Page "Buckminster Fuller" Paragraph 9

One of his early models was first constructed in 1945 at Bennington College in Vermont, where he frequently lectured.

In 1949, he erected his first geodesic dome building that could sustain its own weight with no practical limits.

It was 4. 3 meters ( 14 ft ) in diameter and constructed of aluminum aircraft tubing and a vinyl-plastic skin, in the form of an icosahedron.

To prove his design, and to awe non-believers, Fuller suspended from the structure's framework several students who had helped him build it.

The U. S. government recognized the importance of his work, and employed his firm Geodesics, Inc. in Raleigh, North Carolina to make small domes for the marines.

Within a few years there were thousands of these domes around the world.