History of the Geodesic Dome

A geodesic dome is a spherical or part-spherical shell made from a network of triangles. Because triangles are rigid, the structure spreads loads across the whole frame, enclosing a large volume with little material and no internal columns. Geodesic domes have been used to roof planetariums, exhibition pavilions, attractions and homes.

Bauersfeld and Jena

The first geodesic dome was designed after the First World War by Walther Bauersfeld, chief engineer of the optical company Carl Zeiss Jena in Germany, to house a planetarium projector. Bauersfeld received a German patent on 19 June 1925. A small dome was built on the roof of the Zeiss works, and the larger planetarium known as "The Wonder of Jena" opened to the public on 18 July 1926.

Fuller

The American designer Buckminster Fuller developed the idea independently. In 1948-1949, at Black Mountain College, he experimented with domes with the artist Kenneth Snelson and coined the term "geodesic". He received US patent 2,682,235 on 29 June 1954. Fuller is often mistakenly credited as the inventor, but he did more than anyone to popularise the dome.

Milestones

• 1953: the oldest surviving Fuller-built dome is erected by students in three weeks at Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
• From 1954: military tests showed a 9.1 m (30 ft) dome could be carried by helicopter at about 93 km/h (50 knots) without damage.
• 1967: the US Pavilion dome at Expo 67 in Montreal, by Fuller and Shoji Sadao. Its covering later burned, but the frame survives as the Montreal Biosphère.
• 1982: Spaceship Earth opened on 1 October at Epcot, Walt Disney World, Florida.

Records

As of May 2021, Guinness World Records listed the Jeddah Super Dome in Saudi Arabia, 210 m (690 ft) across, as the largest geodesic dome. The larger Seagaia Ocean Dome in Japan (216.5 m) was demolished in 2017.

Other large domes

Other very large examples include the Poliedro de Caracas in Venezuela, about 143 m (469 ft) across, and the Ruwais Refinery Dome, about 135 m (443 ft).