Visiting the Bucky Dome Home Museum: A Geodesic Wonder

We took a tour of the Bucky Dome Home in Carbdonale. This is the only dome home that Buckminster Fuller and his wife ever lived in. The couple lived here in the 1960s when Fuller was a professor at SIU. Today, the dome home is owned by the RBF Dome NFP who run it as a museum. Typically you will need to contact the Dome Home to schedule a tour, but we were able to drop in for a tour during eclipse weekend.

Buckminster Fuller and his Geodesic Domes

Buckminster Fuller came to Southern Illinois University at age 65 to become a professor. He taught here for 12 years and lived in his dome home from 1960-1971. This period of his life was full of achievements- he was on the cover of Time Magazine and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Fuller is considered the father of the modern sustainability movement. His vision was “to make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense.” Fuller was also the creator of the term “synergy” because of his propensity to using a systems approach to problem solving. 

Fuller came up with the idea of geodesic dome homes in the 1940s as a solution to the housing crisis at the time. The domes enclose the largest volume of interior space with the least amount of surface area. This means they save materials and cost, a cornerstone of Fuller’s philosophy. The domes are created from interlocking triangles- the strongest and most efficient shape. 

Geodesic domes are considered Buckminster Fuller’s most enduring legacy. He patented the domes in 1954 and there are now over 500,000 geodesic domes worldwide.

The Bucky Fuller Dome Home Museum

The Bucky Dome Home museum was started with a 3 phase approach in mind. The first phase, which is complete, was to restore the structural integrity of the dome, along with the exterior. The second phase, also complete, was to preserve the interior of the dome and to work on returning significant artifacts to the home. The third phase is currently in progress. This phase is to create a visitor center across the street. The visitor center will serve as an interpretive center, a meeting point for tours, provide educational programs, and offer special events. In alignment with Fuller’s principles of sustainability, the visitor center is being built out of 3D printed panels.

Touring the Buckminster Fuller Dome Home

The dome home is a small space consisting of a living room, kitchen, bedroom, two bathrooms, closet, and second floor loft. After living in an RV for 6 months, it felt very large and spacious to us! Our tour started with information and a walk-through from our guide, then we were able to wander and look closer at whatever we liked- and of course take plenty of photos.

Much of the furniture in the Bucky Dome Home was actually owned by the Fullers and was donated by family members. Other pieces are period-accurate and similar to things the Fullers might have owned. Probably the most exciting artifacts, in my opinion, is the shelves full of Bucky’s actual books. Many of the books have his marginalia and inscriptions from people who gifted him books. SIU is currently helping to catalog the contents of Fuller’s library. 

Bucky Dome Home Video Tour

I created a short video of the Bucky Dome also, which helps to put in perspective the shape and size of the dome.