One of the first projects to test the principles developed by R. Buckminster Fuller was the 1927 4D House. The house integrated Fuller's concepts of efficiency, economy, portability, and compatibility of parts. Ultimately intended for mass production, the house was marketed for roughly the same price as an automobile. Hexagonal in plan, it was neatly suspended via tension cables from a central mast. The house also alluded to features, which at the time, had not yet been invented; television, photoelectric cells, dishwashers, and doors with electric eyes. As part of an exhibition at the Marshall-Fields Department Store in 1929, the house was coined as the 'Dymaxion House'. A synthesis of dynamic, maximum, and ion, the phrase became a symbol of Fuller's later works.
One component of the 4D House was most revolutionary. Termed the Dymaxion Bathroom, it provided a radical departure from traditional plumbing techniques. The Dymaxion Bathroom was a pre-fabricated, plug-in unit occupying only twenty-five square feet in area. The entire shell including fixtures, heating, and forced ventilation weighed 420 pounds and was assembled from four stamped aluminum sections. These sections could easily be carried up narrow stairs by two men and simply bolted together in a matter of minutes.
However, it is perhaps from one of Fuller's minor inventions that his most noted accomplishment would be realized. The Dymaxion Airocean Map provided cartography with a new look at the world. It relied on the triangle as opposed to the traditionally employed square, to subdivide the globe with significantly less distortion. Three-dimensionally, the sections fitted together would ultimately form an icosahedron or twenty-sided globe.
"If I can ever do the mathematics of this, I feel that I can make a completely triangulated spherical structure, I think the same grid can be worked here..."
It was this relatively obscure notion of Fuller's in 1941 that later inspired hime to achieve the most conspicuous creation of his lifetime, the geodesic dome.
Among his first domes was for the Ford Motor Co. in 1953. The project, in order to fulfill the wishes of the late Henry Ford, called for a dome enclosing an existing open courtyard at the Ford headquarters. The architects and engineers however, maintained that such a structure was unfeasible - the most efficient conventional dome capable of spanning the 93 foot aperture would weigh 160 tons, enough weight to easily collapse the steel framed walls of the courtyard. Someone then suggested consulting Fuller on the viability of the project. After several short calculations, Fuller declared that a geodesic dome would note only meet the requirements of the project, but it could span the opening at the unimaginable weight of only 8 1/2 tons. Despite the skepticism of Ford engineers, the dome was in place a little over four months later in time for the Ford Motor Co. fiftieth anniversary celebration. The light, economical use of materials and techniques had allowed Fuller to demonstrate the capabilities of the modern age in new and unprecedented ways.
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