The Geodesic dome is a shell structure constructed over the surface of a sphere.
Based on the hexagon and usually made of a series of similar triangle joined at the vertices.
While usually based on the sphere, they can also be constructed of any combination of curves, simple or complex. For example with a cross section of an ellipse in one direction, and a sphere in another, with the axes at right angles to each other.
With more complex shapes, the calculation of the shell segments becomes more difficult, and the number of different sized and shaped pieces there will be.
The use of triangles makes the structure rigid and very strong, stresses are transmitted throughout the structure. Even with light structural members these domes are able to withstand extremes of wind and even earth quakes.
The first dome was designed by Walther Bauersfeld in 1925 for a German planetarium. His work seems to have been forgotten, and many information sites quote Buckminster Fuller as the father of the Geodisic Dome. While his work has been instrumental in promoting the dome to its present popularity, he is not the original inventer.
Buckminster Fuller, 20 years later, named the structure a "Geodesic", and developed the maths of the dome.
The advantages of Geodesic domes are that they are extremely strong for their weight, with a very stable surface, and encloses the greatest volume for the smallest surface area.
 Gedesic Domes have been used in various places. The Climatron is a greenhouse in Missouri Botanical Gardens, StLouis.
The dome is the world's first completely air-conditioned greenhouse and the first geodesic dome to be enclosed in rigid acrylic glass panels. Sophisticated climate controls, without using interior partitions, maintains a lowland rain forest climate.
Buckminster Fuller designed the Montreal Biosphere the American Pavilion for Expo 67, currently used as a museum for the Saint Lawrence River.
Built in 1971, the Cinesphere is the worlds first Imax movie theatre.
It is a triodetic domed structure similar to the geodesic dome.
The American industrial designer James Tennant Baldwin, a student of Buckminster Fuller, invented (and has built) a permanent, transparent, insulated structure of aluminium and Teflon which he calls a "Pillow Dome." The Pillow Dome weighs just one-half pound per square foot. and has resisted winds of 135 miles an hour.
The principle has since been applied in large-scale applications such as the Eden Project in Cornwall, England.
This is a steel frame with an inflated skin of hexagonal cells stretched over it. The hexagons are sealed at the edges and form a thermal blanket , which insulated the buildings.
More interesting Dome and greenhouse stuff
Based on the hexagon and usually made of a series of similar triangle joined at the vertices.
While usually based on the sphere, they can also be constructed of any combination of curves, simple or complex. For example with a cross section of an ellipse in one direction, and a sphere in another, with the axes at right angles to each other.
With more complex shapes, the calculation of the shell segments becomes more difficult, and the number of different sized and shaped pieces there will be.
The use of triangles makes the structure rigid and very strong, stresses are transmitted throughout the structure. Even with light structural members these domes are able to withstand extremes of wind and even earth quakes.
The first dome was designed by Walther Bauersfeld in 1925 for a German planetarium. His work seems to have been forgotten, and many information sites quote Buckminster Fuller as the father of the Geodisic Dome. While his work has been instrumental in promoting the dome to its present popularity, he is not the original inventer.
Buckminster Fuller, 20 years later, named the structure a "Geodesic", and developed the maths of the dome.
The advantages of Geodesic domes are that they are extremely strong for their weight, with a very stable surface, and encloses the greatest volume for the smallest surface area.
 Gedesic Domes have been used in various places. The Climatron is a greenhouse in Missouri Botanical Gardens, StLouis.
The dome is the world's first completely air-conditioned greenhouse and the first geodesic dome to be enclosed in rigid acrylic glass panels. Sophisticated climate controls, without using interior partitions, maintains a lowland rain forest climate.
Buckminster Fuller designed the Montreal Biosphere the American Pavilion for Expo 67, currently used as a museum for the Saint Lawrence River.
Built in 1971, the Cinesphere is the worlds first Imax movie theatre.
It is a triodetic domed structure similar to the geodesic dome.
The American industrial designer James Tennant Baldwin, a student of Buckminster Fuller, invented (and has built) a permanent, transparent, insulated structure of aluminium and Teflon which he calls a "Pillow Dome." The Pillow Dome weighs just one-half pound per square foot. and has resisted winds of 135 miles an hour.
The principle has since been applied in large-scale applications such as the Eden Project in Cornwall, England.
This is a steel frame with an inflated skin of hexagonal cells stretched over it. The hexagons are sealed at the edges and form a thermal blanket , which insulated the buildings.
More interesting Dome and greenhouse stuff
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