Geodesic Dome
A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The triangular elements of the dome are structurally rigid and distribute the structural stress throughout the structure, making geodesic domes able to withstand very heavy loads for their size.
Buckminster Fuller’s Geodesic Dome, 1953
Building #3 by Tom Sachs, 2018 based on Buckminster Fuller’s Geodesic Dome
Challenge: I.S.R.U - In Situ Resource Utilisation
In space exploration, in situ (which means “in its original position or place” in Latin) resource utilization (ISRU) is the practice of collection, processing, storing, and use of materials found or manufactured on other astronomical objects (the Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc.) that replace materials that would otherwise be brought from Earth.
Inspired by NASA’s Artemis mission, MIT architecture and Tom Sachs challenged students to build a geodesic dome from a material, and at a scale appropriate to their current environment — wherever and however they find themselves. It was a challenge about embracing uncertainty, understanding the limitations of your surroundings, relying on your creativity, and rising to meet challenges. Check out the challenge here.
“The farther humans go into deep space, the more important it will be to generate products and shelter with local materials, a practice called
in-situ resource utilization.”
— NASA Artemis Mission Guidelines, 2019
The creators
Tom Sachs
Tom Sachs is an NYC-based contemporary artist, sculptor, and equal space enthusiast who for years, modeled his team’s work on that of NASA, creating large-scale installations that provide a Sachs-made twist on a space camp or a Mars mission. With the arrival of the coronavirus, he decided to reinterpret another NASA tenet, I.S.R.U. (“in-situ resource utilization”), a term meant to gauge how astronauts can best use their limited on-site materials in space. Sachs’s version, similarly, urges people to discover how much they can do with what they have at hand. In his studio, he calls it Bricolage. (bri·co·lage - noun): To see the potential in their surroundings and use what they have to solve problems and make things i.e to build and repair with limited available resources.
Buckminster Fuller
R. Buckminster Fuller was a 20th-century inventor and visionary who did not limit himself to one field but worked as a 'comprehensive anticipatory design scientist' to solve global problems. Fuller's ideas and work continue to influence new generations of designers, architects, scientists and artists working to create a sustainable planet. He is perhaps best known as the inventor of the Geodesic Dome, the lightest, strongest, most cost-effective structure ever devised. There are now over 300,000 domes in the world, some of them the centerpieces of major world exhibits: Epcot Center at Disney World in Florida (housing the exhibit called “Spaceship Earth”) etc.
Combining the triangles to make pentagons
Building the dome by connecting the pentagons using masking tape and cello tape
Materials used: Magazine covers, masking tape, cello tape, scissors, cutters, ruler, and makers.
Finished Geodesic Dome with the tools used
My Geodesic Dome as it would look on Mars