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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.
Geodesic domes are fascinating structures that are used for any number of purposes – museum, sports arenas – even homes. They follow strict physical rules but somehow look as if they must be breaking them, or at least one or two.
These featured geodesic domes (and one or two spheres thrown in for good measure) are among the more remarkable in the world. This one to the left is the Montreal Biosphere:
The World Fair of 1967 was a fair old time ago but one extreme example of recycling old buildings is the Montreal Biosphere which is now the home of an environmental museum. The original acrylic shells that enclosed the dome are now gone – the steel remains however. Unfortunately a 1976 fire destroyed the acrylic shells but the building was bought by Environment Canada in 1980 and it is now an interactive museum. One of the highlights of a visit to Montreal, the museum is devoted to showing people about how the Great Lakes ecosystem can be developed in a sustainable way – this is done through a variety of exhibitions and interactive pieces.
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