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Neal Curtis, Samuel Lemley and Madeline Zehnder conducted some keen literary sleuthing to discover Thomas Jefferson’s original intentions for the Dome Room, and then harnessed modern digital technology to bring the planetarium to life in a way that the University’s founder could not have imagined. “The concave ceiling of the Rotunda,” Jefferson wrote in 1819, “is proposed to be painted sky-blue and spangled with gilt stars in their position and magnitude copied exactly.” — University of Virginia
While planning the early stages of the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson envisioned a fantastical planetarium for the school's historic Rotunda. In 2019, that vision has been achieved as the Rotunda Planetarium, thanks to three Ph.D students from the school's English department, and a grant... View full entry
Kanye West's "housing project" has been destroyed. Although the music mogul and controversial media star has made headlines with his plans to design and build a "new" type of home, TMZ's sources have confirmed the project has been shut down. The futuristic housing structures previously built in... View full entry
The Arts District in downtown Los Angeles is filled with several must-see locations. Now home to one of the world's first fully immersive entertainment art park, Wisdome LA allows for visitors to enter into unforgettable audio and visual experience. The park features five fully immersive domes ... View full entry
Though Harris County Judge Ed Emmett is the public official most closely tied to the salvation of the Astrodome, many private citizens have played important roles, too.
Without their many letters, petitions, documents and road trips – the tools of architectural preservation – Houston might have lost its most iconic building.
— Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle editor Allyn West retells the long and twisting tale of how the Astrodome went from designated wrecking-ball fodder to National Historic Landmark and the activism behind it. View full entry
French architects Coldefy & Associates Architects Urban Planners have revealed plans for the world's largest single-domed tropical greenhouse. Called Tropicalia, this vast indoor landscape will soon pop up in the Pas-de-Calais area in Northern France and house all sorts of tropical flora and... View full entry
Originally built as the U.S. Pavilion in the memorable World Expo of 1967, the steel structural frame of Buckminster Fuller's Biosphere remains standing to this day as a sole landmark in Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau. In planning for the 50th anniversary of Expo 67 as well as Montreal's 375th... View full entry
It's been a long time since the Houston Oilers or any other team called the Astrodome home, and voters rejected a bond measure to adapt and reuse this domed cathedral last year. But Emmett's not giving it up. Yesterday, he led the press on a tour of the Astrodome to introduce his own plan to restore it: By creating the world's largest indoor park.
This isn't the first scheme mounted by preservationists who see a future for the dome.
— citylab.com
Previously:Winners of the Reimagine the Astrodome ideas competitionCan buildings be too young to save? View full entry
In an effort to remediate a large patch of heavily contaminated soil in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, engineers managed to unleash a smell so pungent that, last week, owners of the site took a new tactic: a giant tent to contain it all. [...]
Though the 20,000-square-meter polyester tent contains an area roughly the size of three football fields and rises 36 meters near downtown, it only covers less than half of the contaminated area.
— motherboard.vice.com
Previously: Giant bubbles could be 'built over Beijing parks to save residents from smog danger' View full entry
On April 19 there will be a groundbreaking near Southern Illinois University to celebrate the restoration and preservation of the world’s first geodesic dome home, originally built by Buckminster Fuller and his wife, Lady Anne, in 1960.
The ceremony at the Fuller Dome Home in Carbondale will be open to the public, free of charge, and will include a tour and the opportunity to view rare artifacts.
— upi.com
In her recently published Op-Ed Ann Lui, reflected on the experience of receiving a jury citation, for her and her partner’s entry in the 2013 Burnham Prize Competition: NEXT STOP-Designing Chicago BRT Stations. She concluded "So submit the competition that doesn’t have a... View full entry
Danish firm CEBRA has shared with us its adventurous project Skidome Denmark, a vision for the 'world’s biggest ski dome' in the city of Randers, Denmark. — bustler.net
Restoration work on one of Buckminster Fuller’s most iconic structures, the 24 foot Fly’s Eye Dome, was completed yesterday, and the restored dome was unveiled to the public at Goetz Composites in Bristol, RI. Patented in 1965, Fuller created two prototypes of this structure... View full entry
