An Urban Utopia

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Geodesic dome by Buckminster fuller Buckminster Fuller is known as an inventor and a futurist for his concepts of spaceship earth23, ephemeralization24, dymaxion25 etc. Although never built, the Dymaxion's house design displayed forward-thinking and influential innovations in prefabrication and sustainability. Not only would the house have been exemplary in its self-sufficiency, but it also could have been mass-produced, flat-packaged and shipped throughout the world. Geodesic dome is another one of his inventions. The geometry of this dome allows light weight easy to construct structural system of prefabricate parts. It has a structural merit of containing most volume with the least surface area. It also allows uniformity in the temperature with maximum gain of solar energy and light.

Illustration 8. Range of geodesic domes by Buckminster Fuller

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Spaceship earth is a worldview encouraging everyone on Earth to act as a harmonious crew working toward the greater good. 24 Ephemeralization, a term coined by R. Buckminster Fuller, is the ability of technological advancement to do "more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing." 25 Dymaxion is a term that Buckminster Fuller associated with much of his work—prominently his Dymaxion house and Dymaxion car. Dymaxion, a portmanteau of the word’s dynamic, maximum, and tension sums up the goal of his study, "maximum gain of advantage from minimal energy input.”

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