Collapsible Geodesic Dome?
Brooke Beatty
I am so thrilled to have found your group! I am working on creating a first-of-its-kind human-centered photography time-lapse project and in order to successfully create the piece, I need to construct a portable “photography studio”. Because of the beautiful functionality and genius of the geodesic dome, I believe I have found the structure to emulate for the mobile studio. (Round spaces also help to avoid shadowing in an enclosed structure better than box shapes). Here are my hang-ups:
When the studio is open, it will be about 8 feet at its tallest point and 8 feet at its widest point, but it will need to collapse into something small enough to be able to carry underneath an airplane, (around a maximum of 50 total pounds and about 62 linear [total] inches.
Because it needs to collapse, should I lean towards creating something along the lines of a Hoberman sphere or does that particular design take away all the strength of a Geodesic dome and lose the ability to stand on its own? Should I consider something like a RanDome instead?
The studio will need to carry camera equipment that will be around a total of 4.6 pounds so there is nothing too taxing weight-wise, however, the dome will also need to have a built in floor.
Finally, the dome must be void of all outside light. I will be contacting a textile specialist for the apropos fabric, (and if I simulate the concept of an outdoor fabric folding chair and each piece is sewn separately to its pertaining triangle, the fabric should work with the collapse of the structure).
I understand I will need to create a CAD drawing , but since I won’t know the proper measurements, angles, etc. who should I employ to help at this phase before creating a CAD? An architect? An engineer—if an engineer, what type? I am on a student budget but this is very important to me and I am willing to do what is needed to see this piece through to fruition. The structure must be built better than my individual capabilities because when I am done with the first time-lapse I will be passing it forward to others who would like to document a physical transformation of their own.
Apologies for the long post and thank you so much for your help!
Dick Fischbeck
Brooke Beatty
Dick Fischbeck
Dick Fischbeck
norm...@gmail.com
Brooke Beatty
Dick Fischbeck
Dick Fischbeck
Gerry in Quebec
Hello Brooke,
Here's a simple dome-like shape (jpg attached) you might consider for your portable studio if you end up building it yourself.
The floor is a regular hexagon whose diameter equals the structure's height. There are 30 edges (struts): 18 long, 12 short. If the frame is 8 ft tall, the long struts are 62 inches and the short ones are 48 inches, which respects your maximum length restriction. This would give you a floor area of 41.6 sq. ft.
This structure should be quite strong as all 18 "faces" are identical isosceles triangles. It should also be fast and easy to erect, assuming you can obtain some flexible connectors (total of 13 of 3 types).
If you want further geometry details or a SketchUp model, let me know.
Good luck with the project.
- Gerry in Quebec
Paul Kranz
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