World's First Dome Home to be Preserved

[Blair Wolfram]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3-19-2014                               World’s First Dome Home to be Preserved
Carbondale, IL.  On April 19, 2014 a ground breaking event will take place near Southern Illinois University, to start the restoration and preservation of Buckminster Fuller’s private dome home. The restoration contract was awarded to Dome, Inc. of MN and will begin immediately after this spring ground breaking ceremony.   In 1960, Lady Anne and Bucky Fuller designed the first geodesic dome home. The Pease Manufacturing Company of Hamilton, OH made 60 wood triangle panels, and Ira Parrish of Carbondale was the building contractor. The dome was built in 7 hours on April 19, 1960.

The Fullers lived a few blocks from SIU campus at 407 S. Forest while Bucky was a professor in the School of Architecture, until 1971. The home was rented as student housing for 30 years, falling into serious neglect and disrepair. The dome survived several owners and many students until H.F.W. “Bill” Perk purchased the property and had a protective cover built in 2001 to insulate the dome from further aging. Perk donated the dome to RBF Dome NFP, a not for profit entity in Illinois to save the dome. The dome was recognized with a City of Carbondale Landmark Designation in 2003 and The National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Bucky’s vision of the housing future was of manufactured homes factory built and designed safer, stronger, more efficient and made of advanced materials not available in his current time. The purpose of this preservation is to restore the dome to the vision Fuller had in 1960, despite improving his own work and using better materials in later years. The exterior of the dome will be restored to its original single ply (TPO type) roof membrane, currently buried under three layers of asphalt shingles. Also being restored are 10 missing flush mount skylights

Bucky is credited with designing and initializing the construction of 3000 domes before he passed in 1983, but he only owned and lived in one dome home. The project was awarded a Save America’s Treasures Grant which requires matching funds be raised for the restoration to be fully funded. Support is welcome and encouraged with tax deductible donations to RBF Dome NFP. When completed, The Fuller Dome Home Museum will open to amplify the positive message of hope for the success of all humanity that was at the core of Fuller’s philosophy.

Admission to the noon event on April 19, 2014 is free to the public. Tours of the dome before restoration and rare artifacts will be available for viewing.

Please send your support to:                                                               
RBF Dome NFP
Steve Schauwecker   618-549-3621
Stephen.s...@firstsouthernbank.net

More Information contact:
Blair F. Wolfram   612-333-3663
Dome Inc.  http://www.hurricanedomes.com
thedo...@gmail.com

Buckminster Fuller in the loft library at home

Buckminster Fuller outside his dome in 1960.

(NOTE: PHOTOS NCLUDED IN ATTACHMENTS)

--

Blair F. Wolfram
Founder, Dome Inc.

thedo...@domeincorporated.com

http://www.hurricanedomes.com

888-DOME-INC or 612-333-3663

[Katrina Fairley]

Unbelievable!  You still are trying to claim Bucky designed this dome.  Alvin Miller totally designed this Pease Dome.  Bucky did not design a single dome by himself.  He was not an architect nor an engineer.  Bucky is merely credited because his geometry for geodesic domes slipped through the US Patent office.  Pease Domes and Alvin Miller both held patents.  Bucky did not hold a patent on this Pease Dome.  Trying to obtain federal money by lacking the true designers name is appalling.

[Paul Kranz]

Blair:

I really appreciated the news release. One of those owners approached me about buying the house many moons ago. I am glad to read these is an effort afoot to help the house pass the test of time.

Paul sends...

[Katrina Fairley]

Here is the Pease Dome catalog  copyright 1958, Pease Woodwork Company.  NO mention of Bucky!

On Wednesday, March 19, 2014 3:20:21 PM UTC-4, Blair Wolfram wrote:

[Blair Wolfram]

NOTE!
Quote from the Pease literature, page 3 posted by the anti-Fuller voice;

"Employing the geodesic principle developed by R. Buckminster Fuller, Pease domes are based on mathematically precise divisions of the sphere...."

The Pease Manufacturing Company felt it was important to acknowledge R. Buckminster Fuller and does not offer credit to Alvin Miller. The literature also uses Bucky's term "Space Frame" in italics to further honor Fuller's input to their design.

Blair 

On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 7:21 PM, Katrina Fairley <katrina...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

[Attachment(s) from Katrina Fairley included below]

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[Gerry in Quebec]

Hi Katrina & Blair,

That brochure is a great little piece of dome history. Thanks for posting it, Katrina. The  bottom of the front page has the following text in small print: "Patent No. 2,682,235 and other patents pending". That specific patent was not awarded to either the Pease Woodwork Co. or Alvin Miller. It's Fuller's 1954 patent for the geodesic dome. It looks to me like that little line of type was a further acknowledgment of Fuller's input (prior art), and perhaps a legal requirement.

 

Another point about the brochure..... the dome described there (Model No. 26C26) is not the same design as Anne and Bucky's dome home in Carbondale. The one in the brochure is a two-frequency dome with a 6-way node at the apex (rather than the more typical layout which has a pentagon at the apex). It has 38 triangular panels and two trapezoidal openings, compared with 60 triangular panels and 5 trapezoidal openings in the Fuller three-frequency dome home. But I'm sure the Pease panel construction method, the main feature of which is butted joints, was the same or very similar in both cases. Miller was awarded his Pease dome patent in December 1963, nearly four years after construction of the Fuller dome home. The example given in the patent text is the two-frequency dome, but Miller makes it clear that his invention is meant to include his bolt-together panel system using butted joints, no matter what the frequency and exact triangular pattern of the dome. He also specifically gives credit to Fuller. Here's an excerpt:

 

"It will be observed that l have utilized the teachings of the Fuller Patent 2,682,235 in that the side elements of the main structural triangles lie along the chords of great circle arcs. The specific construction of the triangular members and the manner of grouping them to form the dome illustrated is my own invention. It is also possible that domes of other sizes may be constructed from triangles similar in size to those I have described herein and it will be understood that my invention embraces such modifications."

 

The question of who "designed" what during the short history of triangulated dome architecture is obviously still a sticky issue and may eventually become intractable with the passage of time. But it's something that interests me a lot, in part because I detest plagiarism and other forms of intellectual property theft, but also because of historical curiosity. Patents, as well as other forms of rights and attribution, such as bylines in journalism and authorship of scientific articles, are not just a means of giving credit where credit is due. They also help ensure people take responsibility for their "designs", contributions to designs, or other creations -- whether a dome, a magazine article, or a children's toy.

 

So, when you, or I or anyone else says so and so "designed" a dome or other structure, what do we mean? Without some indication of what the verb "design" really refers to, there's lots of room for misinterpretation and disagreement. It's unclear to me how to deal with that issue in a news release, like the one put out by Dome Inc., which, it can be assumed, was intended to be short, informative, and engaging.

 

I've worked on several dome designs over the past 15 years, but wouldn't claim to be the designer. In one recent instance, I provided a client in Vermont with an unconventional geometric layout. An architect then put together the interior floor plans (location of rooms, doors, stairs, water and electrical connections, etc.), while an engineer recommended several structural features. And during the process, the owner-builders made various changes to all of those components. The "design" also involved a well known, nonproprietary strut-connection system used by an American company. So who designed that dome in Vermont? Answer: a loosely knit team. And who designed the Fullers' 3v dome home in Carbondale? Probably a team.

 

Another aspect of this discussion about Fuller is whether it's legitimate to refer to him as an "architect". He didn't have a university degree in architecture, but worked closely with "real architects" form many years, notably Shoji Sadao and T.C. Howard (Katrina's father). I'd be interested to know what others think about this.

 

Blair, congratulations on winning the contract to restore the Fullers' dome home in Illinois. And Katrina, thanks for keeping alive the issue of accuracy in the historical record of dome architecture -- Who really designed what?

 

Peace!

- Gerry in Quebec

[Katrina Fairley]

I am not anti- Fuller.  I just think your description makes it sound like Bucky designed the house and 3000 other domes - he did not.  His patent is merely the name of the type of dome - geodesic based on his energetic geometry.  And if you believe everything printed from the original SIU newspapers, Anne Fuller, not Bucky designed the interior space.  Notice Bucky sitting with Al Miller of Pease.

On Wednesday, March 19, 2014 3:20:21 PM UTC-4, Blair Wolfram wrote:

[Dick Fischbeck]

Hard to buy you are not anti-Bucky, Katrina. Grinding that axe and all. I understand your father's place in history. Kudos to him. 

On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 8:07 AM, Katrina Fairley <katrina...@gmail.com> wrote:

I am not anti- Fuller.  I just think your description makes it sound like Bucky designed the house and 3000 other domes - he did not.  His patent is merely the name of the type of dome - geodesic based on his energetic geometry.  And if you believe everything printed from the original SIU newspapers, Anne Fuller, not Bucky designed the interior space.  Notice Bucky sitting with Al Miller of Pease.

[TaffGoch]

With all this intriguing discussion, don't be too distracted to notice that there will be an "open house" on April 19, 2014.

The story has been picked up by UPI: "Buckminster Fuller's House, ... to be Restored, Preserved"

The UPI story includes a short archival video of the assembly of the dome home (and you get to hear Bucky's rendition of "Roam Home to a Dome," hokey as it is.)

Last summer, I modeled the dome home, inside and out, from photos & Thad Heckman's 2011 drawing:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=d92c7809edb7aec717453358793c7e

Thad Heckman's single-sheet plan:

http://blogs.loc.gov/picturethis/2013/05/

-Taff

[Blair Wolfram]

Taff, thx for the link to UPI.

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[Gerry in Quebec]

Bfi.org also had a news item based on your news release, with the lede in Trimtab as well.

http://bfi.org/dymaxion-forum/2014/03/buckminster-fullers-dome-home-be-restored & Dymaxion Forum

[Paul Kranz]

Taff:

Great post! Thanks.

Paul sends...

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Very high regards,

 

Paul sends...

ReviveTheFlame.com

[Curt McNamara]

OK, I am going to walk into this minefield. Had other folks designed and constructed domes before Bucky? Or was the design work done by Pease, Katrina's Dad and others based on and inspired by his work? Or??

I am setting up my on-line class for this summer and will use what I learned. We "teach the controversy" with great artists and leaders like McDonough (and of course the Fuller/Snelson situation).

Feel free to reply off-line if that helps.

Thanks for all you do!

           Curt

[Katrina Fairley]

Even the BFI people acknowledge that the Zeiss planetarium was built 27 years prior to Bucky's 'energetic geometry' of the geodesic dome.  And yes, Bucky was aware of this dome.  The only dome that Bucky designed was the 'Supine" dome he tried to erect with venetian blinds at Black Mountain.  He lectured at various design schools and used the professors and students to design the domes that were built.  Jim Fitzgibbon and Duncan Stuart oversaw Fuller Research Foundation in Raleigh, NC to develop Bucky's ideas of energetic geometry.  By 1951, Bucky felt he had enough research to support his work so he applied for a patent on his geodesic dome geometry.  Duncan Stuart proved that there were flaws with Bucky's math-  in reality vertices did not intersect.  This is why TC Howard did not use Bucky's model when he designed the Ford Rotunda Dome  summer 1952.  Duncan discovered the triacon grid method around the same time.  TC Howard (my father) used Duncan's method when he designed the Union Tank Car Dome, The ASM dome, The Climatron  and all other geodesic domes. 

So yes, Bucky should be credited with promoting geodesic domes.  But no, Bucky did not design actual domes.  TC would never have gotten into the dome business had it not been for Bucky and Anne Fuller.  But, I doubt anyone would know the name Buckminster Fuller had it not been for Don Richter of Kaiser Domes, Shoji Sadao for the Montreal Biosphere, and TC Howard and Jim Fitzgibbon and Duncan Stuart of Synergetics, Inc. 

Again I am not anti- Bucky:  I am anti - idiots that don't acknowledge the work of the true designers, architects, and engineers.  My axe to grind is with idiots!  Al Miller designed the Pease Domes!  And if Bucky designed his own house why are there no drawings in his archives?  And why does Blair need to get mathematical help from others to rebuild the old home?  Money would have been better spent building a new dome.

[Curt McNamara]

Thanks! That clarifies things greatly for me, and will help with the class. For me, seeing these kind of relationships gives me a much better understanding and appreciation for all those folks did.

I would like to do a skype interview with someone who worked in one of those dome companies. Any suggestions?

                  Curt

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