in the shape of a sphere. The photograph shows a one-tenth model. In the future fish farms may have 40 giant AquaPods growing 10,000 tons of fish each year.

The weather will be a significant factor as fish are easily stressed by high winds and waves. The AquaPod can be weighted to either float just below the surface of the ocean or when storms approach it can be lowered to safety.

» Click here to view more images (PDF)
» Schoolsnetwork.org.uk
» growfish.com.au
» seacoastonline.com

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

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

A free, cross platform spherical subdivision utility with a Geodesic module that can be used to calculate geodesic domes created by Nicholas Shea in England.

» Click here to find out more


TesselSphere
by Nicholas Shea

The initial inspiration for TesselSphere came from radiolaria, pollen and virus forms.Obviously some of these organsims are harder to model than others. The reticulum of Actinomma Gigantea (image above: left) presents the biggest problem; the cortical and medulla shells are distorted; the bars and spicules (spines) have an 'glue' like property. The other two, although not trivial, look easy in comparison.

George Hart's artificial radiolaria inspired me to try. My goal was to generate vertices for specific species. Output could then be manipulated in modelling programs to build the required form.

If you've never heard of radiolaria (holoplanktonic protozoa), you can find out more here. These creatures are most beautifil when their silica skeleton is viewed through polarized light...

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

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.

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

Quantum computing holds great promise for solving difficult problems that would take classical computers an infinitely long time. But working out the algorithms to solve these problems efficiently remains a major hurdle. According to a Report in the 24 Feb 2006 Science, help lies in the realm of geometry. In essence, a quantum computer designer wants to figure out the shortest path from the input data of a problem to its output solution without having the number of calculations grow out of hand along the way. Using that logic, Nielsen et al., showed that finding optimal quantum circuits is essentially equivalent to finding the shortest path between two points in a certain curved geometry — a geodesic, which also represents a path that a freely falling object would take.In making this analogy, the researchers open up the possibility of using the mathematical tools of Riemannian geometry (which involves the study of curved surfaces and spaces) to suggest new and efficient quantum algorithms or to reveal limitations of the power of quantum computers. An accompanying Perspective by J. Oppenheim (sciencemag.org) highlighted the study.

» Click here to view the entire article

by Wil Fidroeff



Bucky might have called what I do, "comprehensive anticipatory design science". I call designing a better home, "thinking about everything when you do anything". Many problems exist with building any type of home. I am now 60 years old, with 20 years of conventional construction experience, and, 20 years of dome building experience. I have always felt that more liveable, functional, and ecomomical homes could be built using geodesic dome kits, if, the dome kits and building processes were comprehensively designed. Thinking about everything during the design and planning process does result in a home that is easy to build.

In the late 1980's, John Warren, who worked with Bucky on the development of the Fly's Eye Dome, and Bob Snyder, Bucky's son-in-law, came to my home (then in California). I was then keeper of the Fly's Eye Dome and molds. Bob Snyder asked me what I called the dome design I had been working on. I replied, "Econ-O-Dome". John Warren asked me, what geodesic geometry I was using. I replied, "The alternate four-frequency". John Warren then told me, he and Bucky had agreed the truncateable alternate four frequency seemed to have the most potential for use in building homes and commercial buildings. This inspired further investigation on my part.

To explain further: A truncateable geodesic geometry has a level line of nodes (connection points) both above and below the hemisphere. This level line of nodes above and below the hemisphere makes it easier to install a second floor inside a geodesic dome. Only an even frequency geodesic sphere can be divided into two equal hemispheres. A hemispherical dome can rest directly on a flat surface or riser wall. This helps a dome building to be more stable and easier to build.

After traveling around the country building domes for many years, I found that installing conventional doors and windows was a lot easier, if, large flat surfaces were integrated into the lower perimeter of a dome. So, I modified the four-frequency dome to have just ten equal sides and ten large vertical surfaces on the lower perimeter. This was done by removing three adjacent triangles in ten different places along the lower perimeter of a twenty-sided four frequency dome. This resulted in a ten-sided dome with ten large vertical surfaces along the lower perimeter.

They say, if you give a lazy person a hard job to do, a lazy person will find an easy way to do it. I must be a very lazy person, as I have found an easy way to build a dome home.

» Click here to visit kitdomes.com

Submitted by Dick Fischbeck

Tristan Sterk is a pioneer in 21st century tensegrity structures and is expanding his field of influence. In 2005 Tristan was awarded first place in the Chicago Architecture Club, Emerging Visions Award for young architects in Chicago. Last month Wired.com included his work in their article called Smart Buildings. He is a regular contributor to the SUNY Buffalo Geodesic Listserv.

» Click here for an article from WIREDmagazine

» Click here to read summary notes from a Symposium on T. Sterk in 2006

Submitted by ricardo sandoval

Richardo writes: I had assembly my dome for unique time in december of 2005 in Tatacoa desert, Huila Colombia, we had a thunder storm, a lot of side wind but no rain, 8 more tents suffer damages some of them were unattached from the ground, the dome tent was the only one straight after the storm, and it wasnt attached to the ground, not even tied by ropes. it was just amazing. Now im working in a project called Olive City, its the ideal city made by domes.