BuckyFuller
Design Science Revolution
06/07/08 Filed in: Ideas
There is a "The Design
Science Revolution" sweeping across the cultural
landscape these days.
This group of exciting articles and pictures about the Godfather of the Sustainability movement are most likely in anticipation of the Whitney Museum exhibition, Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe, opening later this month. With the inflated price of oil, food shortages in China and a US recession looming on the horizon, seems we are are primed and ready for Fuller's visionary environmental ideas.
DYMAXION MAN: The Visions of Buckminster Fuller from the New Yorker
WEIRD SCIENCE Slideshow from the New Yorker Online
This multipart GUIDE to R.Buckminster Fuller was in GOOD magazine back in 2007
More about Fuller is in some of the first posts to this blog, May 07 MACHINES FOR LIVING.
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
-R.Buckminster Fuller
UPDATE: LETTERS DECODE THE MYTH OF R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER from the NY Times Architecture section
This group of exciting articles and pictures about the Godfather of the Sustainability movement are most likely in anticipation of the Whitney Museum exhibition, Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe, opening later this month. With the inflated price of oil, food shortages in China and a US recession looming on the horizon, seems we are are primed and ready for Fuller's visionary environmental ideas.
DYMAXION MAN: The Visions of Buckminster Fuller from the New Yorker
WEIRD SCIENCE Slideshow from the New Yorker Online
This multipart GUIDE to R.Buckminster Fuller was in GOOD magazine back in 2007
More about Fuller is in some of the first posts to this blog, May 07 MACHINES FOR LIVING.
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
-R.Buckminster Fuller
UPDATE: LETTERS DECODE THE MYTH OF R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER from the NY Times Architecture section
machines for living
05/14/07 Filed in: Ideas
MACHINES FOR
LIVING: FAILURE
The Supine Dome
If you have spent enough time with me you are sure to have heard about my interest in Geodesic domes. It is not a nostalgia for the 1960s or some latent hippiness that drives my leisure pursuit. I have heard about how awful it was to live in a dome; they leaked, privacy was nill as they were impossible to soundproof. But for me the Geodesic dome is a great symbol- a sign of both utopian vision and also spectacular failure.
R. Buckminster Fuller, Elaine de Kooning and Josef Albers working on the first domes at Black Mountain College.
The dome uses the "doing more with less" idea in that it encloses the largest volume of interior space with the least amount of surface area thus saving on materials and cost. At Black Mountain College in 1948 and ’49, Fuller and students spent a great deal of time working on the design and construction of geodesic domes. In 1948, their attempt to build the first large-scale dome with venetian blind strips failed, and the structure was subsequently referred to as the “Supine Dome”. The next summer, working with a slightly larger budget and thicker blinds, they were successful.
- Excerpt from Black Mountain College Museum and Art Center, Asheville, NC
Then you have the idealistic artists of Drop City, the squatter style commune that sprang up in south eastern Colorado in 1965 as "land to be open and free to the people." This commune was immortalized in the 1970 "back to the land" bible Shelter, published in 1973 and these images endure as some of the most iconic images of the 1960s counter-cultural buildings. The original four founders of the project were inspired by the architectural ideas of Buckminister Fuller and the art "happenings" of Allan Kaprow, both of which originated at Black Mountain College. By 1968 Drop City and was overrun with hippies & drugs and the original settlers moved down the mountains and into Boulder, CO.
There is much to be learned from FAILURE and here is a book project that recently caught my attention:
Failure! Experiments in Aesthetic and Social Practices has been published by The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest. A book of essays, interviews and artwork that together offer a minor history of failure. Tracing the idea of failure through contemporary art, activism and social protest movements, literature and philosophy, the work in Failure! cuts against a notion of forward progress by instead exploring various dead-ends on the timeline of history. Failure! gives us ways to map our lives in relationship to improper paths. From Valerie Solanas to the Weather Underground, and beyond (and behind).
Available at AK Press
Hopefully soon I will have a profile here with David McConville, co-founder of The Elumenati immersive projection design firm and one of my favorite people to talk with about domes, Buckminster Fuller and the early films of Charles and Ray Eames.
The Supine Dome
If you have spent enough time with me you are sure to have heard about my interest in Geodesic domes. It is not a nostalgia for the 1960s or some latent hippiness that drives my leisure pursuit. I have heard about how awful it was to live in a dome; they leaked, privacy was nill as they were impossible to soundproof. But for me the Geodesic dome is a great symbol- a sign of both utopian vision and also spectacular failure.
R. Buckminster Fuller, Elaine de Kooning and Josef Albers working on the first domes at Black Mountain College.
The dome uses the "doing more with less" idea in that it encloses the largest volume of interior space with the least amount of surface area thus saving on materials and cost. At Black Mountain College in 1948 and ’49, Fuller and students spent a great deal of time working on the design and construction of geodesic domes. In 1948, their attempt to build the first large-scale dome with venetian blind strips failed, and the structure was subsequently referred to as the “Supine Dome”. The next summer, working with a slightly larger budget and thicker blinds, they were successful.
- Excerpt from Black Mountain College Museum and Art Center, Asheville, NC
Then you have the idealistic artists of Drop City, the squatter style commune that sprang up in south eastern Colorado in 1965 as "land to be open and free to the people." This commune was immortalized in the 1970 "back to the land" bible Shelter, published in 1973 and these images endure as some of the most iconic images of the 1960s counter-cultural buildings. The original four founders of the project were inspired by the architectural ideas of Buckminister Fuller and the art "happenings" of Allan Kaprow, both of which originated at Black Mountain College. By 1968 Drop City and was overrun with hippies & drugs and the original settlers moved down the mountains and into Boulder, CO.
There is much to be learned from FAILURE and here is a book project that recently caught my attention:
Failure! Experiments in Aesthetic and Social Practices has been published by The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest. A book of essays, interviews and artwork that together offer a minor history of failure. Tracing the idea of failure through contemporary art, activism and social protest movements, literature and philosophy, the work in Failure! cuts against a notion of forward progress by instead exploring various dead-ends on the timeline of history. Failure! gives us ways to map our lives in relationship to improper paths. From Valerie Solanas to the Weather Underground, and beyond (and behind).
Available at AK Press
Hopefully soon I will have a profile here with David McConville, co-founder of The Elumenati immersive projection design firm and one of my favorite people to talk with about domes, Buckminster Fuller and the early films of Charles and Ray Eames.
machines for living
05/13/07 Filed in: Ideas
MACHINES FOR
LIVING: SHELTER
Before it's time- The Dymaxion House
The prototype of Buckminster Fuller's dynamically efficient prefab home from 1948 is entombed at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
During his career, Fuller was awarded twenty-five U.S. patents, authored twenty-eight books, and received forty-seven honorary doctorates. Best known as the inventor of the geodesic dome, "Bucky" campaigned his entire life for responsible conservation of the earth's resources to avoid ecological disaster. He emphasized technological efficiency by insisting on getting "more with less", coined the term "Spaceship Earth", and is considered one of the founders of the environmental design movement.
1945, the Dymaxion House was Fuller's solution to the need for a mass-produced, affordable, easily transportable and environmentally efficient house. The word "Dymaxion" was coined by combining parts of three of Bucky's favorite words: DY (dynamic), MAX (maximum), and ION (tension). The house used tension suspension from a central column or mast, sold for the price of a Cadillac, and could be shipped worldwide in its own metal tube. Toward the end of WW II, Fuller attempted to create a new industry for mass-producing Dymaxion Houses.
After WWII, Fuller convinced Beech Aircraft of Wichita, Kansas, to work with him to bring his Dymaxion House to life. The aircraft factory was the perfect choice as materials used in both the Dymaxion House and airplanes were very similar. Unfortunately, "Bucky" would not compromise his design which led to disagreement among the associates of the newly formed Fuller Houses Inc. and ultimately to the collapse of the company. The only two prototypes of the round, aluminum house were purchased by investor William Graham. In 1948, Graham constructed a hybridized version of the Dymaxion House as his family's home; the Grahams lived there into the 1970s.
See More, Do More, Live More- The Airstream
Wally Byam's shiny trailers hit the road in 1936 at the height of the Great Depression. These factory produced mobile homes were made from lightweight, durable aluminum designed for aircrafts during the first World War.
Check out the amazing Weblog Tour America from Rich, Eleanor and Emma, the "full-timing" family and editor of Airstream Life magazine.
Pre-Fab Modernism- The Dwell Magazine Revolution ?
I heard Office of Mobile Design's Jennifer Siegal speak last month in Chicago at the C6 Symposium. Siegal might be best known for her Swellhouse pre-fab home design produced for the Dwell House Invitational. OMD's perspective is reactive, visionary and yet practical.
Check out the OMD Globetrotter, a mobile theater that unfolds from a cargo truck container and is described as "cross-breeding of high theater and high camping." (might use this later to describe my life)
While the re-use of cargo containers can be appropriate in temporary or dire situations (see the Rx Box project headed up by "me ex") there are some drawbacks to this recycling. Cargo containers are uninsulated and get too hot in some climates and too cold in others. Also when you cut into them to make a door or window the structural integrity of the steel is compromised.
OMD's philosophy is to focus on and design for our mobile lives. Bravo! I will skip over the Paul Virilio quotes and just let you listen to Jennifer Siegal in this video:
West Coast Choppers meets Prefab Modernism
This is a sexy little video about prefab production by Marmol Radziner. Like OMD, this team is building prefab model homes in the high desert outside Los Angeles.
Matt Coolidge, the Director of CLUI and docent of our recent bus trip along Highway 62 commented that the openness of the high desert is not just a way of thinking about landscape. The openness of the desert extends to social norms (more personal freedom), spirituality (UFO landings and New Age retreats) and to an open environment for experimental architecture (because of open, cheap land.) While none of these modern prefab firms are building "affordable housing" (a big critique) they are operating in a utopian tradition of social and physical experimentation taking place out in the desert.
Before it's time- The Dymaxion House
The prototype of Buckminster Fuller's dynamically efficient prefab home from 1948 is entombed at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
During his career, Fuller was awarded twenty-five U.S. patents, authored twenty-eight books, and received forty-seven honorary doctorates. Best known as the inventor of the geodesic dome, "Bucky" campaigned his entire life for responsible conservation of the earth's resources to avoid ecological disaster. He emphasized technological efficiency by insisting on getting "more with less", coined the term "Spaceship Earth", and is considered one of the founders of the environmental design movement.
1945, the Dymaxion House was Fuller's solution to the need for a mass-produced, affordable, easily transportable and environmentally efficient house. The word "Dymaxion" was coined by combining parts of three of Bucky's favorite words: DY (dynamic), MAX (maximum), and ION (tension). The house used tension suspension from a central column or mast, sold for the price of a Cadillac, and could be shipped worldwide in its own metal tube. Toward the end of WW II, Fuller attempted to create a new industry for mass-producing Dymaxion Houses.
After WWII, Fuller convinced Beech Aircraft of Wichita, Kansas, to work with him to bring his Dymaxion House to life. The aircraft factory was the perfect choice as materials used in both the Dymaxion House and airplanes were very similar. Unfortunately, "Bucky" would not compromise his design which led to disagreement among the associates of the newly formed Fuller Houses Inc. and ultimately to the collapse of the company. The only two prototypes of the round, aluminum house were purchased by investor William Graham. In 1948, Graham constructed a hybridized version of the Dymaxion House as his family's home; the Grahams lived there into the 1970s.
See More, Do More, Live More- The Airstream
Wally Byam's shiny trailers hit the road in 1936 at the height of the Great Depression. These factory produced mobile homes were made from lightweight, durable aluminum designed for aircrafts during the first World War.
Check out the amazing Weblog Tour America from Rich, Eleanor and Emma, the "full-timing" family and editor of Airstream Life magazine.
Pre-Fab Modernism- The Dwell Magazine Revolution ?
I heard Office of Mobile Design's Jennifer Siegal speak last month in Chicago at the C6 Symposium. Siegal might be best known for her Swellhouse pre-fab home design produced for the Dwell House Invitational. OMD's perspective is reactive, visionary and yet practical.
Check out the OMD Globetrotter, a mobile theater that unfolds from a cargo truck container and is described as "cross-breeding of high theater and high camping." (might use this later to describe my life)
While the re-use of cargo containers can be appropriate in temporary or dire situations (see the Rx Box project headed up by "me ex") there are some drawbacks to this recycling. Cargo containers are uninsulated and get too hot in some climates and too cold in others. Also when you cut into them to make a door or window the structural integrity of the steel is compromised.
OMD's philosophy is to focus on and design for our mobile lives. Bravo! I will skip over the Paul Virilio quotes and just let you listen to Jennifer Siegal in this video:
West Coast Choppers meets Prefab Modernism
This is a sexy little video about prefab production by Marmol Radziner. Like OMD, this team is building prefab model homes in the high desert outside Los Angeles.
Matt Coolidge, the Director of CLUI and docent of our recent bus trip along Highway 62 commented that the openness of the high desert is not just a way of thinking about landscape. The openness of the desert extends to social norms (more personal freedom), spirituality (UFO landings and New Age retreats) and to an open environment for experimental architecture (because of open, cheap land.) While none of these modern prefab firms are building "affordable housing" (a big critique) they are operating in a utopian tradition of social and physical experimentation taking place out in the desert.