Back in the middle of the 20th century they promised us that we’d live in Bucky Fuller domes, that we’d vacation on Mars, and there would be a bloody great mysterious monolith orbiting Jupiter. Zero out of three is pathetic.
“It’s hard to believe that people once thought we’d all be living in domes by the year 2000, but this delightful retro article from Popular Science confirms that the future is a lot squarer than people in the 60s and 70s thought it would be. The geodesic dome was the brainchild of R. Buckminster Fuller, who felt that the simplicity of design and ease with which it could be built would catch on like wildfire across the country, and claimed rather ambitiously that it could replace all manner of traditional housing. However, Fuller hadn’t taken the cost of repairs into consideration, nor the problems that would be encountered bringing the dome up to code, and the awkward shape of the panels made replacing them a real pain, so the geodesic dome fad fell along the wayside, becoming nothing more than a vision of the future that was never meant to be. If you want to read more about the “dome of the future”, follow the link to PopSci, where you’ll find lots more info, and pages from past Popular Science articles detailing the rise and fall of the housing dome fad.” Click here for more.
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The secret word is Disappointed
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6 comments:
We still have one such dome in Vancouver. It has housed a tropical garden for many decades.
hey Mick, have you never heard of THESE places?:
http://www.centerparcs.co.uk
(wanted to post these images but the dratted thing won't let me. Ah well, just follow the links):
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/tm/2008/07/centerparcLDM_428x269_to_468x312.jpg
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/7188812.jpg
Not to mention my jet pack and silver suit.....
I came to this planet looking for intelligent life. Found very little. There were a whole string of energy sources that were "ready" for marketing in the mid 60s. None but nuclear got real support. Too many re-thinkg of of cultural concepts. The dome also offered amazing strength for material used. What no communities wiped out by hurricanes.
not to mention flying cars, wristwatch communicators and that funny blue light on star trek that heals you in like five seconds. And where the hell are all the household appliances that were supposed to be 'powered by the atom' by now, remember? Damn.
Domes don't fit into the cramped rectilinear city building lots. I've wanted to build one since Expo '67 when the US pavilion was a 2/3 geodesic sphere designed by Bucky himself. It is now the Biosphere environment museum. The plexiglass outer skin was ignited by a welder's torch {search: biosphere burning}in 1976. This shortcoming was solved with the invention of ETFE which was used in the Eden Project near St Blaise in Cornwall. You can see it through the photos on google earth, but why not go see it? It's less than 400km from Brighton. Modern zero net energy dome kits exist, {search: Natural Spaces Domes} but fighting the establishment bias against anything not made with 90 degree boxes is difficult but increasingly possible. I will have to fund the construction largely without the help of a mortgage as the Banks sceme unable to think outside the box.
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