Buckminster Fuller’s Historic Dome!

Buckminster Fuller’s Historic Dome!

Buckminster Fuller's Historic Dome!

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Although he died over 30 years ago, Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller is still considered one of America's most esteemed inventors, architects, inventors and dreamers who coined the "Spaceship Earth" idea. He was the father of the sustainability and green movement, as far back as the 1940s. He was a philosopher, futurist, urban planner and long-time Mensa president who was kicked out of Harvard twice in the 1930s. He also designed the Dymaxion - the world’s first green car.

Fuller is most famous for his architecture and an early advocate of dome homes, awarded the first United States patent for the futuristic and odd-looking structures. Buckminster understood that triangles are stronger than squares and rectangles of the same size, weight and material. When built as a dome, the structure was sturdy, inexpensive and efficient with air moving over and around the building. They are also not as susceptible to extreme temperatures and high winds as conventional buildings. With a wide-open interior, air moves freely, creating a healthier and more comfortable environment reducing utility bills up to 50 percent. Another plus is portability. Move almost anywhere on Spaceship Earth and take your dome home with you. Just toss it in the back of the moving truck or call UPS.

Fuller's personal dome home was built in just seven hours in 1960 in Carbondale, Illinois where he was a professor at Southern Illinois University from 1959 to 1971. Although many visionaries and military leaders saw the great potential in the domes, mass production never came to be as Bucky lacked the startup money. The idea of cheap-to-build dome homes was also not popular with the construction industry, and very few government zoning boards and home buyers embraced the odd looking structures.

Bucky's most famous dome was done for the 1967 Montreal World Expo and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. The dome most people know today is Disney World's Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center in Orlando, seen by over 10 million visitors every year.

Bucky and wife, Anne, lived in their Illinois dome home for over 10 years. They were married for 66 years and died within a few hours of each other in 1983, a few months after President Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Fuller Dome Home Organization recently completed phase one of the restoration of their Carbondale dome home. About $100,000 needs to be raised to finish the work.

Source: fullerdomehome.org