#lecture13

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Recorded 1917

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Buckminster Fuller's dymaxion house is one of my favorite architectural projects as well as an amazing example of functionalism. It was built in 1946 in order to meet the need for affordable, mass-produced housing after the war. The house is pre-fabricated, and is sold as separate parts which must be assembled, and can be disassembled, making the house transportable. Like Corb's idea that a house should be like a motor car, the dymaxion house was to be sold for roughly the same price as a car and could be taken from one location to another, if its occupants ever felt the need to move. It used tension suspension from a central column (as shown in the video), with walls that could turn using this axis. Resultantly, rooms could be made larger or smaller as needed - the bedroom could be made larger if the family needed to fit a crib in there, or could be shrunk so as to make the living room larger when they had a party. Additionally, the house was incredibly sustainable; it was heated and cooled naturally, made its own power and was constructed of permanent, durable materials that did not need maintenance of any kind. These are only a few of the many innovative features of the house, a sample of which is on display at the Ford Museum. 

This video shows how the house was supposed to be assembled. I recommend watching it with the sound off.