This is the index to structure and content of the BUCKMINSTER FULLER ARCHIVES as it was originally conceived. You will find sample materials from all of the Sections on this web site. We have, however, reorganized the materials in way we hope will be more assessable. It is our intention over the months to make more and more materials available to all our web site users.

DYMAXION

DYnamic -- MAXimum - tensION

At the heart of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion concept is the idea that rational action in a rational world demands the most efficient overall performance per unit of input. His Dymaxion structures, then are those that yield the greatest possible efficiency in terms of available technology.

In this section you will find resources and information about some of Fuller's most compelling applications of this set of criteria including the Dymaxion House, car, bathroom, etc.



Click on the image to view a small movie clip of Buckminster Fuller speaking about the Dymaxion concept

By Michael John Gorman


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It took several decades for Bucky to realize that individual dome-homes were not going to be affordable for many who needed shelter. Worse, single-family homes are one of the main forces driving urban sprawl and high land prices. Bucky proposed megastructures.

One scheme called for two-mile-diameter spheres of 5000 inhabitants, moored or floating freely in the air. (At about one-half mile in diameter, geodesic spheres are lighter than the air they contain, and so will float like helium balloons.)

Some cities were to be under water, immune to storms, and served by equally immune submarines. Other cities were drawn afloat on the surface, too large and strong to be damaged by storms. Anchored offshore, free of inflated land prices, they offered energy-efficient, inexpensive housing near coastal city centers.

Conceived and designed in the late 1920's but not actually built until 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.

Worried by the poor sanitation, inefficiency, and high cost of bathrooms, Bucky came up with a solution in 1936.

The four, stamped sheet metal or molded plastic sections are each light enough to be carried by two workers. They'll fit up tight staircases and through narrow doors, allowing retrofitting in existing structures. All the appliances, pipes, and wires are built-in, limiting on-site construction to mere hook-up.

Please check out the below websites for great content about the Dymaxion car.

Pictures of the Dymaxion car
Patent drawings of the Dymaxion car
Dymaxion car chronology
The Dymaxion car at the National Automobile Museum