The geodesic dome
Fuller’s dome (patented 1954): an icosahedron whose faces are subdivided and pushed out onto a sphere; the frequency sets how many struts, and how many different lengths.
The rules it illustrates
Enclose the most with the least: the geodesic dome. Frame a sphere by subdividing the triangular faces of an icosahedron and projecting the points onto the sphere; the triangulated net of short struts spreads loads through the whole surface and encloses the greatest volume for the least material.
Where it appears in the book
In the styles High-Tech, Sustainable architecture.
In the chapters Frame and Skin.