2016-2017, Senior Year, Applied Technology High School
Geodesic Dome was designed as a senior-year capstone project focused on nomadic housing. The dome can be easily assembled and disassembled in a few hours by a team of two to three people in order to be moved to a new site. The dome is constructed from 165 struts in three different lengths, all measured and cut by hand. Both ends of each strut were then softened with a heat gun and clamped in a bench press in order to flatten them. Each end was drilled through to create a connection point and we used bolts as fasteners. We chose to connect the struts in this way in order to avoid the immense cost of purchasing connectors.
We classified the three types of struts according to their length. A (red) struts are 27.4" long, B (blue) struts are 32.3" long, and C (yellow) struts are 33.1" long. We used 30 A, 55 B, and 80 C struts, and the dome has 61 points of connection.
Programs: AutoCAD
Materials: schedule 40 PVC, cotton canvas, waxed twine, bolts, washers, nuts
The base of the dome consisted of 15 triangles, each of which was comprised of one B (blue) and two A (red) struts.
Situated atop the base triangles are five pentagons. The perimeter of the pentagons is made up of five B (blue) struts and the five inner spokes are all Yellow struts.
The remaining spaces between the base triangles and the pentagons is filled in by A (red) struts, which form a total of five hexagons.
The very top of the dome is crowned by the sixth pentagon, which completes the structure.
Attaching the fabric.
In order to form an entrance, one hexagon is opened by removing the center point of connection and folding back the six inner spokes.