How a catalog, a visionary and a staple gun started a lifelong fascination
I first began researching geodesic domes when I came across the Whole Earth Catalog, just after graduating from Kennedy High School in 1969.
Background
The Whole Earth Catalog
The Whole Earth Catalog, first published by Stewart Brand in 1968, was a groundbreaking counterculture publication that had a profound impact on American society and culture. It called itself an “evaluation and access device”: a guide to tools and information for self-education, for shaping your own environment, and for independent living. It became a bible of the late-1960s counterculture, embodying ideals of self-sufficiency, sustainability and alternative lifestyles.
Everything was chosen to provide “access to tools,” both physical tools and knowledge, so that readers could, in the Catalog's own words:
“…conduct his own education, find his own inspiration, shape his own environment, and share his adventure with whoever is interested.”
That sounds a lot like today's internet! In fact, Steve Jobs once described it this way:
“It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along.”
— Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement address, 2005
Background
R. Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983)
The geodesic dome was developed, named and popularized by R. Buckminster Fuller, an American architect, engineer, inventor and futurist. He was a visionary thinker who believed global problems could be solved through innovative design and technology. His most famous creation, patented in 1954, was a spherical structure built from interconnected triangles. The geodesic dome was revolutionary: it could cover large areas with minimal materials, it was lightweight yet extremely strong, and it could be easily assembled and transported.
(A footnote for the record: a German engineer, Walther Bauersfeld, built a similar triangulated dome for a planetarium in Jena, Germany, in the 1920s. But it was Fuller who worked out the geometry, coined the name, patented it, and made it famous.)
I wasn't fully committed to the “Age of Aquarius” hippie lifestyle, but the science, technology, philosophy and environmental side of that culture certainly appealed to me, and the geodesic dome brought all of it together in one basic design. And I wanted one, even if all I could afford was a small structure built with eight-foot 1×2 slats, clear plastic sheeting and a staple gun.
I wasn't going to let my inexperience with power tools, blueprints and building supplies stop me from realizing my dream!
Not my exact plans, but similar
I was able to order the blueprints, plans and instructions through the Whole Earth Catalog. I rented a large table saw, bought the lumber and plastic at Menards, and headed out to my parents' farm in Belle Plaine to begin construction.
My plan was to build the dome near the farmhouse and eventually move it out to a spot near a small ravine, about half a mile across an open field. Much to my own surprise, my geodesic dome all came together, it looked very cool, and I caught a great photo of it upon completion.
