Dome design toughens with size, regulates home/garden within

When Buckminster Fuller conceived of the geodesic dome in the 1940s he was intrigued by the efficiency of a super-lightweight structure that gets stronger as it gets bigger. He designed a version of it to cover an unfolding home (“Standard of Living Package”; 1948). In 1960 he came up with a plan to build a dome over Manhattan to better regulate air quality and microclimates. In 1963, he was asked by the U.S. Information Agency to design the United States pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal. His “biosphere” was his largest geodesic dome: a 20-storey-high skeleton of steel polyhedrons sheathed in a transparent skin composed of acrylic panels. To regulate the indoor ambient temperature, Fuller designed an apparatus of mobile triangular panels that would move over the inner surface of the dome following the sun. Likely too advanced for its time, it was replaced with a system of valves that enabled the pavilion to "breathe." Buckminster Fuller was a mostly self-taught futurist who worked in mathematics, engineering, environmental science, architecture, and art. Before the oil crisis of the ‘70s or the space race, Fuller tinkered with new ways of designing homes and vehicles that might help conserve resources. Fuller looked to nature for inspiration: the geodesic design is similar to organisms like the fractal-like, double-radiating pattern of dandelion seed heads. Fuller’s term tensegrity - a portmanteau of "tensional integrity" - describes the inherent strength of his "omnitriangulated" geodesic domes; since the tension-bearing members map out the shortest paths between adjacent members these type of structures offer the maximum strength with the least materials. A fire in 1976 destroyed the acrylic panels, but in the nineties the structure was opened again to the public as North America's only environment museum. Biosphere environment museum: https://www.parcjeandrapeau.com/en/bi...

A 1976 fire sparked by welding destroyed the acrylic cover in 20 minutes... since then the build was preserved and the structure was maintained as a museum centre..

Reference shown at the Montreal Expo for Stockholm Sweden "Insectcity" a sustainable food sources of the future - insect production and consumption ... really?  Gross. Disgusting. Wrong.

More on this idea.. which reads as follows:

"In 2018 it is estimated that the city of Stockholm will have 940 700 inhabitants. In order to produce protein from insects corresponding to the inhabitants’ meat consumption about 500 000 m2 farmable surface is needed. By placing insect farms in nine roundabouts throughout Stockholm the goal of making Stockholm self-sufficient in protein can be obtained.

To illustrate what an urban insect production might look like, Belatchew Labs has developed the insect farm BuzzBuilding for cultivation of crickets, offering 10 350 m² of farmable surface. BuzzBuilding consists of a building that integrates the whole insect production flow, from the egg to the ready-to-eat insect. Additionally, BuzzBuilding is a safe haven for endangered wild bees, which, apart from ensuring endangered species of bees’ continued existence, also turns Stockholm into a blooming and fertile city.

The main structure is a steel exoskeleton, an outer skeleton, inspired by the structure of insects. On the ground floor there is a restaurant where insects are prepared and sold. The goal is to make the production public; in contrast to the hidden meat production it invites the public to observe and participate, and offers accessible knowledge about where our food comes from."

Article at this link:  InsectCity and BuzzBuilding in Stockholm - e-architect