realNEO HD360 8 Materials Park 5 Buckminister Fuller Geodesic Dome Back Deck

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 01/13/2010 - 16:59.

360 degree panoramic back deck view of the stunning, national historic landmark R. Buckminister Fuller-designed geodesic dome at Materials Park, the ASM International - The Materials Information Society world headquarters, in Materials Park, Ohio, outside of Cleveland, featuring the surrounding, spectacular, rolling country grounds, on a cold, sunny Northeast Ohio winter's day.

realNEO HD360 8 Materials Park 5 Buckminister Fuller Geodesic Dome Back Deck

Starring geodesic dome by R. Buckminister Fuller
real NEO

Producer Norm Roulet
Location Materials Park
ASM International - The Materials Information Society
Materials Park, Ohio

Date        2010-01-09
Time 4:10 PM
Format 1080i
Camera Panasonic AG-HMC40P

Tags: "Ambient NEO" REALNEO "national historic landmark" "R. Buckminister Fuller" "geodesic dome" "Materials Park" "ASM International" "world headquarters" "Norm Roulet" "realNEO HD 360" "REALNEO 365"

Geo built but not fully realized in NEO

I am a "Bucky" fan since the 70's. The hippies were distracting us with their wild and edgy antics but managed to explore the possibilities of architecture in the process. They all went crazy over geodesic domes.  Us folks in the general public never accepted the strange looks of domes in the home context. First the powers that be would not change the building ordinaces, let alone the architectural review boards (still hooked on "advancing the colonial look and feel". Then most of the folks who managed to get one built were either in extreme locations and/or were extreme themselves. I think Buckminister Fuller had a great idea and we have advanced the technology to where sealing, insulation and thermo dynamics can all be managed. Still the public perception is unforgiving when it comes to what a building looks like. We like our boxes with the angled roof.

Us average folk say first what does it look like (curb apeal), then is the inside livable. Architects and designers start with a concept of space and wrap a structure around it, how to enclose space. This is why a lot of great space enclosing concepts wind up as utility sheds, greenhouses and barns instead of homes.  You can get a geodesic greenhouse for your backyard, no one will wince. Quonset huts will also make cool greenhouses but as a home, WW2 vets know all to well, some don't ever want to go back there.

My pet monkey today would be converting cargo shipping containers into living and working spaces. The tall ones are perfect (9.6ft), weld 5 of them together in a ring, then just to be radical, put a geo-dome on top to have clearspan (ooh!, what would that look like?)