
How America’s back-to-the-land movement gave rise to the geodesic dome home - Thevet
http://www.curbed.com/2016/5/11/11645002/buckminster-fuller-back-to-the-land-dome-homes
======
jacobolus
The domes of Drop City were neat, but the mathematics of the geometry they
used, which Steve Baer called Zome (“zone” + “dome”) is also fascinating.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zome)
[http://72.10.54.125/images/resources/-DomesZomes.pdf](http://72.10.54.125/images/resources/-DomesZomes.pdf)

In short, it’s what you get when you try to turn the icosahedron and
dodecahedron into a practical construction toolkit. Everything fits together
remarkably well, using struts which scale in length using the golden ratio τ =
½(1+√5). Indeed, every point you can construct using the system lies on a
"golden integer" grid, with x, y, and z coordinates some integer combination
of 1 and τ.

I recommend anyone interested in geometry, or anyone who knows some 8–18 year
old kids, buy some Zometool toys, [http://zometool.com](http://zometool.com),
which are really fantastic tools for learning about geometric modeling for
mathematics, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer graphics, .... [The
company site doesn’t have the best pictures IMO, but check out a google image
search
[https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=zometool](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=zometool)]

By the way, for anyone interested in manufacturing, the Zometool spheres are
pretty ridiculous (basically impossible, but somehow they did it) to injection
mold. Check out this amusing essay
[http://bridgesmathart.org/2011/cdrom/proceedings/135/paper_1...](http://bridgesmathart.org/2011/cdrom/proceedings/135/paper_135.pdf)

Also check out the fun related papers people have been putting out at the
Bridges Math + Art conference every year,
[http://bridgesmathart.org](http://bridgesmathart.org)

------
tunap
Geodesic domes are great, in theory. Once you live in one you may not
subscribe to that theory anymore.

The natural cooling only works(?) until you put objects such as people,
partitions & furniture in it that disrupts the efficiency of said airflow. If
you seal it and heat/cool with conventional means, you get temperature layers
as you rise up in multi-level units.

They leak. Period. No matter if it's shingles or rubber or any other coating,
domes shrink & contract with every sunrise/sunset. Then when it rains, it
rains inside your home.

Try maximizing space in a round room sometime. Sure custom made & high-end
offerings are to be had, but where's the simplicity & savings in having to
replace all your possessions? Then there's a lot of wasted space above your
head that you have to heat/cool for no additional benefit.

Yes, I lived in one for several years. The property was fantastic, the dome
was "tolerable", at best. YMMV.

------
55acdda48ab5
Making livable structures is not hard, geodesic or not. The problem is bums
and druggies and petty crooks, as the article details. Figure out a way to
banish them and we can live cheaply and peacefully.

