Solving World Problems With Geodesic Domes

Robert Buckminister (Bucky) Fuller, the father of geodesic domes embarked on a venture to discover what he; a diminutive fellow without a penny, could do for all humanity. Over nine decades later on, humans have a lot to thank Bucky for. His principle of doing more with less certainly paid off as he was able to unveil the mathematics and geometry that defined geodesic domes. Armed with these, he popularized geodesic domes all over the world as more and more people found about these wonderful structures. Geodesic domes certainly help to solve a plethora of world problems.

What Are Geodesic Domes?

Geodesic domes are spherical or semi-spherical structures with a network of circles on its surface whose intersection yields a series of triangular elements. These triangular elements give geodesic domes the structural integrity and strength that amaze people all over the world. Geodesic domes have several advantages over rectilinear buildings that are the majority of contemporary buildings. The following are some of the world problems that are solved by geodesic domes:-

General Housing

The world population is over 7 billion and surging on a daily basis. This exponential population growth is however not in the same proportion as the growth in housing units. Indeed human housing remains a thorn in the flesh of most governments especially in the emerging economies. Contemporary housing structures are very costly putting them out of reach for most people. Several people remain homeless, never mind we are in the 21^st century. Geodesic domes can help alleviate the housing problem as they are more affordable than contemporary housing structures. Moreover people get to have a lot of space as geodesic domes enclose more space using fewer materials.

Natural Disasters

Well, there not so much people can do when it comes to natural disasters such as tornados, earthquakes and floods. However, people living in disaster prone regions can do a host of things in readiness to such natural disasters. Things like living in very strong structures that are resistant to such disasters and structures that can be converted from permanent to temporary structures with ease. Unfortunately, the contemporary housing structures that people live in do not boast of such qualities. Only geodesic dome homes can give absolute assurance on resistance to turbulent conditions as a result of natural disasters. They are incredibly strong structures thanks to their triangular elements which distribute stress across the entire structures.

Environmental Footprint

Several human activities including housing have an adverse impact to the environment. Trees are cut to make way for rectilinear buildings and to construct certain elements of these buildings. Climate change has however made more people environmental conscious. This has led to increased scrutiny to human activities including putting up of structures. Geodesic domes are environmental friendly structures. This is owing to the fact that they produce virtually no waste during construction. This is owing to their manufacturing process which produces little or no waste. The little waste that is produced is recycled. Moreover, they are more energy efficient than contemporary buildings. This means that they put a lesser strain on limited earth's resources.

Geodesic domes certainly help to make the world a better place. We can certainly conquer most of the world problems by living by Bucky's principle. Human beings need to appreciate geodesic domes gifted to us by Bucky.