The Coral Gables Times

It's no dream—with 1,000 domes already in commercial use, architect Buckminster Fuller is now planning for family life in this “Garden of Eden” dome / Lot in a Great-Circle Dome?

A light but strong dome covers an entire suburban lot in this artist's cutaway sketch of Buckminster Fuller's concept of the home of the future. Control of temperature, moisture, and sound would eliminate the need for conventional rooms and outdoor areas—and allow for much freer space usage. Buckminster Fuller BY CATHERINE TAYLOR THE "GARDEN OF EDEN" Dome sketched on this page is an exotic version of a structure fundamentally practical. Simplicity of design and construction makes it possible to build or dismantle it in a day, and domes already in use have proved themselves strong, efficient, and cheap. "We overbuild," declares the designer, Richard Buckminster Fuller, discussing conventional housing. "The function of the house as a fortress is gone." As early as 1927, he pioneered the application of shipbuilding and airplane technology to architecture. Departing from the age-old brick-on-brick, beam-on-post use of materials in compression, he employed new light alloys and plastics in compound systems of compression and tension. From these more efficient systems and from his contributions to spherical geometry came his dome, built out of triangular units. The structure already has lent itself to a variety of uses—for a restaurant at Woods Hole, Mass., for instance; for a pavilion at Winthrop Rockefeller's Winrock estate in Hot Springs, Ark.; and for the largest clear-span enclosure anywhere—the all-Steel Union Tank Car Company's plant in Baton Rouge, La., 384 feet in diameter and 116 feet high. In the years ahead, Fuller forecasts other big domes, enclosing entire lots, with the families sheltered beneath. "You are living in the garden," he explains. "It's never going to rain. It's never going to blow. The ground is dry, not too dry; drainage, as a part of the landscaping, can regulate this, and also prevent freezing, even in very cold climates. "The dome can be designed in various ways—with wood struts, for example, replacing aluminum. Instead of a clear plastic cover, you would probably want a combination of opaque, translucent, and transparent sections. "You have several times as much living space as in a conventional house, and the drudgery of physical existence is reduced. "Once you have a large, controlled environment, living quarters can become secondary pavilions inside the garden. There might be rosebushes by the bed. Continued on page 14 Suburbia Today, May 1962 13