High Corrosion Resistant Aluminum Geodesic Dome Roof for Architecture Field

The history of Aluminum geodesic dome Roof in the field of architecture

For centuries, the domed roof structure has been with us. Ancient civilizations such as the Romans used their masonry skills—and their knowledge of arches—to create huge arched domes. Those concrete-style domes require equally large supporting walls to prevent the entire structure from collapsing. In short, the huge old dome is heavy, is doomed to fail at some point, and will take years to complete.

In 1926, the world's first geodesic dome was opened in Jena, Germany, as a planetarium funded by the optics manufacturer Zeiss. The construction of the planetarium is the brainchild of Zeiss engineer Walter Bowlesfield.

In the United States in the 1950s, Buckminster Fuller was praised for promoting futuristic things like geodesic domes. It was Fuller who named these buildings "geodes", although he neglected to quote Bowlesfield's name. Although Bowlesfield designed and built his dome in Germany 26 years ago, Fuller's previous design in his patent application received a US design patent in 1954.

Fuller drew his dome design inspiration from the world around him. He was interested in the uniformity of the structure of snowflakes, seed pods, flowers and crystals, and decided that humans should imitate those simple, strong and obvious spherical shapes. arrangement.

The geodesic dome is attractive because of its weight and extraordinary strength, it spreads over the "triangular" surface to provide an inherently stable structure, and because a sphere encloses the largest volume with the smallest surface area. He started building his first dome in 1948. Because of the soft and thin shutter slats he used, the dome immediately failed. Subsequent (and more successful) models introduced strong, lightweight materials, such as aluminum aircraft tubes. Fuller helped to promote and commercialize polyhedral buildings across the country, which he believed was an economical and effective way to solve the housing shortage after World War II.

The success of his geodesic dome is partly due to the structural principle created by Fuller-tensioning the whole. Fuller said: "In the 21 years before I met Kenneth Snelson, I had been exploring the concept of tensioning the whole. Since 1927, I have been using Tensegrity's multi-border, parallel or concentric lines. Wheel phase."

There is no certain size limitation. It is composed of two other words-tension and integrity-and refers to the relationship and balance between tension (tensile force) and compression (force shortening or crushing things) in the structure. Unlike arches that require support to prevent expansion due to external forces, modern domes use tension to prevent them from expanding.

The small amount of materials required for geodesic domes, coupled with their durability, good appearance and ease of construction, means that they have been used in various structures and applications around the world.

In 1971, a structurally supported aluminum dome was installed at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. The dome was originally planned to be used for only 10 years, the longest 15 years, but it was finally used for about 35 years. It resists wind speeds of approximately 322 kilometers per hour and heavy snow loads. The dome was designed and built by a California company co-founded by Donald Richter, who learned from the inventor Buckminster Fuller The geodesic dome is designed.

The Antarctic dome is one of the first structures to use a multi-frame system, and since then, it has been used in thousands of dome designs around the world. It is said that it is the first of its kind, and it is a pioneer dome. The Antarctic Dome was also the first dome to be analyzed by a computer.

The most impressive thing is that the US pavilion at Expo 67 held in Montreal that year was eye-catching. It captures the focus of futurism

Architects around the world, especially the young architect Norman Foster, hired Fuller as a consultant for his successful London studio until Fuller's death in 1983.

Since then, it has been known that geodesic domes are more resistant to natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and fires than rectangular structures.