Бакминстер Фуллердің прототипі - Dymaxion үйі

Prototype house designed by Buckminster Fuller

The Dymaxion House was developed by inventor and architect Buckminster Fuller to address several perceived shortcomings with existing homebuilding techniques. Fuller designed several versions of the house at different times—all of them factory manufactured kits, assembled on site, intended to be suitable for any site or environment and to use resources efficiently. A key design consideration was ease of shipment and assembly. As he did when naming many of his inventions, Fuller combined the words dynamic, maximum, and tension to arrive at the term Dymaxion.

The Dymaxion House was completed in 1930 after two years of development, and redesigned in 1945. Buckminster Fuller wanted to mass produce a bathroom and a house. His first "Dymaxion" design was based on the design of a grain bin. During World War II, the U. S. Army commissioned Fuller to send these housing units to the Persian Gulf. In 1945, science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein placed an order for one to be delivered to Los Angeles, but the order was never filled. The Siberian grain silo house was the first system in which Fuller noted the "urban dust dome" effect: many installations have reported that a dome induces a local vertical heat driven vortex that sucks cooler air downward into a dome, if the dome is vented properly—a single overhead vent, and peripheral vents. Fuller adapted the later units of the grain silo house to use this effect. The final design of the Dymaxion house used a central vertical stainless steel strut on a single foundation. Structures similar to the spokes of a bicycle wheel hung down from this supporting the roof, while beams radiating out supported the floor. Wedge shaped fans of sheet metal aluminum formed the roof, ceiling and floor. Each structure was assembled at ground level and then winched up the strut. The Dymaxion house represented the first conscious effort to build an autonomous building in the 20th century. It was a prototype proposed to use a packaging toilet, water storage and a convection driven ventilator built into the roof. It was designed for the stormy areas of the world: temperate oceanic islands, and the Great Plains of North America, South America and Eurasia. In most modern houses, laundry, showers and commodes are the major water uses, with drinking, cooking and dish washing consuming less than 20 liters per day. The Dymaxion house was intended to reduce water use by a greywater system, a packaging commode, and a "fogger" to replace showers. The fogger was based on efficient compressed air and water degreasers, but with much smaller water particles to make it comfortable.

Criticisms of the Dymaxion Houses include its supposed inflexible design which completely disregarded local site and architectural idiom, and its use of energy intensive materials such as aluminum, rather than low energy materials, such as adobe or tile. Fuller chose aluminium for its light weight, great strength, and long term durability, arguably factors that compensate for the initial production cost. Aluminum was also a logical choice if the homes were to be built in aircraft factories, which, since World War II had ended, had substantial excess capacity. The Wichita House was a project Fuller accepted during World War II as an attempt to produce cost effective dwellings for everyone. The project continued to develop the technological concept of the Dymaxion House, now incorporating a round floor plan instead of a hexagonal one. The reactions to the prototype were extraordinarily positive; nevertheless it was not produced industrially because of (re )tooling costs. Fuller, a consummate perfectionist, felt he could improve the design and was dissatisfied with the prototype. He refused to begin production rather than allowing the "unfinished" design to be used.