Geodesic dome of the Zeiss planetarium
Cúpula geodésica del planetario Zeiss
- Date
- 1922 · confidence high
- Place
- Jena, Thuringia, Germany
- Credited to
- Walter Bauersfeld (Carl Zeiss)
- People
- 👤 Buckminster Fuller1895–1983
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Bauersfeld built a dome about 16 m across from a triangulated mesh of steel bars covered with thin concrete for the Zeiss planetarium. Its triangulated structure spreads load and spans widely with little material.
Fuller patented his geodesic dome in 1954 (US) and popularised the name; the geometry had been applied by Bauersfeld, whom Fuller later acknowledged.
What it led to
- Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes (patented 1954)
- long-span lattice structures
- geodesic greenhouses and radomes