Canada (Quebec) – Montreal Biosphère

SHARIKA SHAMEEM – 190BARCH067

TRIVENI BAISHYA – 190BARCH003
• The man responsible for popularising and perfecting the
geodesic dome, Richard Buckminster Fuller, designed the
Montreal Biosphère in Quebec. It was commissioned by the
United States government for the 1967 World Fair, then
subsequently donated to Canada.
• At a diameter of seventy-six meters, the expansive sphere
reaches an astounding sixty-two meters into the sky and
thoroughly dominates the island on which it is located.
• The volume contained within it is so spacious that it
comfortably fits a seven-story exhibition building featuring the
various programmatic elements of the exhibit.
CONSTRUCTION
• Geometrically, the dome is an icosahedron, a 20-sided
shape formed by the interspersion of pentagons into a
hexagonal grid. However, the clarity of this form is
obfuscated by the fragmentation of its faces, which are
subdivided into a series of equilateral triangles with minor
distortions that bow the individual planar sections into
shells.
• As a result, the aggregate composition of the dome is
substantially more spherical than simple icosahedra, while
the smaller units create dazzling visual complexity through
sheer repetitiousness.

• This lattice-type structure is created

entirely of three-inch steel tubes,
welded at the joints and thinning
gently toward the top of the
structure so as to optimally
distribute forces throughout the
system.
Originally sheathed in a thin acrylic
membrane that was destroyed by fire in
1976, the dome as originally built was
more opaque and visually solid than the
version experienced today. However, its
present structural nakedness, though
unintended by the architect, creates a
beautifully legible transparency that fully
reveals the ingenuity of Fuller’s design.
CONSTRUCTION DETAIL

built from triangles, which Buckminster Fuller considered the perfect form, he
demonstrated that it was possible to create a liveable space using only one-
fiftieth of the materials normally used in a conventional architectural design.
The triangle is a natural mathematical figure that provides maximum efficiency
with minimum structural effort in combination with other triangles. Fuller
obtained a dynamic construction in which the individual components
contribute to the overall structure by assembling a series of identical
geometrical units that are both self-supporting and light. While each
component is independent, it cannot exist without the others.