The Dymaxion Dwelling Machine: R. Buckminster Fuller’s Vision to House All of Humanity

Abstract

Traditional housing is, and has for many centuries, been uniquely made for their individual clients, making houses difficult to mass-produce and, sometimes, too expensive to provide for those who need it most. R. Buckminster Fuller, an architect who believed that we had an obligation to provide adequate housing, attempted to address this challenge almost a century ago through his creation, the Dymaxion Dwelling Machine. The Dymaxion (a portmanteau of Fuller’s favorite words: dynamic, maximum, and tension) Dwelling Machine was a dome-shaped home optimized for mass-production, and it maintained a higher rate of efficiency and sustainability than the standard cube-shaped home. This paper will analyze several methods and facets that Fuller implemented within this atypical house, such as the Dymaxion Bathroom, Fog Gun, tensegrity, cooling/heating, autonomy, affordability, materials, maintenance, and construction, that inspired sustainable, versatile, and affordable solutions that have contributed to addressing the climate and inadequate housing crises of today. 

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. 

To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”