Ideas 4: Architectural Concepts

I've been trying to think forward to the architectural resolution of this project and what it might entail as a way of informing this first project in a constructive way.

Lately geodesic domes have been holding my attention as a way to quickly and easily create low cost large scale spaces for utilization in this project. I know the concept is fairly dated and has been done to death but I want to have a go at breathing new life into it by creating irregular shapes based on the geodesic principles.

After the jump is an account of the research I have compiled.

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So in order to construct some irregular shaped geodesic spaces I first need to understand the mechanics of how regular domes are created.

The idea is that all domes/spheres are based of an icosahedron, which is a 20 sided sphere made entirely of equilateral triangles. The dome shape becomes more and more apparent when you divide up these triangles and move the vertices out to the circumference of what they call great circles which travel around the sphere like the equator does to the earth.

The result is a whole bunch of triangular faces (not equilateral) that almost always join five others at their vertices. There are 12 exceptions to this however where the corners of the first order large triangles meet, they only adjoin four other triangles. It's still early days in my investigations however I think that the arrangements of these points will be key to creating irregular shaped structures.

The above image is an initial idea that has been rolling around my head for a while. basically the outer dome functions as an artificial sky, the panels of the dome can be switched from being insulated and opaque to being translucent and letting heat pass through. the result is a totally manufactured and controllable cloud patten that can shift and change throughout the day, keeping some spaces shaded and cool and others warm and sunlit.

To fit this idea into out concept my initial thoughts are to have the outer dome built and constructed professionally due to the required technology and materials to achieve its design parameters. The interior domes however could be user constructed as a part of our concept and modified of adapted to suit as the requirements for the space changes, all the while the large dome can be reprogrammed as required to shade or expose the areas that are created.

Sources: [Original Works]