2 Notes to the Text

2   Notes to the Text

1.

A New England journal associated with transcendentalism, a philosophical viewpoint shared by Emerson, Thoreau, and others, which has been described as ‘‘a cosmic idealism coupled with Yankee practicality, Puritan pugnacity, and grasp of fact.’’ Thoreau’s Walden is an experiment in spiritual and physical autonomy which, though anti-urban and anti-industrialization, hints at Fuller’s taking growthful and propagative advantage of nature’s universal patternings.

2.

Main quotations in this chapter, ‘‘The Formative Years,’’ are extracted from a long biographical letter written by Fuller to the author in 1955. Complete text published in Architectural Design (London), July, 1961.

3.

James Monroe Hewlett (1869-1941): President, Architectural League, New York 1920--21; President, Society of Mural Painters 1922; Vice-President and Fellow American Institute of Architects 1928; Director, American Academy in Rome 1932--35. Murals include ceiling of Grand Central Terminal, New York City, many stage designs in New York for Metropolitan Opera, etc.

4.

The peak year of U.S. building was 1925. Of 572,000 singlefamily dwellings produced then, only 270 had any interior plumbing. Less than 4 per cent were erected with union labor, less than 2 per cent architect designed. The current shortage was estimated at around 6,000,000 minimal standard dwellings.

5.

4D essays were incorporated in R. B. Fuller, ‘‘4D Timelock’’ (see Bibliography). Fuller’s use of 4D as a symbol makes reference to ‘‘time’’ in relativity theory, as a (4th) extension of physical dimension. But latent connotations go further; during this period Fuller seemed preoccupied with time accounting, and conducted a number of experiments in rearranging his work/sleep schedules, etc.

6.

Fuller also drew up, at this time, his ‘‘Universal Requirements of a Scientific Dwelling Facility’’ check list. Begun as a control schedule for the Dymaxion House, this has been considerably amplified over the years. Exhaustively detailed, in accordance with his maxim that ‘‘in the adequate statement of a problem lies its solution,’’ this document attempts to list every requirement, and meet most contingencies, likely to occur to man in relation to shelter. Also dealt with are the step-by-step design and prototype procedures and the industrial logistics which he saw as required for its implementation. For the latest version, published in 1960, see Bibliography.

7.

P. R. Banham, Theory and Design in the First Machine Age, London, 1960, pp. 323--26, says, referring to the Dymaxion House, ‘‘…had it been built, [it] would have rendered Les Heures Claires [Le Corbusier’s design of 1930], for instance, technically obsolete before design had even begun.’’

144--8. Arthur Drexler, in his book, Ludwig Mies van, der Rohe (New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1960), gives a clue to this when he says that ‘‘Mies builds as if technology means only post and lintel construction,’’ pp. 9--10.

9.

Though aircraft production rose to 2,000 planes in 1927, and the first passenger airline service in the United States opened between New York and Boston, the lightweight alloy aircraft construction implied in the house was not in general mass production in the United States. Junkers had used metal-stressed skin surfaces, with box-spar construction since 1919; and the 1920 Short ‘‘Silver Streak’’ had duralumin fuselage and wings, but the major production innovation of 1927 was the Lockheed ‘‘Vega’’---wooden wings, and stressed skin wood fuselage, but of advanced streamline shaping.

10.

Quotations of Fuller in this chapter are taken from various letters written during World War II.

11.

For expansion of Energy formulation, see World Energy Map (plate 31).

12.

The four illustrations in plate 35 are given as reproduced by John J. Grebe, Director of Nuclear and Basic Research, Dow Chemical Company, in his paper on ‘‘A Periodic Table for Fundamental Particles,’’ delivered before the New York Academy of Sciences, in which he cites Fuller’s work: ‘‘These models could represent the structure of the so-called elemental particles mathematically, although not necessarily physically---too little is known to say that. However, it does seem as if these successive layers are significant in the properties---particularly the slow neutron cross-sections---of isotopes, from the smallest nuclear masses to those of the 26th shell, and including both lead and bismuth…’’

13.

In the 19th century, van’t Hoff suggested that all inorganic chemical structures were tetrahedronally configured invertexial linkage. Linus Pauling’s X-ray diffraction analyses of 1932 showed omni- tetrahedronal configuration interlinkages of gravitational centers of compounded atoms in all metals analyzed. Lord Kelvin, and later, A. Graham Bell, empirically used tetra units as building blocks in structural systems. For diagrams of tetra valency bond, see: G. S. Christiansen and P. H. Garrett, Structure and Change (San Francisco : W. H. Freeman & Co., 1960).

14.

The term ‘‘geodesics’’ was first used by Hertz, the discoverer of electro-magnetic waves. It was used mathematically by Einstein and Ryman. Fuller defines geodesics as the most economical relationship between a plurality of points or events. Minkowski suggested that the laws of nature may find their most perfect expression in statements about intrinsic topological relations between world lines (geodesics) in some fairly general continuum.

15.

Prior to Fuller, geodesic structure was mainly applied only in approximately single curvature structures---as conic (masts), hyperbolic (cage masts), cylindrical and elliptical (airframes) spiraling 45 and in lamella roofs. Fuller’s geodesics are inherently compound curvatures, i.e., finite systems. It was unknown mathematically, before energetic/synergetic geometry that any modular frequency of a symmetrical subdivision of spherical or linear tetrahedrons, octahedrons or icosahedrons provides spring points for geodesic 3-way grid interactions.

16.

A. N. Whitehead, as quoted by Fuller in ‘‘The Comprehensive Man,’’ Northwest Review, Spring, 1959.

17.

A striking aspect of Fuller’s system is that many of its procedures may be conceptually modeled through the employment of his Energetic Synergetic Geometry. In the trend toward modelability evident in current scientific development (e.g., in systems simulation, modelable analogies of whole systems, etc.), this geometry has received a number of citations of congruence with observed behaviors in many fields. Confirmation of its alignment with structural discoveries, particularly evident since the increased use of electron microscopy, has occurred in the study of virus and protein molecules as well as fundamental particles. (See, for instance, ‘‘Drug Against a Virus,’’ Time magazine, February 16, 1962, p. 50, and ‘‘Virus, a Triumph and a Photograph,’’ New York Herald Tribune, February 6, 1962, pp. 1 ff., as well as note 12, supra.} Certain of the diagrams and conceptual hypotheses employed in mathematical analysis in the social sciences (e.g., ‘‘radex,’’ ‘‘circumplex’’ figures, and others) show parallel similarities as yet not fully realized. (For discussion of radex and circumplex, see: P. F. Lazarsfeld, ed., Mathematical Thinking in Social Sciences (Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press, 1954.) This rational ‘‘all energy behavior accounting’’ mathematical tool has recently been further developed by Fuller in a series of papers called ‘‘Omni-directional Halo.’’ These new insights extend and amplify the postulates of the geometry into the area of a more generalized epistemology, in a manner which provides a formidable intellectual apparatus for the elucidation and reduction of complex phenomenon relationships.

2 Biographical Chronology

3 1895 Born July 12, in Milton, Massachusetts

4 1904--13 Student at Milton Academy

5 1913--15 Harvard University

6 1914 Apprentice machine fitter, Richards, Atkinson and Has- erick

7 1915--17 Various positions, Armour and Company, New York City

8 1917 United States Navy

9 July 12th, married Anne Hewlett

10 1919 Discharged as lieutenant, United States Navy, at end of World War I

11 1919--21 Assistant Export Manager, Armour and Company, New York City

12 1922 Sales Manager, Kelly-Springfield Truck Company

13 1922--27 President, Stockade Building System

14 1927--32 Founder and President, 4-D Company, Chicago

15 1930 Assistant Director of Research, Pierce Foundation

16 1932--35 Founder, Director, Chief Engineer, Dymaxion Corporation, Bridgeport, Connecticut

17 1936--38 Assistant to Director, Research and Development, Phelps Dodge Corporation

18 1938--40 Technical Consultant, Fortune magazine

1941.

42 Vice-president, Chief Engineer, Dymaxion Company, Inc.,

19 Delaware

1942.

44 Chief Mechanical Engineer, Board of Economic Welfare.

20 Special Assistant to Director, Foreign Economic Administration

21 1944--46 Chairman of the Board and Administrative Engineer, Dymaxion Dwelling Machines

22 1952 Award of Merit, New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects

1954.

Award of Merit, United States Marine Corps

1954.

57 Gran Premio, Triennale di Milano, Italy

1955.

Centennial Award, Michigan State University

1955.

59 President, Synergetics, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina

23 1958 Gold Medal Scarab, National Architectural Society

24 1960 Gold Medal, Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects

25 1960 Frank P. Brown Medal, Franklin Institute

26 1962 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

27Currently:

28 47

29 Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Fuller Research Foundation

30 President, Geodesics, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina

31 President, Plydomes, Inc., Des Moines, Iowa

32 Research Professor of Generalized Design Science Exploration, Department of Design, Southern Illinois University

33 Visiting Professorships have been held by Fuller at over 110 American universities and colleges

34Life Memberships:

35 Benjamin Franklin Fellow, Royal Society of Arts, England, 1960 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

36 Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects

37

1.

World, Town Plan, 1927. Fuller’s caplion reads: ‘‘26 per cent of earth’s surface is dry land. 85 per cent of all earth’s dry land is here shown. 86 per cent of all dry land shown is above the equator. The whole of the human family could stand on Bermuda. All crowded into England they would have 750 square feet each. ’United we stand, divided ive fall’ is correct mentally and spiritually, but fallacious physically or materially. 2,000,000,000 netv homes will be required in next 80 years.’’

38

39

2.

Ten Deck Building, 1927. Airborne by dirigible. Sketch: 1. 700-foot Zep (dirigible’), 190- foot 4-D house, anchor out, the bomb is dropped. 2. View of the shell crater and anchored Zep from above; house being maneuvered into position. 3. Down comes the 4-D tower house from the sky, featherweight ‘‘lightful construction.’’ 4. Into the hole like planting a tree. 5. Men make fast temporary stays while cement is poured above base, like setting of big guns in wartime. 6. Off goes the Zep to make a few more deliveries.

3.

Ten Deck Building. Heat losses of buildings being proportional to air drag, Fuller’s diagrams show air current effects of (A) cube, (B) cylinder, (C) streamlined unit, and underlined, by relative size and areas of turbulence, the proportional resistance of these units. This demonstrates efficiency of ivindshield in reducing drag---heat loss.

40 4. Variation of the Ten Deck Building. Construction details

41(left) and general appearance (right).

42 5. Ten Deck Building. Model, with aerodynamic shield.

43

44

45 6. Dymaxion House. Model, 1927.

46 7. Dymaxion House. Model. House parts in shipping order.

47

48

49Rh showing AUPPORT- 5T HT1R- IDR COMPREoilON STRUTS A HOUSE JVPPORTEDIN TW JION - HAST CONTAINS POWER Unit and serves A5 DIS - TRIBUTIN G TUBE FOR AIR LIGHT. HEAT. ETC. EXTERIOR SHELL OF ATRUTURE COMPOSED OfTRiWGUL- AR NtN SHATTER - ABLE VACUUM MD

50 TOP so tT PY- By DURMW HOOD WND OVER TOP 3 PROTECTING PERJONS - MASTHEAD CONTAINING LEN- JtS FOR UTILIZING LIGHT AND HEAT Of SUN * AREA. UNDER H0U5E III ED FOR HANGAR 6 GARAGE CLO5E IN BY METALIC VENETIAN BLINDS WORM-GEAR - ELEVATOR INIWT

51I5D-

52 m

53ITl- nm rnfj-

54 rr Ttft T> T.1L .5?A£E nil PLAW crrsc tc rmiM

55 LITY 111-

56|Wy km utility units

57 ARI MANUIACT W T0T1 ATTA

58NOT FAM - iV£?.T■jxitor jr«H n- SIGN B IWlFuraiHJT Rfl iL£0 TO 1,-x MASTSthirit ji.’tw:r.-: £/-•? At T-PLiui BV A DESIRABLE UNIT .’S IT D=V- LLCPS. ALL Ti.nur flASilVK IS BJl’-T HTJ IITILITICS

59AsONNTilt MAST PIPING AND AIL CONDUIT HOOK-UP BUM.In-STANom MAMIfCD HANNER WITH COtlpnT IN MAST - AS IN CO»lIhc. ut AaIlrqao cm

60 DA5t FOR*

61 HAST CONTAINING’ SEPTIC AND FUEL. TAMS

62 PLAN- I5OMLTRIC -MD -ELEVATIOM OF A MINIMUM DYMAXION HOME.

63 8. Dymaxion House. Schematic drawing and inventory of functions.

64 9. Dymaxion bathroom. Patent drawing for 1937 version.

65

66

67 11. Dymaxion bathroom unit. 1937 version. Interior.

68

69

70 13. Twin Dymaxion Deployment unit, 1940.

71

72 17. Dymaxion Deployment unit. Interior view of assembly.

73 15. Dymaxion Deployment unit. Interior, view of kitchen, bath, and bedroom unit.

74

75

76 16. Dymaxion Deployment unit. Exterior assembly.

77

18.

Autonomous Living Package. Model, 1949, with space registry of six face loads (one face open).

19.

Autonomous Living Package.
Model (partially open).

20.

Autonomous Living Package. Model (fully open).

78

79

80 21. Land and Air maneuvering Dymaxion jet-stilt, 4-D transport, 1927. Inverted

81 V bottom provides air-keel speed as well as tail-lift (for speeds over 50 mph).

82

83 22. Dymaxion car. Patent drawing filed 1933.

84

85 23. Dymaxion car No. 3,1934.

86

87

88 24. Dymaxion car No. 4,1948.

89

90 25. Wichita House, 1946. Finished, shell state with empty packing cylinder at left.

91 26. Wichita House. Model. Interior.

92

93 27. Wichita House. Atmospheric field flow studies.

94 28. Wichita House. Living room interior.

95 29. Wichita House. Parts stacked for shipping.

96

97

98«9

99THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

100l»10

1011920

1021140

1031930

1041950

1051940

1061970

107ION

1081900

10990X-

110MX -

111o 70X

112MX-

113sox

11440X--

11520%

11619S2 &>«■? $!•»•Qmm*

11710%

118IS

119AslaMc

120WORLD •ARI

121WORLD WAR 11

122UNTIL CRITICAL POINT IS REACHES MAJORITY OF DORLO MEN ARE ‘‘HAVE HOTS’’ AN© AGS INCITABLE TO SOCIALISM BY REVOLUTION AGAINST THE SEEMINGLY EVER MORE

123UNDULY PRIVILEGED MINORITY AFTER 1972 MAJORITY ARE ‘‘HAVES’’

124CRITICAL POINT

125 £33 CM 1972

1261900 100X

127 30. World Industrialization chart, 1952.

128 OX

129 INDUSTRIALLY OBJECTIVE ADVANTAGE TO INDIVIDUALS. 1.*. WHEN 100 INANIMATE ENERGY SLAVES* ARE IN CONTINUAL ACTIVE SERVICE PER EACH AND EVERY FAMILY EXISTING IN GOVERNING ECONOMY AND THOSE ENERGY SLAVES ARE PRIMARILY FOCUSED UPON REGENERATIVELY ADVANCING STANDARDS OF LIVING AND IN ARTICULATING AMPLIFYING DEGREES OF INTELLECTUAL AND PHYSICAL FREEDOMS

130 31. World Energy Map, 1940. Dymaxion projection of spherical world as a flat surface with no visible distortion. All openings in the stretched-out earth ‘‘skin’’ occur in the one and continuous ocean. This allows the particular arrangement of linked-together continental masses without breaks in their contours, surrounded by ‘‘their’’ oceans. Fourteen segments can be assembled in various combinations as three-dimensional approximation of a globe. The curved arrangements of population symbols indicate major population concentrations. Each related dot equals 1 per cent of the world’s inanimate potver, called ‘‘energy slaves.’’ Energy slaves are determined as follows: In an 8-hour day, one man can do approximately 150,000 foot-pounds of work (the energy required to lift one pound one foot vertically). Consumption of mineral and water energy in 1950 is estimated at 80Vo quintillion foot-pounds. Man’s efficiency converts only a rough 4 per cent of these into work, or about 3¥s quintillion foot-pounds. Dividing this by 250 work days’ (one year) energy output of one man (37¥> million foot-pounds), the result is 85V2 billion man-year equivalents of work done by machines and structures. These equivalents are called ‘‘energy slaves.’’

131 There are about 38 energy slaves per capita, but:

163

164 32. Dymaxion Air Ocean JTorld Map, 1954.

165

166 33. Minni-Earth Sphere, Cornell University, 1952. Early development of Geoscope project.

167

168

169 34. Energetic and Synergetic Geometry. Models of closest packing of spheres.

170

171 35. Energetic and Synergetic Geometry. Drawing of closest packing of spheres. (A) Two-dimensional closest packing of spheres around a nucleus forms regular hexagonal patterns. Spheres can be considered as expanded vertexes of the equilateral triangles. (B) Omnidirectional closest packing. Twelve balls in first layer surrounding nucleus. (C) Omnidirectional closest packing. Forty-two balls in second layer surrounding nucleus. (D) Omnidirectional closest packing. Ninety-two balls in third surrounding layer. Thus, one ball: nucleus; 12 balls: 1st layer (radius 1); 42 balls: 2nd layer (radius 2); 92 balls: 3rd layer (radius 3); and so forth. Subtract common 2 from each total, then divide by 10; the remaining numbers (1, 4, 9, etc.) are the squares of radii. The number of balls in any layer equals (radius’ X 10)-\-2.

172

173 36. Energetic and Synergetic Geometry: (A) The tetrahedron, is minimum and therefore basic structural system; all structure is a complex of tetrahedroxel transformations. (B) Tetrahedrons are seemingly unique because they may be turned inside out and pass through zero phases of other transformations. (C) A triangle (truss) is a tetrahedron of zero phase altitude. A line is a tetrahedron of zero phase base. A point is a tetrahedron of combined zero phase of both altitude and base. (D) In addition to its four facets a tetrahedron has four vertexes and six edges. Its edges may be ‘‘straight” or ‘‘visible” arcs. (E) The regular six-chord-edged tetrahedron encloses (defines) the minimum volume ivith the most surface of all geometric polyhedrons or structural systems; whereas sphere encloses most volume with least surface and the minimum sphere-defining structure is the regular six-great-circle-arc- edged tetrahedron of 109°28’ central angles and 120° surface angles. As there may be no absolute division of energetic universe into isolated or non-communicable parts, there is no absolute enclosed surface or absolutely enclosed volume; therefore, no true or absolutely defined simultaneous surface sphere integrity. Therefore, a sphere is a polyhedron of invisible plurality of trussed facets (‘‘trussed!’ because all polygons are reducible to triangles or trusses and are further irreducible) and trusses are therefore basic polygons. Infinite polyhedron is infinitely faceted by basic trusses.

174 37. Energetic and Synergetic Geometry. Geometrical development of geodesics. (A) Sphere. (B) Tetrahedron. (C) Octahedron. (D) Icosahedron.

175 . (E) Icosahedron exploded onto sphere. (F) Geodesic grid.

176 C D E F

177

178

179

180 35

18138: Energetic and Synergetic Geometry. Early chart of 1944. This infinitely extending vector system in dynamic equilibrium provides a frame of reference in universal dimension for measurement of any energy conversion or any degree of developed energy factor disequilibrium or its predictable reaction developments.

1.

tetrahedron. Convergently or compressively organized plurality of spherical nuclei. Exterior ballistics, 2 visible, 2 invisible orbits.

2.

Divergently organized single sphere---interior compression ---exterior tension, subdivided by great circles; absolute of 2nd orbit --- maximum volume with minimum surface. Correct first subdivision of spherical surface one dimension into four. Weds % of unity of vertexes to % of unity of surface with 6 arc segments and 4 vertexes.

3.

exterior. Position in super tetrahedron convergent phase of vectors. All vertexes are spherical centers. All angles are 60°. Tetrahedron has octahedron center.

4.

Tensed interior geometric vector construction in equilibrium. Minimum volume with maximum surface. 4 equal planes perpendicular to separate axis=4 dimensions.

5.

Absolute convergence first orbit. No volume, exterior compression. Internal tension. 60° x 35° x 110° pyramids. 4 parts.

6.

Divergent components of octave subdivision. 4 small tetra, 1 small octa.

7.

Convergent and divergent unit and fractional values in high-low octaves. % or .5.

8.

octahedron. Tensive core.

9.

Interlocked vectors of 8 tetrahedrons. 3 axes.

10.

Center of octahedron is dymaxion.

11.

Eight equiangular equilateral surface triangles.

12.

Right components are 60° triangle base, 45° x 90° pyramids.

13.

Octahedron has dymaxion center.

14.

Octahedron surface.

15.

dymaxion. 12 spheres surrounding 1, all in tangency. Outer spheres 5 contacts each. Center sphere, 12.

16.

6 axes (4 dimensions). Fully divergent vector system with unit tetra and octa vertex center.

17.

Center of octahedron is dymaxion.

18.

Dymaxion only solid with natural center and radius identical with all dimensions. Monometer.

19.

Dymaxion as a uniform vector field diaphragm converting or compounding 2-and-3 values. Unit cube has no center of its own.

20.

Dymaxion is comprehensive to tetra and octahedrons and is the decimal octave.

182 21.10 with diameter x unity; 80 with radius or edge x unity.

22.

This most compact spherical agglomeration expands to infinity; new nucleus every 4 orbits.

23.

CUBE.

24.

Cube-octave group within dymaxion center is not a cube within dymaxion but an octave reduction. Cubes do not center singly. Only do so as octave collection (see figures 26 and 33). 8 cube core under octahedron face.

25.

Cube corners borrowed from neighboring nuclei in third orbit. Cube cor- ners=% octahedron.

26.

Octave of cubes’ center---cube collection has common center with dymaxion--- 9 axes.

183 27.1) 60° triangle base x 35° x 110° (approx.). Pyramid equal 54 of tetrahedron formed on center tetrahedron. Adopted as volumetric unity. 2) 60° triangle base x 45° x 90° has volume of 2.

28.

Icosahedron of unit exterior measure has octave values of 9 or 72, which are natural zeroes.

29.

Concentric spherical triangles. 180°--- to 60° + great circle is absolute triangle.

30.

Icosahedron not in this bisection of triangles sequence. 71° =Icosahedron’s vertex.

31.

8 cube core under octahedron face.

32.

60° triangle base 45° x 90° pyramid has tetra at center -J-6 of next lower octave 60 x 45 x 90 pyramids.

33.

Individual cube has tetrahedron at its center.

34.

60° triangle faced square-based pyramid equaling % an octahedron has volume of 8.

35.

Unity = 2 .’. sides of square = V1

184

39.

Energetic and Synergetic Geometry. The square is developed from a point on a line by use of one divider angle only. Two equilateral triangles, XYA and XBZ are formed on the baseline YZ, flanking a point X. These triangles trisect the 180° angle YXZ into three 60° angle, YXA, AXB, and BXZ. The 180° angle YXZ next is bisected from the second orbit construction point C, equidistant from A and B. CX also bisects angle AXB into 30° angles AXC and CXB. From second orbit base DCE, equidistant and parallel to YXZ, F and G are developed equidistant from each other and from D, C, and E. Parallel lines FA and GB intersect arcs DC and CE at H and K respectively and therefore HKBA is a square. (From this we also know that ABK is 90° and ABX is 60° divided by 150°; and because KBX is an isosceles triangle, the angles XKB and KXB are 15° each. KX bisects angle CXB.)

40.

Tensegrity. (A) Two stacks of columns of tubes. (B) One stack (left) contains the positive tetrahedrons; the other (right) contains the negative tetrahedrons. (C) We put a steel sphere at CG of cube which is also CG of tetrahedron and run steel tubes from CG to four comers of WXYZ of negative tetrahedron. Every tetrahedron’s center of gravity (CG) has four radials from CG to the four corners of the tetrahedron. (D) The junction between two tetrahedrons. The system is nonredundant, a basic discontinuous compression, continuous tension structure. Ball joints CG’ and CG¹are pulled toward each other by vertical tension stay, thus thrusting universally jointed legs outward, their outward thrust being stably restrained by finite sling closure. Y, X, Z, W. (E) A stack of CG radial tube tetrahedron struts with horizontal (approximate) tension slings and vertical tension guys and diagonal tension edges of the four superimposed tetrahedrons which, because of the horizontal slings, cannot come any closer to one another and because of their vertical guys cannot get any further away from one another, and therefore comprise a stable relationship.

185

41.

Four-strut tetra tensegrity suspended as central angles of 6-strut (peripheral) tensegrity.

186

42.

270-strut model for 42-foot-diameter sphere, University of Minnesota, 1953.

187

188 43. Tensegrity model by Kenneth Snelson. Exhibited at 1959 Museum of Modern Art showing of Fuller projects. (Photo: Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.)

189

190 44. Fuller with geodesic structure models at Black Mountain College, 1947.

191 45. Tensegrity sphere of 8-foot diameter, Southern Illinois University, 1959. Adaptable as environment-control structure.

192

193

194 46. ‘‘Hex-pent’’ channel dome, Institute of Design, Chicago, 1948.14-foot diameter; weight, 25 pounds.

195 47. Tension Integrity Mast, 1949.

196Illustrates use of discontinuous compression and continuous tension.

197 48. ‘‘Necklace’’ geodesic, Black Mountain College, 1949. 14-foot diameter, weight 50 pounds. This dome had continuous internal cable, enabling it to be folded into a package (similar to later ‘‘seed-pod’’ and ‘‘aspension’’ structures’).

198

199 49. Automatic Cotton Mill, geodesic and octet truss, North Carolina State College, 1952. Model.

200

201 50. Automatic Cotton Mill. Model seen from above.

202 51. Automatic Cotton Mill. Diagram showing design of central service mast with elevator, three-way-truss floor and enclosing shell.

203

204 52. Egg-crate geodesic structure, New York, 1952. 6-foot diameter; iveight, 10 pounds.

205Illustrates use of two-way compression and one-way tension.

206

207

208 53. Dynamic dome, University of Michigan, 1952. Weight, 30 pounds.

209 54. Paper-board geodesic dome, Yale University, 1952. 30-foot diameter.

210

211

212 55. Dynamic dome in motion. Space is controlled by revolving openwork skin fast enough to give a rainshed, showing how large areas can be covered by dynamic shaping through mechanical or electronic means. The dynamic dome,’’ like the ‘‘seed-pod’’ and ‘‘aspension’’ structures, is a development study in dynamic structures, also envisaged to be able to be parachuted, air-dropped or rocketed to inaccessible locations.

213 56. ‘‘Seed-pod.’’ structure (self-erecting’), Washington University, 1955. 36-foot diameter. Detail of folded dome, forming a pack 9 feet long, 3 feet in diameter, and weighing 300 pounds.

214 57. ‘‘Seed-pod’’ structure. Dome begins expansion. Force for erection of the dome is provided by compressed nitrogen in valves at each of the 30 tripod vertexes.

215‘‘Seed-pod’’ structure. Dome erect, composed of 30 inwardly folding tripod assemblies, restrained at the limit of their open position by interconnecting cables to tripod foot, which is a ball-and-socket joint.

216 58.

217 59. Restaurant dome at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 1954. 54-foot diameter; weight, 6,000 pounds. It is made of 1” x 8” and 2” x 3” wood members infilled with clear plastic.

218

219 60. Ford Rotunda Building, Ford River Rouge Plant, Dearborn, Michigan, 1953. Dome partially completed.

220 61. Ford Rotunda Building. Exterior view.

221

222

223 62. Ford Rotunda Building. View of completed dome.

224 63. Ford Rotunda Building.

225 Octahedrons assembled.

226

227 65. Fuller witnesses successful completion oj first airlift delivery of U.S. Marine Corps shelter in 1954.

228 64. Ford Rotunda Building. Detail oj dome as final sheets oj Fiberglas polyester resin skin are applied to the outside.

229

230

231DOME

232 66. Marine Corps standard dome package, 1954. Possible variations of 32-foot hemisphere.

233 67. Marines carry 36-foot-diameter dome.

234

235 68. Milan Triennale paper-board, dome, 1954. Detail of interior. The dome is made of corrugated Kraft paper-board sheet on which cuts, folds, and assembly instructions are printed in one continuous operation. Sheet units are folded, stapled, and taped together on site using minimum tools.

236 69. Milan Triennale paper-board dome. Night view. 36-foot diameter.

237

238 70. Milan Triennale paper-board dome. View of dome in exhibition grounds.

239

240

241 71. Plastic Radome, Mount Washington, 1954. No metal or wood parts; % sphere; weight, 3,000 pounds. This dome withstood 200 mph winds, hurricane force, for two years without damage. (It is similar to domes now in use across the Arctic radar line.)

242

243 72. Radome, 1955. Night view. % sphere, 55-foot diameter.

244 73. ‘‘Pinecone’’ plywood sheet dome, Cornell University, 1957. 40-foot diameter. Similar low-cost structures have been developed through other pilot studies and are now produced commercially.

245 74. United States Pavilion at World Trades Fair, Kabul, Afghanistan, 1956.

246

247 75. Plywood dome, test erected in Hartford, Iowa, 1957, for use as chapel in Korea. 39-foot diameter. Made of 135 quarter-inch plywood sheets with plasticized coating, predrilled for bolting and sealed with plastic tape. Openings are clear plastic.

248 76. Peasedome, fabricated by Pease Woodwork Company, Ohio, 26-foot diameter, wood frame, plywood sheet dome.

249

250

251 77. Kaiser Aluminum Dome, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1957.145-foot diameter. Erected in 22 hours.

252 78. Kaiser Aluminum Dome. Interior.

253

254 79. ‘‘Indhlu ’ Dome, University of Natal, South Africa, seminar project, 1958. Made of corrugated aluminum, 18.8-foot diameter; weight, 200 pounds; 12 feet high at center. Mass housing prototype.

255

256 80. Union. Tank Car Company Dome, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1958--59. Diameter, 384 feet; 120 feet high at center. Made oj 321 hexagonal steel panels, each folded and dimensionally braced with tubes and rods.

257

258 81. Union Tank Car Comany Dome, Baton Rouge. 100-foot-diameter interior dome which houses the administrative control center.

259 82. ‘‘Golden Dome,” Kaiser Aluminum Dome, Moscow, 1959.200-foot diameter. Fuller is shown in front oj this dome which housed part oj the United States exhibit.

260

261

262

263 84. Aluminum lattice dome, American Society of Metals Headquarters Building, Ohio, 1959. Diameter, 250 feet.

264(Designed along Fuller’s principles by T. C. Howard.) The dome was intended to be symbolic. There are no infilled panels or enclosing skin.

265 83. Museum of Modern Art (N.Y.) 1959 Fuller exhibition, showing 36-foot tensegrity mast of aluminum tube and monel rods, built by Shoji Sadao and Edison Price. Octet-truss structure, 100 feet long, 35 feet wide, cantilevered 60 feet one way and 40 feet the other, fabricated from 2-inch aluminum tubes (from Alumt num Canada) by North American Aviation Company: plastic Radome, loaned by Lincoln Laboratory, M.I.T., 55-foot diameter. (Photo: Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, by Alexandre Georges.)

266 85. St. Louis ‘‘Climatron’’ Missouri Botanical Garden, 1960. Diameter 175 feet, 70 feet high at center with clear plastic infill panels. Interior.

267

268 86. St. Louis ‘‘Climatron.’’ Exterior.

269

270

271 87. Air deliverable theater, Ford Motor Company, Jam Handy Tractor Division, 1960. Diameter, 140 feet; aluminum frame; black nylon cover. The dome can be assembled ready for use in iVx hours.

272

273 89. Buckminster Fuller’s home dome, Carbondale, Illinois, 1960. The dome is a standard

274 production structure of Peasedomes, Inc. 39-fbot diameter, ivood frame, plywood panel construction.

275

276 90. Fuller’s home. Interior showing living area. Stairway to library deck above on right.

277 91. Prestressed concrete dome for Denver Fraternity House, 1960. 55-foot diameter. Interior detail. (Architect in charge was Tom Moore.)

278

279 92. Monsanto ‘‘Geospace’’ dome, 1961. A mass-produced 22-foot-diameter dome; yielding 350 square feet usable floor space, 3,000 cubic feet storage volume; weight, 350 pounds. Panels are machine cut from Vi-inch ‘‘Fomecor’’ board. These domes have been used as emergency housing in Puerto Rico.

280

281 93. Bamboo dome, Long Beach State College, 1960. 46-foot diameter.

282

283

284 94. Aviary dome, Tampa, Florida, 1959, built for Anheuser Busch by Union Tank Company. 99-foot diameter, 20Vz feet high, gold anodized aluminum with 2-inch-square mesh.

285

286 95. Wood River Dome, Illinois, 1960. Union Tank Car Company. Total iveight above foundations is 567 tons.

287 96. Aspension tensegrity dome, 1961. Model.

288

289

290

291 98. Bamboo tensegrity dome, Calcutta, 1961. Study for low-cost shelter using local material and facilities.

292 99. Basketry tensegrity dome, Southern Illinois University, 1962.

29372-foot diameter. This is the first usable reduction to practice of tensegrity structuring, promising a very low-cost environment enclosure. The materials for the prototype shown would cost approximately $500.

294

295 100. Basketry tense grity dome, Southern Illinois University, 1962. Detail.

296

297 101. Buckminster Fuller’s drawing for a 2-mile hemispherical dome.

298

299

300Design for a hemispherical dome 2 miles in diameter. This dome could enclose a large part of New York City, as illustrated. Weighing about 80,000 tons, it could be assembled in 5-ton sections by helicopters in three months and would cost about $200 million dollars. It is believed that the savings to the city in such items as air-conditioning (dome provides its own natural air circulation), street-cleaning, snow removal, and lost man-hours from colds and other respiratory ailments would soon repay initial investment. A synergetic surprise feature of such very large structures is that the thickness of the enclosing shell could be of occupiable dimension---for living not only under but in dome covering.

301 102.

302

303

304 103. Dome project, 1961.100-acre span, 450 feet high at center. This dome would be largest roofed structure in the world. It was initially planned as a covering for a raceway and surroundings.

305 Selected Writings of Fuller

306From a Letter in Answer to an Inquiry by CollieFs Reference Service Regarding Fuller s Geometry, October 1959

307 In 1917 I started exploring for and since then have discovered and have progressively inventoried what probably constitutes the comprehensive, omni-rational, mathematical coordinate system employed by nature throughout all her complementary and accommodatively transforming transactions. I have named the discovered coordinate system Energetic and Synergetic Geometry.

308 Energetic and Synergetic Geometry embraces all known facets of mathematics. Rather than refuting the bases of presently known Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Hyperbolic and Elliptic geometry, Energetic-Synergetic Geometry identifies the alternative freedoms of prime axiomatic assumption from which the present mathematical bases were selected. All of the axiomatic alternatives are logical. Some result in awkwardness of complex relationship expression. Occurring amongst the alternate axiomatic assumptive freedoms, Energetic-Synergetic Geometry discovers and employs a new set of axioms which seemingly result in sublimely facile expression of hitherto complex relationships …as for instance:

309 Universe is finite.

310 Local systems are de-finite.

311 Unity is a complex, volumetric plurality at minimum two. Unities may be treated as complex star points.

312 A point is an as-yet-undifferentiated focal star embracing a complex of local events.

313 For every point in universe there are six uniquely and exclusively operative vectors.

314 Each vector is reversible having its negative alternate.

315 Every point may export all or any of its six positive or six negative vectors by importing like numbers.

316 Each point in universe could be said to have twelve unique and exclusive vectors, but one set of six is operative and its alternate reverse effect set is only potential.

317 All lines are the most economical vectorial interrelationships of non-simultaneous local event foci.

318 Potentially straight line relationships require instantaneity or actions in no-time, therefore straight lines are inoperative.

319 114 All lines are complexedly curved.

320 The vectorial lines of relationship are always most economical, ergo geodesic.

321 All geodesic lines weave four dimensionally amongst one another, forever, without ever touching one another.

322 Potential lines are straight, all realized relationships are geodesic and curved.

323 All lines ultimately return into close proximity of themselves.

324 Where all the local vectors are approximately equal, we have a potentially isotropic local vector equilibrium, but the operative vector complex has the inherent qualities of proximity and remoteness in respect to any locally initiated action ergo a complex of relative velocities of realization lags.

325 No lines may occupy the same point at the same time.

326 Whereas none of the geodesic lines of universe touch one another, the lines approach one another, passing successively through regions of most critical proximity, and diverge from one another, passing successively through regions of most innocuous remoteness.

327 Universe is a non-simultaneously potential vector equilibrium.

328 All local events of universe may be calculatively anticipated by inaugurating calculation with a local vector equilibrium frame and identifying the disturbance initiating point, direction, and energy of introduced action. Energetic-Synergetic Geometry’s six positive and six negative dimensional reference frames are reinitiated and regenerated in respect to specific local developments and interrelationships of universe.

329 Arithmetical one dimensionality is identified geometrically with linear, pointal frequency.

330 Arithmetical two dimensionality is identified geometrically with areal pointal frequency.

331 Arithmetical six dimensionality is identified geometrically with vectorial system modular frequency relationship.

332 Arithmetical size dimensionality is identified geometrically with relative frequency modulation.

333 Frequency is multi-cyclic fractionation of unity.

334 A minimum of two cycles are essential to frequency fractionation.

335 Angle is sub-cyclic---i.e., fractionation of one cycle. 115 Angular relationships and magnitudes are sub-cyclic ergo sub-frequency ergo independent of size.

336 Shape is exclusively angular.

337Shape is independent of size.

338 Abstraction means pattern relationship independent of size.

339 Shape being independent of size is abstractable.

340 Abstractions may be stated in pure principle of relationship.

341 Abstractions are conceptually shapable.

342 Different shapes ergo different abstractions are non-simultaneous; but all shapes are de-finite components of integral though non-simultaneous ergo shapeless universe.

343 There are no indivisible points.

344 There are no straight lines.

345 There are no impervious surface continuums.

346 A ‘‘point’’ is a tetrahedron of negligible altitude and base dimensions.

347 A ‘‘line’’ is a tetrahedron of negligible base dimension and significant altitude.

348 A ‘‘plane’’ is a tetrahedron of negligible altitude and significant base dimensionality.

349 There are no solids, nor particles,---no-things.

350 The tetrahedron is the lowest common rational denominator of universe. The four unique quanta numbers of each and every fundamental ‘‘particle’’ are the four unique and minimum ‘‘stars’’ of every tetrahedron.

351 Energetic-Synergetic Geometry does disclose the excruciating awkwardness characterising present-day mathematical treatment of the inter-relationships of the independent scientific disciplines as originally occasioned by their mutual and separate lacks of awareness of the existence of a comprehensive rational coordinating system inherent in nature.

352From R. B. Fuller, No More Second Hand God {Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press, 1962}

353 This coordinate system may be described as an isotropic vector system, that is a generalized Avogadro system in which the energy conditions and relative quanta ratios are everywhere the same yet multi-differentiable in local patterning

354 116 aspects, which aspects are interchangeably emergent without altering the comprehensive energy equilibrium or its unitary totality as implicit in the Law of Conservation of Energy by which it is assumed that energy may be neither created nor lost.

355 The discovered coordinate system is apparently governed by generalized laws, some of whose mathematical equatability I have been allowed not only to discern (as far as I know for the first time by anyone) but also to codify and translate into unique structural realizations. This codification governs the total coordinate abundance ratios of the unique pattern aspect relationships of uniquely irreducible cooperative function aspects of pattern totality.

356 Discovery of the primary and corollary laws of constantly coordinate relative abundance of pattern function-aspects of totality as an omni-rational regularity governing all local patternings of universe as a minimum-maximum family of complexedly complementary yet uniquely identifiable conceptual function-patterning relationships followed upon intuitive formulations of the seemingly most comprehensive selfquerying question I was capable of propounding to myself regarding possible detectable pattern significances accruing to progressive life experience integrations and overlays.

357 That most comprehensive question was ‘‘What do you mean by the word ‘universe’?’’ ‘‘If you cannot answer, you had best abandon use of the word ‘universe’ for it will have no meaning.’’ My intuitively adopted rules for self-questioning and answering were that the answer must be made exclusively from man’s experience patterns. I learned many years later that the Nobel physicist, Percy Williams Bridgman, had identified this same rule adopted by Einstein as ‘‘operational procedure,’’ subsequently a much abused phrase. My answer (or discard of the word ‘‘universe’’ as a communication tool) was inherent in the rules---‘‘Universe is the aggregate of all consciously apprehended and communicated (to self or relayed to others) experience of man.’’ If my finite answer holds against all specific experience challenges as being comprehensively anticipatory and adequate then universe is finite, and all its components definable. Each life as we know it is definitive, i.e., consists of a plurality of terminable, ergo definite, experiences, beginning with each awakening and terminating with each surrender to sleep (no man can prove upon awakening that he is the man who he thinks went earlier to sleep, nor that aught else which he thinks he recollects is other than a convincing dream). The intermittent beginnings and endings of conscious experience constitute an aggregate of definitive experiences---and the aggregate is therefore finite.

358 In the recent movements of historical experience, men as scientists adopted the ‘‘law of conservation of energy’’: as predicated upon the sum total experience of physicists which recalled no contradiction to this hypothesis. They thus accomplished a finite packaging of all physical behaviors of physical universe as predicated also upon the hypothesis that all physical phenomena are entirely energetic.

359 By embracing all the energetic phenomena of total experience, the scientists secured a synergetic advantage for all energy accounting and prospecting. ‘‘Synergy’’ means ‘‘behavior of whole systems unpredicted by the behavior of any of its components or by any sub-array of its components.’’ Corollary to synergy is the law of the whole system. Systems are definite as they return upon themselves in a plurality of directions, ergo have concave inwardness and convex outwardness, ergo inherently subdivide universe into mutually exclusive definitive macro and micro entities. The law of whole system states that, given the sum of whole system pattern conception, its component behaviors may be differentially discovered and predictably described as required by the already evidenced behavior functions implicit in the apriori- definitive experience and conceptioning of any given experience-verified system. Thus by the law of whole system as corollary of synergy, the component behaviors of systems may be predictably differentiated as primary and secondary componential sub-divisions of whole system and then progressively isolated and locally reconsidered for further dichotomy.

360From R. B. Fuller, Education Automation {Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press, 1962)

361 My experience is now world-around. During one-third of a century of experimental work, I have been operating on the philosophic premise that all thoughts and all experiences can be translated much further than just into words and abstract thought patterns. I saw that they can be translated into patterns which may be realized in various physical projections ---by which we can alter the physical environment itself and thereby induce other men to subconsciously alter their ecological patterning. My own conclusion is that man has been given the capability to alter and accelerate the evolutionary transformation of the a priori physical environment---that is, to participate objectively, directly and consciously in universal evolution---and I assume that the great, complex integrity of omni-coordinate and inter-accommodative yet periodically unique and nonsimultaneously cooperative generalized principles, and their myriad of special case realizations, all of which we speak of as universe and may think intuitively of as God is an intellectual invention system which counts on man’s employing these capabilities. If he does not do so consciously, events will transpire so that he functions subconsciously in the inexorable evolutionary transformations.

362 As a consequence of man’s having the faculty to apprehend patterns external to himself and the capability of altering those patterns, interesting changes in the conscious relationship of man to universe are now multiplying in evidence. Unlike any of the other living species, man has succeeded both consciously and subconsciously in greatly altering his fundamental ecological patterning. None of the other living species have altered their ecological patterning. All the species other than man are distinguishable throughout geologic and biologic history by their approximately unaltered ecological patterning. In the last half century, man has graduated from a local twelve-mile radius daily domain into a world around multi-thousand-miles radius daily domain, as a consequence of his ability to alter his own ecological patterning.

363 I have for a third of a century been convinced that thoughts must be translated into patterns that can be articulated out of the organized capabilities of man and that these patterns, which can be translated from our thoughts into physical actions, then become utterly impersonal facilities that begin when adopted in emergencies to spontaneously and subconsciously change the relative advantage of man with respect to his total environment. It is a philosophic requirement of my comprehensive working hypotheses that the intellectually projected tools which result in new ecological patternings must 119 give man consciously appreciable advantage increase. My experience shows that these impersonal tools tend to eliminate many of the errors of conceptioning that men who have not translated their thoughts into experimental physical undertakings have heretofore imposed upon one another as inherited conventional thoughts and misinterpretations of their respective experiences,---misconceptions which they have hopefully and lovingly gone on relaying for ages from one generation to the next.

364 I am convinced that humanity is characterized by extraordinary love for its new life and yet has been misinforming its new life to such an extent that the new life is continually at a greater disadvantage than it would be if abandoned in the wilderness by the parents. For an instance of misconception extension there is my own case. I was born in 1895. The airplane was invented when I was 9 years old. Up to the time I was 9 years old, the idea that man could fly was held to be preposterous, and anybody could tell you so. My own boyhood attempts to make flying machines were considered wasted time. I have lived deeply into the period when flying is no longer impossible, but nonetheless a period in which the supremely ruling social conventions and economic dogma have continued to presuppose a nonflying man ecology.

365The Architect as World Planner.

366 (During the International Congress of Architects, held in London in July, 1961, Architectural Design asked Fuller to contribute his views on the role of the architect in the present world situation. An extract from his proposal for a ‘‘World Design Plan,’’ to be implemented by architectural schools around the world, is given below.)

367 …I propose that the architectural departments of all the universities around the world be encouraged by the UIA [Union of International Architects] to invest the next ten years in a continuing problem of how to make the total world’s resources serve 100 per cent of humanity through competent design.

368 The general theory of education at present starts students

369 120 off with elementary components and gradually increases the size of the complex of components with which the student will be concerned. The scheme is to go from the particular towards the whole but seems never to reach the whole. In many of the architectural schools the first-year student is given a problem in terms of a country town and has to plan and design the buildings for that country town. The next year he must do a larger town, a small industrial town. In the third year he is engaged in a large industrial city, and in his fourth year he is engaged with larger cities, such as London or New York. The schools never reach out to national let alone world problems. Local town planning is almost everywhere invalidated by the sweep of world events. The automobile highway cloverleaf programmes are inadequate to the concept of total man being advantaged with his own vehicle; parking problems continually frustrate and negate the too-local horizon of town planning.

370 The first year’s total world planning by the students and its designed implementation may be expected to disclose great amateurishness and inadequacies, but not only will the criticism come from the architectural profession, but it will also be evoked from the politicos, from the economists, the industrialists, excited by its treading on their doorsteps, out of which criticism the next year’s round of world designing by the students may be greatly advantaged. The second, third and fourth years should show swift acceleration in the comprehension of the problem and the degree of satisfaction of the problem.

371 The world planning by the students must be predicated upon the concept of first things first, upon a scheduled hierarchy of events.

372 The comprehensive world resources data now exist in a number of establishments, but is primarily available to all the universities of the world through UNESCO. What UNESCO does not have, it is in a good position to direct the researcher to successfully acquire.

373 At the present moment in history, what is spoken of as foreign policy by the respective nations consists essentially of their plans to bring about conditions which would uniquely foster their respective unique kinds of survival in the Malthusian ‘‘you or me-ness.’’ For any one of the foreign policies of any of the nations or groups of nations to become a world

374 plan, would mean that approximately one-half of the world’s nations would have to surrender, and would mean the development of a highly biased plan as applied to the whole. In the nature of political compromises, it is logical to assume that the foreign policy of any one nation will never succeed in satisfying comprehensive world planning.

375 It is clearly manifest, however, in this Sixth Congress of the International Union of Architects that the architects are able to think regarding such world planning in a manner transcendental to any political bias. My experience around the world and amongst the students tells me that the students themselves tend always to transcend political bias and that all of them are concerned with the concept of making the world work through competent design.

376 In much investigation and inquiry I have had no negative response to the programme of organization of the student capability to the raising of the performance of the world resources to serve 100 per cent of humanity by peaceful, comprehensive laboratory experiment and progressive design evolution.

377 It is probable that if the architectural students are progressively disciplined to breadth of capability in chemistry, physics, mathematics, bio-chemistry, psychology, economics, and industrial technology, they will swiftly and ably penetrate the most advanced scientific minds resident in the university, and as their programmes evolve from year to year in improving capability, the students will be able to bring the highest integral scientific resources of man to bear upon their solutions of world town planning and its design instrumentation and operational regeneration.

378 The next Congress should then be almost completely preoccupied with reviewing all such inventories and plans--- with this first stocktaking of what man has to do, and what he has to do it with! What will appear will unquestionably be world news of the first order, and not only world news but the news that men all around the earth have waited for. The common goals for all to work toward will be reduced from empty words to simple physical objectives.

379 LIBRARY

380 ’JUNIOR COLLEGE DISTRICT
ST. LOUIS, MO,

381 selected Bibliography

382WRITINGS ABOUT R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER

383 MacLeish, Archibald, ‘‘…the Industry that Industry Missed,’’ Fortune magazine, July, 1932, pp. 60--69. Discussion and illustration of the Dymaxion house.

384 ‘‘Fuller’s House,’’ Fortune magazine, April, 1946, pp. 167--70. Discussion and illustration of the Wichita house.

385 Marks, Robert, W., ‘‘Bucky Fuller’s Dymaxion World,’’ Science Illustrated, November, 1948, pp. 30--31.

386 ‘‘Geodesic Dome; Fuller’s Spidery New Framing System,’’ Architectural Forum, August, 1951, pp. 144--51.

387 DeKooning, Elaine, ‘‘Dymaxion Artist,’’ Art News, September, 1952, pp. 14--17.

388 Marks, Robert W., ‘‘The Dymaxion World of Bucky Fuller,’’ Gentry, Spring, 1953.

389 ‘‘Bucky Fuller Finds a Client; Young Henry Ford Translates the Geodesic Dome into Aluminum and Plastic,’’ Architectural Forum, May, 1953, pp. 108--11. Discussion of the Ford Rotunda Dome.

390 ‘‘R. Buckminster Fuller; Ein Pionier des 20. Jahrhunderts,’’ Kon- tinente, July-August, 1954, pp. 41--42. Article includes 23” x 40” sheet cut out of Dymaxion Map.

391 Lane, Colonel Henry C. (U.S.M.C., Head of Aviation Logistics and Material Branch H.Q., U.S.M.C.) ‘‘Study of Shelter Logistics,’’ Marine Corps Aviation, Final Report, January, 1955. Discussion of use of geodesic domes.

392 ‘‘Cycle of Evolution; the Work of Buckminster Fuller,’’ Architectural Record, June, 1955, pp. 155--62. Article includes five-hundred- word piece by Fuller.

393 ‘‘Bucky Fuller Builds an All Plastic Dome,’’ Architectural Record, November, 1955, p. 235. Report on geodesic radome.

394 McHale, John, ‘‘Buckminster Fuller,’’ Architectural Review, July, 1956, pp. 12--20.

395 Olson, Ken and Miller, Al, ‘‘A Bright New Hope for Low Cost Building!’’ Better Homes and Gardens, June, 1957, pp. 72--73.

396 Cort, David, ‘‘Darkness under the Dome,’’ Nation, March 1, 1958, pp.187--88.

397 McHale, John, ‘‘Total Design,’’ Architecture and Building, July, 1958, pp. 244--51.

398 ‘‘Fuller Future,’’ Time magazine, October 20,1958, pp. 84--87.

399 Tomkins, Calvin, ‘‘Architecture: Umbrella Man,’’ Newsweek, July 13,1959, p. 84.

400 Marks, Robert W., ‘‘The Breakthrough of Buckminster Fuller,’’ New York Times Magazine, August 23,1959, p. 15.

401 McHale, John, ‘‘Fuller’s Universal Requirements Checklist,’’ Archi- 123 tectural Design, March, 1960, pp. 101--10.

402 McHale, John, ‘‘Richard Buckminster Fuller,’’ Architectural Design, July, 1961, pp. 290--327. Article includes 7,000-word letter written to the author in 1955.

403Book:

404 Marks, Robert W., The Dymaxion World of Buckminster Fuller. New York, Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1960. A fully illustrated and documented book.

405WRITINGS BY R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER

406Articles:

407 ‘‘Universal Architecture,’’ Shelter Magazine, February, 1932, pp. 22--25, 34--41, April, 1932, pp. 30--36.

408 ‘‘Fluid Geography,’’ (first edition) American Neptune, April, 1944, pp.119-36.

409 ‘‘Comprehensive Design 1,’’ Transformation, Vol. I, 1950, pp. 18--23.

410 ‘‘Comprehensive Design 2,’’ Harvard Society Bulletin, November, 1952.

411 ‘‘Industrial Logistics and Design Strategy,’’ The Pennsylvania Trv- angle, University of Pennsylvania Engineering School Magazine, November, 1952, pp. 10--12, 24--25.

412The Student Publication of the School of Design, North Carolina State College:

413 ‘‘The 90% Automatic Factory, Vol. II, No. 1, Fall, 1951, pp. 29--33.

414 ‘‘4D Timelock,’’ Chapters 10, 11, 12, Vol. II, No. 3, Spring, 1952, pp. 11--20.

415 ‘‘The Architect and Agriculture,’’ Vol. Ill, No. 1, Fall, 1952, pp. 15--19.

416 ‘‘Architecture from the Scientific Viewpoint,’’ Vol. Ill, No. 3, Spring, 1953, pp. 6--9.

417 ‘‘No More Second Hand God,’’ Vol. IV, No. 1, Fall, 1953, pp. 16--24.

418 ‘‘Fluid Geography,’’ (second edition), Vol. IV, No. 2, Winter, 1954, pp. 41--48.

419 ‘‘Considerations for a Curriculum,’’ Vol. IV, No. 3, Winter, 1954, pp. 14--18.

420 ‘‘The Textile Mill of Tomorrow,’’ American Fabrics, Spring, 1953, pp. 100--103.

421 ‘‘Architecture Out of the Laboratory,’’ Dimension (Student publication of the College of Architecture and Design, University of Michigan) , Vol. I, No. 1, Spring, 1955.

422 124 ‘‘The R.I.B.A. Discourse, 1958; Experimental Probing of Architectural Initiative,’’ Royal Institute of British Architects Journal, October, 1958, pp. 415--24.

423 ‘‘The Comprehensive Man,’’ Northwest Review, Spring, 1959, pp. 23--55.

424 ‘‘A Philosophy of Space and Shape,’’ Consulting Engineer, December, 1959.

425 ‘‘Universal Requirements of a Dwelling Advantage,’’ Architectural Design, March, 1960, pp. 101--10.

426 ‘‘Prime Design,’’ Bennington College Bulletin, May, 1960.

427 ‘‘Isamu Noguchi,’’ Palette, Magazine of Connecticut Arts Association, Winter, 1960.

428 ‘‘The Architect as World Planner,’’ Architectural Design, August, 1961, pp. 235.

429 ‘‘Tensegrity,’’ Portfolio and Art News Annual, No. 4, 1961, pp. 112--27,148. Introduction by John McHale.

430Books:

431Nine Chains to the Moon. New York, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1938.

432 With L. Babcock, New Worlds in Engineering. New York, Chrysler Corporation, 1940.

433Quadrat Print---Buckminster Fuller, P. Brattinga, ed., (in four languages). Hilversum, Netherlands, Strendrukkerij de Jong & Co., Summer, 1958.

434Education Automation. Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press, 1962.

435No More Second Hand God. Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press, 1962.

436 index

437 Numbers in regular roman type refer to text pages; italic figures refer to the plates.

438 Aerodynamics, 16, 23,33,3, 5

439 Aircraft, designs for, 13, 24, 21; industry, 18, 25; technology, 15, 20--21,

25.

40, 44, 119; see also Dymaxion car, Hangar dome

440 Air drag, 16,23,3

441 Air flow, 27

442 Air/land vehicle, see Dymaxion car

443 Air Ocean World Map, 28,32

444 American Radiator Company, 21

445 American Society of Metals Headquarters Building, 84

446 ‘‘Anticipatory’’ design, 12, 14, 39; see also Fuller, design philosophy

447 Architect, role of, 41,119-121

448 Armour and Company, 12--13

449 Aspension-tensegrity, 36,48, 96--97; see also Tensegrity

450 Assembly, of Fuller structures, 17, 23,

26.

33--35, 7,16-17; see also Delivery

451 Automatic Cotton Mill, Raleigh, N. C., 49-51

452 Automobile, designs for, 24--25, 21-24; industry, 15, 18; technology, 40; see also Dymaxion car

453 Autonomous living, 16--17,21-23,18-20

454 Aviary dome, Tampa, Fla., 94

455 Ballistics, 12,29; see also Geometry ‘‘Basketry’’ tensegrity dome, 35, 99-100

456 Bathroom units, 16, 21--22, 9-11; see also Dymaxion House, Utilities

457 Baton Rouge, La., Union dome, 36, 80-81

458 Beech Aircraft Company, 25

459 Black Mountain College, geodesic models, 44, 48

460 Boatbuilding technology, role in Fuller design, 11--12,15,18,21,29

461 Bridgman, Percy William, 116

462 Building industry, 13--15 see also Housing

463 Burney ‘‘Streamliner’’, 24

464 Butler Manufacturing Company, 24

465 Calcutta, India, bamboo tensegrity dome, 98

466 Carbondale, Ill., Fuller home, 36, 88- 90; see also Southern Illinois University

467 Charts, see Maps

468 Chrysler Airflow, 24

469 City design, 36,101-102

470 Climate, adjustment of Fuller structures to, 9,24, 26, 35--36

471 Climatron, St. Louis, Mo., 36, 85-86

472 Compression, 25, 29--31, 35, 47, 52; see also Tensegrity

473 Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y, geodesic projects, 33, 73

474 Costs, of Fuller structures, 16, 17--18, 23--24, 26,33,35

475 Craft building, 13,15

476 Curtain wall, 19

477 Dearborn, Mich., Ford Rotunda dome, 32, 60-64

478 Delivery, of Fuller structures, 9, 15--17, 21,26, 33--34,2,65,87

479 Design approach, see Fuller, design philosophy

480 Design education, 28,41-42,119-120

481 Denver, Colo., Fraternity House dome, 91

482 Deutscher Werkbund, 18

483The Dial, 11, 43

484 Dirigible, 16,2; see also Delivery

485 Dome, see Geodesic structures. For individual domes see entries under name and place

486 Domestic architecture, see Housing Dymaxion Air Ocean World Map, 28,32 Dymaxion car, 13, 24--25,21--24 Dymaxion Deployment Unit, 23--24, 13--17

487 Dymaxion House, 16--18, 20--21, 24--26, 33,43,6-11,13-17

488 Dymaxion transport, see Dymaxion car Dynamic dome, University of Michigan, 53-55

489 Education, see Design education, Student projects

490 Egg-crate geodesic structure, New York, 52

491 Einstein, Albert, 116

492 Energetic [and synergetic] geometry, see Geometry

493 Energy, industrial, 27-28; natural, 16, 18, 21, 23, 29, 37, 39; systems, 21, 30, 38-40, 115-117, 31; see also Synergy

494 Environment, control through design, 18, 21, 23, 29, 33, 36-37, 40-41, 118

495Faguswerke, see Gropius

496 Ford air deliverable theater, 87; see also Delivery

497 Ford Rotunda Building, Dearborn, Mich., 32, 60-64

498Fortune magazine, 27

499 ‘‘4D Timelock’’ Essays, 15,43

500 Fraternity House dome, Denver, Colo., 91

501 Fuller, Buckminster, design philosophy, 12, 14-15, 17-19, 22-23, 26-27, 30, 37-42,119-121; early life and education, 11-12; geodesic home, Carbondale, Hl., 36, 88-90; marriage and family, 12-13; publications, 15, 27-28; travel, 34

502 Fuller, Margaret, 11

503 Fuller, Timothy, 11

504 Geodesic structures, development of, 32-35; industrial use, 32, 34; materials, 31-35,39; principles, 23, 26-27, 29-31, 44-45, 114; see also Tenseg- rity. For individual domes see entries under name and place

505 Geodesics, Inc., 34

506 Geometry, Energetic and Synergetic, 27, 29-30, 38, 44, 45, 113-117, 34-39 Geoscope project, Cornell University, 28,33

507 Geospace dome, 34,92

508 Glazing, 17, 25; see also Dymaxion

509 House, Wichita House

510 Global scale of architecture, 9, 14---15, 17, 28,37,40-41,118-121

511 Goethe, 11

512 ‘‘Golden Dome,’’ U.S.I.S., Moscow, 34, 82

513 Gropius, Walter, 19

514 Hangar dome, 33

515 Hartford, Iowa, dome, 75

516 Harvard University, 12

517 Heat loss, 16, 23,3

518 Heating, see Utilities

519 Hemispherical dome project,36,101-102

520 Hewlett, Anne, 12

521 Hewlett, James Monroe, 12-13,43

522 ‘‘Hex-pent’’ channel dome, Institute of Design, Chicago, 46

523 Honolulu, Hawaii, Kaiser Aluminum dome, 77-78

524 Housing, conditions, 13-15, 19, 34, 37, 43; Fuller designs, 15-20, 35-36 (see also Dymaxion House, Wichita House); industry, 13-14, 18-19, 26

525 ‘‘Indhlu’’ Dome, Natal, S. Africa, 79

526 Institute of Design, Chicago, Ill., channel dome, 46

527 International Style, 18-19

528 ‘‘Jet-stilt’’ aircraft design, 13,24,21

529 Kabul, Afghanistan, U.S: Pavilion dome, 34, 74

530 Kaiser Aluminum Domes, 77-78, 82

531 Kaiser automobile, 25

532 Kelly Springfield Truck Company, 13

533 ‘‘Kleenex’’ House, 33-34, see also U .S.

534 Marine Corps

535 Laborsaving mechanics, 17

536 Le Corbusier, 18

537 Lighting, see Utilities

538 Living standards, 9, 22, 34-35

539 Logistics, 12; see also Geometry Long Beach State College dome, 93

540 Maps, see Dymaxion Air Ocean World

541 Map; World Energy Map; World Industrialization Chart; World Town Plan

542 Mass production, 9, 40; and Fuller structures, 17-18, 21-24, 26, 34---35

543 Mast structure, 16-17, 25-26, 47 see also Tension, Tensegrity

544 Materials, of domes, 31-35,39 Mathematics, 12, 27, 40, 44-45, 17;

545 see also Geometry, Navigation Mechanical core principle, 21, 35 Mechanical Wing design, 22, 12 Mies van der Rohe, 18 Milan Triennale dome, 34, 68-70 Milton, Mass., 11

546 Minni-Earth Sphere, Cornell University, 33

547 Missouri Botanical Gardens, Clima- tron, 36, 85-86

548 Mobile shelter, 32-34, 65-67

549 Monsanto Company, Geospace dome, 34,92

550 Morley, Christopher, 20

551 Moscow, U.S.I.S. Exhibition dome, 34, 82

552 Multi-deck house, 15-17,23,2-5

553 Museum of Modern Art, Fuller Exhibition, 43, 83

554 Navigation, 12, 29; see also Geometry ‘‘Necklace’’ dome. Black Mountain

555 College, 48

556 New York City, see Hemispherical dome project

557 New York Herald Tribune, 11

558Nine Chains to the Moon, 27

559 Noguchi, Isamu, 20

560 North Carolina State College, automatic cotton mill, 49-51

561 Octet-truss structure, 30,32, 49-51, 83

562 Oud, J. J. P„ 18

563 Peasedome, 76

564 Penobscot Bay, Maine, 11 Phelps-Dodge Corporation, 21,27 Pierce Foundation, American Radiator

565 Company, 21

566 ‘‘Pinecone’’ dome, Cornell University, 73

567 ‘‘Precession,’’ law of, 30-31

568 Puerto Rico, emergency housing, 35, 92

569 Radomes, 33-34,71-73,83

570 St. Louis, Mo., Climatron, 36, 85-86;

571 Washington University project, 56-58 Schiller, 11

572 ‘‘Seed-pod’’ structure, 56-58

573 Shelter, 10, 13, 18-20, 40; see also Housing, Mobile shelter

574 Size, of Fuller structures, 16-17, 22-23, 25, 31,33-36

575 Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Ill., 28, 35, 117; tensegrity structures, 35,45,99-100

576 Stockade Building System, 13-14, 26

577 Structural (vs. visual) form, 19, 26-27, 39

578 Student projects, 28, 32-33, 35, 42, 44-45, 49-51, 53-58, 73, 79,98-100; see also Black Mountain College; Cornell University; North Carolina State College; Southern Illinois University; University of Michigan; University of Minnesota; University of Natal; Washington University; Yale University

579 Synergetic [and energetic] geometry, see Geometry; Synergy

580 Synergetics, Inc., 34

581 Synergy, 29, 36,38,40, 117,34-39

582 Tampa, Fla., Aviary dome, 94

583 Technology, and design, 14,19, 37; and society, 13, 27, 30, 38; machine, 19, 40; revolution in, 9, 40

584 Ten Deck Building, 2-5; see also Multideck House

585 Tensegrity, principles of, 26-27, 29-31, 35-36, 40-41; structures, 43, 45, 47, 48, 83, 96-100

586 Tension, 16; and compression, 25, 29- 31, 35, 47, 52; see also Tensegrity

587 Tetrahedron, 30-31,115,36-38

588 Theater, air deliverable, 87 ‘‘Timelock’’ essays, 15,43

589 Transport, 24---25, 21; see also Dymaxion car, Delivery

590 Twin Dymaxion Deployment Unit, 23- 24,13-14

591 Two-Mile Hemispherical Dome, 36, 101-102

592 Union of International Architects, 119, 121

593 Union Tank Car Company domes, 34, 36, 80-81,94-95

594 United Nations Building, 19

595 UNESCO, 120

596 United States Foreign Economic Administration, 25, 27

597 United States Information Service Exhibition domes, 34, 74,82

598 United States Marine Corps, mobile shelter, 32-34,65-67

599 United States Naval Academy, 12

600 United States Navy,Fuller’s experience in, 12-13; naval influence on design, 12, 24,29

601 Universal Requirements Schedule, 23

602 University of Michigan, dynamic dome, 53,55

603 University of Minnesota, sphere model, 42

604 University of Natal, S. Africa, ‘‘Ind- hlu’’ dome, 79

605 Utilities, in Fuller houses, 16-17, 21- 22, 26, 9-11; see also Dymaxion House, Witchita House

606 Vectors, 30,113-115

607 Vector Equilibrium, 30,32,113-115

608 Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., dome project, 56-58

609 Waste disposal, in Fuller houses, 16, 21-22,9-11

610 Weight, of Fuller structures, 17, 23, 25,

611 33,36

612 Weissenhof housing scheme, 18-19

613 Went, Dr. E W, 36

614 Whitehead, A. N., 41

615 Wichita House, 23, 25-27, 29, 31, 25-29

616 Wind resistance, 23, 33; see also Aerodynamics

617 Wire-wheel principle, 16-17,25

618 Wood River, Ill., Union dome, 36,95

619 Woods Hole, Mass., restaurant dome, 59

620 World architecture, see Global scale of architecture

621 World Design Plan, 119-121; see also

622 World Town Plan

623 World economic planning, 21

624 World Energy Map, 28,31

625 World industrialization, 27,118,30

626 World Town Plan, 9,1

627 World Trades Fair, Kabul, Afghanistan, 34, 74

628 World War 1,12-13,24

629 Yale University, New Haven, Conn., paper-board dome, 54

630 Illustration Credits

631 All photographs appear with the kind permission of R. Buckminster Fuller, Carbondale, Illinois.

632 The following photographs were supplied through the courtesy of Leco Photo Service, New York City: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 38, 39,

633 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 4B, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59,

634 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 78, 79,

635 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99,

636 100,102,103.

637 Hedrich-Blessing, Chicago, for Fortune: 28

638 Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, New York: 43, 83 (photo by Alexandre Georges)

639 Pease Woodwork Company, Hamilton, Ohio: 76

640 Union Tank Car Company, Chicago: 95

641 Text printed in offset by Murray Printing Company, Forge Village, Massachusetts; illustrations in Pictone offset by Pictorial Offset, New York City. Set in Bodoni Book with Inserat Grotesk. Bound by The Haddon Craftsmen, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Format by Lustig & Reich.

642

643 About the author: john mchale, a Scot by birth, is now a Londonbased critic, teacher, and artist. His interest in Fuller dates from the early fifties and from the additional stimulus of the first of many personal meetings, in 1955, when Mr. McHale was with Yale University’s Department of Design on a special award. Since then, he has published extensively on various aspects of Fuller’s work and design philosophy. A frequent contributor to leading architectural periodicals, he is also known as a talented artist, designer, and producer of experimental films. As a teacher, he has lectured at many schools, most recently as Visiting Critic at the Department of Design, Southern Illinois University.

644 Additional volumes in the series, makers of CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE:

645 PHILIP JOHNSON by John M. Jacobus, Jr.

646 LOUIS I. KAHN by Vincent Scully, Jr.

647 EERO SAARINEN by Allan Temko

648 KENZO TANGE by Robin Boyd

649 Each $4.95

650 Also available, masters of world architecture:

651 ALVAR AALTO by Frederick Gutheim ANTONIO GAUDf by George R. Collins WALTER GROPIUS by James Marston Fitch LE CORBUSIER by Frangoise Choay ERIC MENDELSOHN by Wolf Von Eckardt LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE by Arthur Drexler PIER LUIGI NERVI by Ada Louise Huxtable RICHARD NEUTRA by Esther McCoy OSCAR NIEMEYER by Stamo Papadaki LOUIS SULLIVAN oy Albert Bush-Brown FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT by Vincent Scully, Jr.

652 Each $4.95

653GEORGE BRAZILLER INC.

654 LIBRARY

655 JUNIOR COLLEGE DISTRICT
ST. LOUIS, MO.

656 215 PARK AVENUE SOUTH, NEW YORK 3

657 Printed in U.S.A.

658 iMKrninstor¹ l< inner

659 by John McHale

660Over 100 illustrations, plans, drawings, and photographs, together with a selection from the statements and writings of the architect, a selected bibliography, chronology, index, and notes to the text.

661 Since the late 1920’s, Buckminster Fuller’s astonishing designs have been startling a widening public. On examining reproductions of his early plans, we are forced to realize that he has long been, and probably still is, a designer far ahead of his time. Although this fact has imposed a good many restrictions on Fuller, it is completely consistent with his philosophy, which postulates that design should anticipate future needs.

662 Influenced by a strong consciousness of the world’s needs, Fuller endeavors to create designs adaptable to all locations, to mass-production on a scale at least equivalent to that of the automobile industry, and at the lowest possible cost---a surprisingly low one. Now that his domes are springing up all over the world, it is seen that they possess a certain refined, even mysterious, beauty. They have been adapted to fill the divergent needs of rugged Marine Corps life, of a botanical garden, of rapidly constructed exhibition space, and of low-cost domestic housing; the flexibility of his geometric structures is in itself impressive.

663 Mr. McHale has made the abstract theories behind the designs comprehensible, and he has presented the difficult conditions of Fuller’s life with sympathy. If Fuller is not a great architect as measured by many of the prevailing standards, he nevertheless presents excellent arguments for a re-evaluation of these standards.

664 Jacket design by Lustig and Reich, developed from a detail of a Fuller tensegrity model.