•GEODESIC DOME, 

is a spherical form in with triangular or

polygonal facets consisting of either skeletal struts or flat planes.

•A geodesic dome may be supported by light walls, but unlike

other large domes it can also be set directly on the ground as a
complete structure.
 1. Ribbed domes (a) 2. Schwedler domes (b) 3. Three-way grid domes (c)

4. Lamella domes (d and e) 4. Lamella domes (d and e)

5. Geodesic domes (f )
HISTORY & ORIGIN OF GEODESIC DOMES

•In 1926, the world's first geodesic dome opened in Jena, Germany, as a planetarium funded by legendary
optics manufacturer Zeiss. It features an exterior diameter of 82 feet (25 meters) and is the oldest
planetarium on Earth.

•The planetarium's construction was the brainchild of Zeiss engineer WALTER BAUERSFELD, who realized
that the building had to be extremely lightweight -- as it was to be placed on the roof of a Zeiss factory --
yet big enough to accommodate a large audience, strong enough to withstand storms and rounded
enough to feature a nice projection surface for the planetarium's stars and planets.

•Buck Minister Fuller an American coined the term "geodesic," and was awarded a U.S. patent in 1954.

•As a line is the shortest distance between two points. The word geodesic refers to the shortest distance
between two points on a curved surface, and it comes from a Latin word that means "earth dividing."

•He coined the term – TENSEGRITY, a combination .

•The relationship and balance between tension (tightness or tautness) and compression (a force shortens or
squeezes something) in a structure.
•Although these structures had relatively little mass, their shape allowed them substantial rigidity that
supported great weight.
TYPES OF GEODESIC DOMES •DOME TENTS
•DOME SHAPED SUMMER HOUSES
•DOME GREEN HOUSES
•DOME HOUSES

•DOME SHAPED BUSINESS OFFICES

•Geodesic domes range in size from the 460-ft
(143-m) Poliedro de Caracas sports arena in
Venezuela to temporary shelters that are 15 ft
(5 m) or less in diameter.

•DOME SHAPED CAFES

 Eden Project, Cornwall
The world's largest dome resides in Fukuoka, Japan
and is aptly named the Fukuoka Dome. This huge
dome serves primarily as a baseball stadium and seats
more than 30,000 people

Tacoma Dome in Washington State

 •Domes need large supporting walls to keep the entire
STRUCTURE OF GEODESIC DOMES structure from crashing to the ground.

LOAD DISTRIBUTION •Geodesic domes are different. They incorporate the

strength of a strong arch shape, but they're also made
up of many triangles.

•Pair domes with triangles, and you have one extremely

durable structure.
STRUCTURE OF GEODESIC DOMES •Design is based on a polyhedron. A polyhedron is a three-
dimensional solid that's made up of many flat faces. Eg :
Pyramids, Prisms

•Rotating the edges of those triangles slowly toward an

imaginary center results in a GEODESIC SPHERE
STRUCTURE OF GEODESIC DOMES
•A geodesic sphere is an arrangement of polygons that approximates a true sphere. A geodesic dome is a
portion of a geodesic sphere.

•Geodesic Domes can be 5-100% of a geodesic sphere.

•A triangle is the basic shape of a geodesic dome and a very stable shape
•A force when applied to the corner of a rectangle can deform it into a parallelogram, but the same force
will not deform a triangle.

•Durability results from the characteristics

of triangles, which are the superheroes of
shapes.

• Triangles are the strongest shape because

they have fixed angles and don’t distort
very easily
 blue - tension
red - compression

TENSION & COMPRESSION

• The stresses in dome membranes are largely in tension. It replaces the arch principle and distribute
stresses within the structure itself.
• The rise of a braced dome can be as flat as 1/7th of the diameter or as high as 3/4th of the diameter,
which will constitute the greater part of a sphere
• For diameters larger than 60 m, double-layer grids are recommended. The ratio of the thickness to the
diameter of double-layer braced dome is in the range of 1/30 to 1/60; for long spans the thickness can
be as small as 1/100 of the diameter.
ADVANTAGES

Structurally Efficient

•The surface area of a geodesic dome is only 38% of the surface area of a box-shaped building enclosing
the same floor space.

•In terms of interior space, they enclose a larger volume of space using the lesser amount of
construction material making them extremely lightweight.

•The dome combines the inherent stability of triangles with the advantageous volume-to-surface-area
ratio of a sphere. The larger the dome, the more efficient it becomes. This is demonstrated by doubling
the diameter, which encloses eight times the volume.

•Geometric dimensions of the domes lend them great strength. They are extremely strong for their
weight due to their omnitriangulated surface that provides an inherently stable structure, with a
natural resistance to external factors like earthquakes up to 8.5 on the Richter scale , winds up to 320
km/h due to the aerodynamic shape and loads up to 20 tones per point of structure
ADVANTAGES

Climatologically Efficient
 The spherical design results in highly efficient and effective air circulation in
both summer and winter.

 Lesser surface area makes them less susceptible to temperature changes,

and thus inexpensive to heat and cool as compared to rectangular homes.

 The aerodynamic exterior means that cold and warm air flows around the
structure instead of forcing its way into the interior.

 They mirror the suns path thus maximizing solar gain all day, all year and
they also distribute perfectly heat and sounds.

 There are two reasons domes are energy efficient.

• The ambient airflow inside the dome is continuous, with no stagnant
corners, requiring less energy to circulate air and maintain even
temperatures.
• The energy required to heat and cool a dome is approximately 30% less
than a conventional building.

 The lower the ratio of a building’s outside perimeter to its enclosed living
area, the less energy is required for building, heating and cooling. The
sphere has 25% less surface area per volume enclosed than any other
shape.
 GEODESIC DOME

ADVANTAGES
•Easy and quick to construct.

•Geodesic shelters have been built around the world in varied climates and have proven to be the
strongest and most efficient human shelter ever conceived.

•A geometric dome supports itself without needing internal columns or interior load-bearing walls.

DIS ADVANTAGES
•The same shape that makes for efficient airflow means sounds and smell travel throughout the home
resulting in lesser privacy and a lot of potential for annoying, amplified echoes.

•Similarly, light also bounces around domes, meaning a single small light can wake up everyone in the
house.
GEODESIC DOME – MATERIALS

•Construction materials vary widely from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe or galvanized steel conduit frames
covered with plastic sheeting or parachute canopies.
•Larger structures like arenas and factories use aluminum and steel frame struts covered with aluminum,
copper, structural gypsum, acrylic, or Plexiglas panels.

•ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS

Molded fiberglass panels

Reinforced concrete panels, plywood, plastic .

Steel mesh (extending from the panel edges is overlapped with mesh from the adjoining panel, and the
joint is sealed with concrete consisting of fiberglass batting or sprayed-on urethane, cellulose or plastic
foam.)

Steel or Aluminium alloys with laminated single, double or triple glazing

PARTS OF A GEODESIC DOMES

STRUTS
•Struts refer to the individual bars or rods that form
the frame of a geodesic dome.

•Struts could be of the same length or of different

lengths. A one-frequency dome employs struts of
one similar length. A two-frequency dome uses two
distinct strut lengths. Three frequency domes have
strut lengths of three distinct lengths and so on

•The Materials Used In Making The Struts are either wood or metallic alloys .

•When assembled into triangles, struts are called trusses. The joint where the straight ends of the struts
meet is called a node.
PARTS OF A GEODESIC DOMES

CONNECTORS or HUBS
PARTS OF A GEODESIC DOMES

CONNECTORS or HUBS
PARTS OF A GEODESIC DOMES
CLASSES OF GEODESIC DOMES

•Not all geodesic domes are alike.

Most basic and common dome is
based on the icosahedron with its 20
faces made up of equilateral triangles.

• Larger domes can be designed by

dividing the face of each triangle into
smaller and smaller triangles.

•Geodesic domes start from 1V then

2V then 3V and so on.

•The 1V class is the most basic class of

geodesic dome.
•Its design starts with a polyhedron
with 20 faces (an icosahedron) of
equilateral triangles.
•These triangles can be further
divided into more triangles
(equilateral triangles or a blend of
equilateral and isosceles triangles) to
come up with more classes of
geodesic domes.
 
DOME CALCULATION TOOLS

Dome tools for calculating

•Strut lengths
•Floor area
•Panel sizes and other useful sizes for building geodesic, segmented and other types of domes are available.

1.FIVE IN ONE TOOL

This tool can be used to find out floor area, diameter, surface area,
circumference and volume of a dome

2. 2V CALCULATION TOOL
This tool can be used to find out strut lengths and panel sizes to
build a two frequency geodesic dome
3. 3V CALCULATION TOOL
This tool can be used to find out strut lengths and panel sizes to build a three frequency geodesic dome

4. 4V CALCULATION TOOL
This tool can be used to find out strut lengths and panel sizes to build a
four frequency geodesic dome

5. TRAPEZIUM CALCULATION TOOL

This tool can be used to find out strut lengths and panel sizes to
build a trapezium panel dome.
6. WIND LOAD CALCULATION TOOL
This tool can be used to find out the wind load on a
geodesic dome

7. SNOW LOAD CALCULATION TOOL

This tool can be used to find out the snow load the
geodesic dome