The Henry Ford | Dymaxion House

June 16, 2015

Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford

Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford

I had heard about Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House — I remember seeing it in plans and photos at an show at the Whitney in 2008 — so when I heard that the only existing house was in the Henry Ford, near Detroit where I was visiting, I was very excited to get to see it and walk through it.

After World War II, the country was anticipating a huge influx of returning servicemen looking to buy new homes and to start families. Buckminster Fuller had the idea of using the excess capacity of airplane factories left over from the war to build new homes. The houses could be shipped from the factory in a big tubes and could be easily installed, and even could be packed up and moved to a new location. However, Fuller was never able to get enough investors, so returning soldiers were sold conventional brick homes in in suburbs throughout the country, like those made famous in Levittown, Long Island.

Dymaxion-House---interior

Dining room.
Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford

Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford

Kitchen
Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford

The Dymaxion House (a portmanteau of Dynamic, Maximum & Tension) was based on a radical circular design, with all of its weight hanging from a single central pole. All of the rooms are wedge shaped. The building was inspired by a type of grain elevator, who’s shape creates a vortex that sucks cooler air down to create “passive air conditioning”.  The house seems very small today, but at 1000 square feet, it was the size of a typical home in the 1940’s. There were lots of innovations, for instance the outer walls would catch and recycle rainwater, and the inner walls could move to adjust the size of the rooms. The bathroom was stamped out of one piece of metal, with all corners rounded off to make it hygienic and very easy to clean.
Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford

Master Bedroom
Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford

Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford

Living and Dining Area
Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford

 The house reminded me of science fiction, so I wain’t surprised that Sci-Fi author Robert Heinlein had tried to order one. Only two protypes houses were built, one interior and one exterior. The prototypes ended up with an investor, who combined them and attached them to an existing ranch house, and raised his family in it. It was eventually donated to The Henry Ford, who restored it to Buckminster Fuller’s original concept.

Unfortunately, the homes that were most influenced by his radical design can now be found in trailer parks across America, where people live in affordable, manufactured metal homes with a small footprint, but with none of the glamour or design savvy of Bucky’s original.

Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford

Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford

light-temp

Light switch with color-temperature options

Tech Bonus

Recently I have seen new “smart lightbulbs” which allow you to change the color temperature of your lighting using your phone. Almost 70 years ago Buckminster Fuller came up with the idea of allowing homeowners to adjust the lights to “Neutral” “Cool” “Warm” and “Off”.

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