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Architecture students will reconstruct an original Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome at the National Museum of American History this summer

2023-04-14T14:00:00-04:00

A new collaborative project between the Catholic University of America and the National Museum of American History will offer architecture students the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to repair and reconstruct one of Buckminster Fuller’s famed geodesic domes in the hopes of presenting such structures as a viable resilience tool to be used by designers in the ongoing fight against climate change.

Beginning in early July, a group of students from the school’s undergrad and graduate programs will work together on the reconstruction of the more than 70-year-old The Weatherbreak design created by Fuller protégé Jeffrey Lindsay in the museum’s Flag Hall.

Under the guidance of assistant professor Tonya Ohnstad, lead fabricator Lorenzo Cardim DeAlmeida, and museum curator Abeer Saha, the group will explore its potential usage as affordable, resilient housing. This is the first time the structure will be displayed to the public since entering the museum’s collection and represents the first ...

MIT Media Lab designs and tests modular tiles for self-assembling space architecture

2022-05-16T11:50:00-04:00

The MIT Media Lab has shared insights into their pioneering project to build habitats in outer space. Named TESSERAE, the project seeks to create a highly-engineered tile which can be used as a building block for self-assembling, adaptive, reconfigurable structures.

Artist's render of TESSERAE spaceship. Credit: MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative (Artist's Render courtesy of Igor Neminov)

Rather than the traditional method of transporting fixed, rigid habitation modules into outer space, creating structures such as the International Space Station, the team behind TESSERAE believes that their modular, self-assembly method can lower payload weight and reduce construction complexity, while also broadening the possibilities of what future space architecture may look like.

TESSERAE assembly concept: Flat-packed for launch, tiles released to swirl and quasi-stochastically self assemble, target geometry, constellation of multiple docked TESSERAE modules. Credit: Ariel Ekblaw

Each TE...

R.I.P. Shoji Sadao, the unsung force behind some of Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi's iconic designs

2019-11-15T12:42:00-05:00

“Shoji’s architectural background was instrumental to these large projects,” Thomas T.K. Zung, who became a partner of Mr. Sadao’s in the firm Buckminster Fuller, Sadao & Zung Architects, said by email. “Shoji’s accomplishment was his service to two geniuses, Bucky and Isamu,” Mr. Zung added. “Shoji was an architectural samurai — he understood them both and added to their mix, without need or benefit of self-glory.”

Architect Shoji Sadao, who played a major role in bringing some of the most famous designs by Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi into the world, passed away in Tokyo at the age of 92 on November 3.

As one of Fuller's most important collaborators, Sadao applied his mathematical and cartographic expertise for iconic projects like the Dymaxion Airocean World Map and the U.S. pavilion geodesic dome at Expo ’67. Some of the projects he worked on with Noguchi include the Hart Plaza fountain in Detroit and the production of the well-known Akari Light Sculpture. He led the design of the Noguchi Museum in Queens, for which he served as Executive Director from 1989-2003.

In 2006, Sadao authored the book, “Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi: Best of Friends,” an informal biography of the lasting friendship and shared influences between the two visionaries.

“During his life, Shoji was modest and reserved, keeping his name out of the limelight,” the Buckminster Fuller Institute wrote in an o...

Archinect Outpost to host book signing and lecture for The Architecture of Closed Worlds: Or, What Is the Power of Shit?

2019-02-20T15:09:00-05:00

Join us at Archinect Outpost on March 6th, from 7-9pm to host Lydia Kallipoliti and her newest book, The Architecture of Closed Worlds: Or, What Is the Power of Shit? Published by Lars Müller Publishers and Storefront for Art and Architecture, the book accompanied an eponymous exhibition surveying 37 brilliant and unusual prototypes for self-sustaining physical environments, including those from Buckminster Fuller, Jacques Cousteau and Walt Disney.

Buckminster Fuller's Geoscope, one of the 37 prototypes in The Architecture of Closed Worlds: Or, What Is the Power of Shit?

Kallipoliti will provide a lecture, followed by a conversation with Lars Müller and a book signing. RSVP here. The book can be preordered here.

West Edmonton Mall, one of the 37 prototypes in The Architecture of Closed Worlds: Or, What Is the Power of Shit?

Lydia Kallipoliti is an architect, engineer and scholar. She holds a Diploma in Architecture and Engineering from A.U.Th in Greece, a SMArchS in design and build...

Developer's plans to build condominium complex raise concerns over Buckminster Fuller's oldest extant geodesic dome

2019-01-14T14:17:00-05:00

While Buckminster Fuller and his geodesic domes may have gotten special mention in Jeff Bridges' recent Golden Globes speech, his oldest extant lattice-shelled structure is in the news for a less glorious reason. Now under serious threat, the Dome at Woods Hole and the accompanying Nautilus Hotel—for which it once served as the dining room—have been bought by a developer planning to build a condominium complex on the historic property.

Local developer Longfellow Design-Build, who is looking to build a 43-unit senior living complex, had been in talks about giving control of the dome to a non-profit organization that was created to save and restore the iconic geodesic dome; However, the two have been unable to come to an agreement.

Courtesy of Woods Hole Historical Museum.

The non-profit the Dome at Woods Hole was hoping to secure a long-term lease to refurbish the structure and turn it into a site for artistic endeavors. But, after two years of negotiations, the developer has walke...

A look back at the 60's "Minnesota Experimental City", the brainchild of South African futurist Athelstan Spilhaus

2018-11-06T13:43:00-05:00

In proposing his prototype 21st-century city, Spilhaus correctly diagnosed many of the shortcomings of the 20th-century one. He cottoned on early to concepts such as air pollution, even speculating that it was changing the Earth’s atmosphere.

The Minnesota Experimental City has been documented in the film The Experimental City. Watch the trailer below...

"Never Built New York" catalogues alternative visions of the City

2016-10-11T19:20:00-04:00

In an alternate reality, a half-mile-diameter dome would enclose much of Manhattan. The dome would regulate the city’s temperature and reduce energy consumption, according to the man behind the plan, R. Buckminster Fuller. Titled “Noah’s Ark #2”, the fantastical idea actually found a sponsor and the idea went through preliminary feasibility studies.

This is just one of the 200 unbuilt projects for New York City included in Never Built New York, a new book published by Metropolis Books. Authored by Greg Goldin and Sam Lubell, the book is a follow-up to their popular edition Never Built Los Angeles, and documents unbuilt plans for towers, bridges, parks and airports from the outrageous to the banal.

An 1870 project by Rufus Henry Gilbert sounds a bit like Elon Musk’s Hyperloop: a series of elevated, pneumatic tubes would propel passengers across the city. Suspended in tall Gothic arches, the tubes would be powered by compressed air.

The Museum of Modern Art building in New York carries ...

Penn State announces new endowment for student study abroad

2016-06-02T15:37:00-04:00

In the early 1960s, [Penn State's] international studies were confined mainly to books and photos — until George Ehringer and his classmates organized a semester in London, the department’s first official study abroad trip. Ehringer, who earned his bachelor of science in architecture from Penn State in 1964, recently made a $25,000 gift to create the George D. Ehringer, Class of 1964, Award for Study Abroad in the Department Architecture...

According to this warmhearted account, from unwittingly meeting Buckminster Fuller ("He was never introduced. It was only later we learned it was Buckminster Fuller!”) to developing relationships that lasted for decades, studying abroad in London ultimately benefitted the 1964 Penn State architecture students in ways they could not have anticipated. Anyone who wants to donate to the newly created endowment can do so either via snail mail (Penn State to the A&A Development office, 107 Borland Building, University Park, PA 16802) or online.

For more on the benefits of travel in architectural education:

Buckminster Fuller's "Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth" now available as e-book

2015-06-19T14:31:00-04:00

In true ephemeralizing fashion, Bucky's seminal work Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth has been published on iBooks by the Estate of Buckminster Fuller.

First published in 1968, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth gathers Bucky's ideas of global consciousness and actions – in short, "we are all astronauts", reliant on Spaceship Earth's finite resources, which we've been excellent at squandering so far. The "operating manual" bit is not only a metaphorical device, but also refers to actual advice for designing a more sustainable future.

In a press release issued by the Buckminster Fuller Institute, the e-book's release will also be the subject of BFI's newly launched Dymaxion Reading Group.

Buckminster Fuller's FBI file revealed

2015-05-22T13:17:00-04:00

In response to a freedom of information request I filed with the FBI in June of 2014, the agency has finally released 44 heavily redacted pages. Why would the FBI have a file on Bucky Fuller? Well, for one thing, he was a counterculture icon with unconventional ideas about resource allocation, environmental conservation, and globalization. And as we know, the FBI has historically been rather uncomfortable with counterculture icons.

Buckminster Fuller tells the tale on His Geodesic Life in a mini storybook-style audio interview

2015-03-17T13:40:00-04:00

Quoted Studios — the creators of the acclaimed animated interview series Blank on Blank — introduced The Experimenters, a brand new mini interview series that offers a peek into the minds of iconic figures in science, technology, and innovation. The first episode, which aired today, shines the spotlight on ol' Buckminster Fuller on His Geodesic Life. The other two episodes will feature anthropologist Jane Goodall and theoretical physicist Richard Feynman.

Like a storybook, the short film features a recorded audio interview with Bucky by renowned broadcaster Studs Terkel from 1965 and 1970. "Everyone aware of his work agrees that Buckminster Fuller is one of the original minds of our time," Terkel remarks in the introduction. Colorful animations by Jennifer Yoo accompany Fuller's distinctive run-on conversational style and maintain a sense of charm as Fuller talks about how his own environment — particularly his own personal struggles and painful experiences — catapulted his architect...

Editor's Picks #376

2014-07-17T15:17:00-04:00

For the latest edition of The Deans List: Amelia Taylor-Hochberg interviewed Mark Wigley, former Dean of Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Reflecting on the service-model of architecture he suggested "There will be the financial equivalent of Archinect in my opinion, and that will be a beautiful space for multi-dimensional practice. We must be within a few years of this…" He also shared that after "stepping up" as dean this past June he is taking a sabbatical, partly to finish a book on Buckminster Fuller and Architecture in the Age of Radio.

Olaf Design Ninja_ felt it was "Another good piece of journalism ATH......in short if I were to summarize Wigley's description of what an architecture school role is and what a university could be - its an open source experimental platform for creatives".

Plus, Nicholas Korody explored connections between Patrik Shumacher and post-internet discourses. toasteroven thought it was great stuff "however- ...

Modern soccer wouldn't be the same without an architect's invention

2014-06-16T16:00:00-04:00

... the ball most commonly seen today was first designed in the 1960s by architect Richard Buckminster Fuller, whose forte was designing buildings using minimal materials. Previously, leather soccer balls consisted of 18 sections stitched together: six panels of three strips apiece. The soccer ball Fuller designed stitched together 20 hexagons with 12 pentagons for a total of 32 panels. Its official shape is a spherical polyhedron, but the design was nicknamed the “buckyball.”

World's first geodesic dome home, built by Buckminster Fuller, to become museum

2014-03-20T12:30:00-04:00

On April 19 there will be a groundbreaking near Southern Illinois University to celebrate the restoration and preservation of the world’s first geodesic dome home, originally built by Buckminster Fuller and his wife, Lady Anne, in 1960. The ceremony at the Fuller Dome Home in Carbondale will be open to the public, free of charge, and will include a tour and the opportunity to view rare artifacts.

Everything I Know: 42 Hours of Buckminster Fuller’s Visionary Lectures

2014-02-03T00:50:00-05:00

In his time as a passenger on what he called Spaceship Earth, Fuller realized that human progress need not separate the “natural” from the “unnatural”: “When people say something is natural,” he explains in the first lecture (embedded above as a YouTube video above), ”‘natural’ is the way they found it when they checked into the picture.”

Everything I Know: 42 Hours of Buckminster Fuller’s Visionary Lectures

2014-02-02T23:58:22-05:00

Bucky Fuller's war-shelters persist in peacetime thanks to New Jersey preservationists

2014-01-03T13:55:00-05:00

Conceived as low-cost, mass-produced shelters that could comfortably accommodate a family of four, the units, known as D.D.U.s, were manufactured in the early 1940s and distributed to military bases around the world. [...] Several institutions and individuals have expressed interest in acquiring Camp Evans D.D.U.s. “They’re important artifacts,” said Marc Greuther, chief curator of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., who hopes to exhibit one of the units with Fuller’s Wichita House.

Buckminster Fuller's Gold Dome to be preserved

2013-08-16T11:07:00-04:00

The Gold Dome building based on Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome will be preserved. TEEMCO, an Oklahoma-based environmental professional engineering firm has purchased the architecturally historic Gold Dome building located on legendary Route 66. As one of the first geodesic domes in the world, the Gold Dome is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

It was a dome of many firsts: the first dome to have a gold-anodized aluminum roof, the first above-ground geodesic dome, and the first Kaiser Aluminum dome used as a bank. Due to these forward thinking attributes, the building was billed as the “Bank of Tomorrow.”

Buckminster Fuller Institute Selects DYMAX REDUX Winner

2013-08-07T16:57:00-04:00

Just a few days ago, we published the eleven finalists of DYMAX REDUX, an open call launched in April by the Buckminster Fuller Institute to create a new and inspiring interpretation of Buckminster Fuller's 1943 Dymaxion Map. Now the winning designs have been announced.

Previously: Buckminster Fuller Institute Announces DYMAX REDUX Finalists

Buckminster Fuller Institute Announces DYMAX REDUX Finalists

2013-07-22T14:21:00-04:00

The Buckminster Fuller Institute has unveiled the eleven finalists of DYMAX REDUX, an open call to create a new and inspiring interpretation of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Map from 1943.

UPDATE: Buckminster Fuller Institute Selects DYMAX REDUX Winner

Artist Leo Villareal's "Buckyball" installation to light up Madison Square Park

2012-10-19T13:59:00-04:00

Madison Square Park Conservancy's Mad. Sq. Art announces a new, monumental sculpture by distinguished artist Leo Villareal. Largely inspired by the work of Buckminster Fuller, Villareal’s BUCKYBALL will apply concepts of geometry and mathematical relationships within a towering 30-foot tall, illuminated sculpture. The site-specific work will remain on view daily from October 25, 2012 through February 2013 in Madison Square Park.

A commission of the Mad. Sq. Art program, Villareal’s BUCKYBALL will feature two nested, geodesic sculptural spheres comprised of 180 LED tubes arranged in a series of pentagons and hexagons, known as a “Fullerene,” referring to the form’s discovery by Buckminster Fuller. Individual pixels located every 1.2 inches along the tubes are each capable of displaying 16 million distinct colors and will be specifically tuned by the artist’s own software, creating a subtle and sophisticated palette to enliven the Park. Relying on LED technologies driven by chance...

Make a Buckminster Fuller Blanket Fort

2012-05-19T17:26:00-04:00

In 1975 Buckminster Fuller first defined the term tensegrity, a portmanteau of “tensional integrity.” It refers to structural systems that derive their stability from various elements acting against each other with equal force, like the surface tension of a bubble. Tensegrity lies at the heart of giant projects like the Georgia Dome. But you can apply it to build the ultimate blanket fort, supported by finely balanced brooms that never touch one another.

Manhattan Memorious

2012-04-10T11:28:00-04:00

Before a city becomes a thing of steel, concrete, and glass it is a theater of visions in conflict. As a city ages, the visions do not die but come up against the physical and ideological resistance of the place and its people. This is an account of a Manhattan that could have been – might have been. A phantasmagorical Manhattan where the visionary meets the everyday. The island as we know it is but a pale reflection of a city designed by visionaries – a city of mad, incongruous utopias.

The film (created for Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale) visualizes several unrealized projects for Manhattan, including Buckminster Fuller’s dome over Midtown, Rem Koolhaas’ City of the Captive Globe, RUR’s East River Corridor, Paul Rudolph’s Eastside Redevelopment Corridor, Morphosis’ West Side Yard and others.

Kickstart: 9 Chains (Buckminster Fuller in Philadelphia)

2012-03-21T20:41:00-04:00

Buckminster Fuller was an inventor, architect and "futurist" who made a very large impact on American culture and technology in the 20th century. “9 Chains” explores his presence in the city of Philadelphia between 1973-1980. Moving between documentary style presentation of the facts and pure abstraction, this work focuses on two projects Fuller worked on while in Philadelphia: the lecture series "Everything I Know" and the development of the World Game Institute.

Check out Archinect's latest curatorial pick at Kickstarter. To view all of our selections visit Kickstarter.com/Archinect.

Aspiring architects get hands-on chance to learn

2011-06-28T19:26:45-04:00

Some local high school students tackled architect R. Buckminster Fuller’s famed geodesic dome during the University of Memphis’ Architecture Summer Camp. Architects from local firm brg3s lectured on structural design and helped the students build their newspaper dome.

Marine Conservation Initiative Named Winner of the 2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge

2011-06-13T12:58:04-04:00

Blue Ventures, a conservation organization that simultaneously protects marine environments while improving the standard of living in some of the world's poorest coastal communities, has been named the winner of the 2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. The London based non-profit, which validates the bio-economic viability of conservation, was awarded $100,000 to further develop and scale up its work.

Bucky's Fly's Eye Dome Now Fully Restorated

2011-05-26T14:41:13-04:00

Restoration work on one of Buckminster Fuller’s most iconic structures, the 24 foot Fly’s Eye Dome, was completed yesterday, and the restored dome was unveiled to the public at Goetz Composites in Bristol, RI.

Patented in 1965, Fuller created two prototypes of this structure – a 24 foot and 50 foot dome. Fuller writes in his seminal book, Critical Path that “the Fly’s Eye domes are designed as part of a ‘livingry’ service. The basic hardware components will produce a beautiful, fully equipped air-deliverable house that weighs and costs about as much as a good automobile. Not only will it be highly efficient in its use of energy and materials, it also will be capable of harvesting incoming light and wind energies.”

The 24 foot dome has undergone extensive restorations in an effort to return the dome to its original condition by the renowned Bristol, RI-based Goetz Composites, fabricators of some of the most successful race boats in the world including three of today’s m...

2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge Semi-Finalists Announced

2011-04-08T17:40:52-04:00

The Buckminster Fuller Institute announced the Semi-Finalists for the 2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. The jury will select a winner who will be revealed at a public ceremony in New York in early June 2011. The winner will be presented with the OmniOculi sculpture and the $100,000 prize money to honor and encourage further development of their work.