Mighty Buildings to 3D Print Visitors Center alongside Buckminster Fuller’s Dome Home
Mighty Buildings, the Oakland-based additive construction (AC) firm specializing in prefabricated, climate-resilient homes, has partnered with the R. Buckminster Fuller Dome Home Not-For-Profit to 3D print a visitors center and museum in Carbondale, Illinois. R. Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller lived in the R. Buckminster Fuller and Anne Hewlett Dome Home — affectionately called the Bucky Dome — with his wife off-and-on between 1960 and 1971, during the periods when he was teaching at Southern Illinois University (SIU).
The visitors center/museum will be located adjacent to the Bucky Dome, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. Mighty Buildings collaborated with Thad Heckman of the architecture firm Design Works to create parametric panels that reflect Fuller’s signature geodesic design embodied in the Bucky Dome. The museum will thus not only serve to inform visitors about Fuller’s legacy, but will indeed encapsulate that legacy in its very structure.

In a press release about Mighty Buildings’ work on the 3D printed visitors center for the R. Buckminster Fuller Dome Home, the lead architect working on the project, Thad Heckman, said, “Preserving Buckminster Fuller’s legacy while pushing the boundaries of sustainable design has been an incredible honor. Through our collaboration with Mighty Buildings, this project represents a bridge between the past and the future, inviting visitors to explore the rich history of architectural innovation and the endless possibilities that lie ahead.”
Mighty Buildings’ CEO, Scott Gebicke, said, “We are proud to partner with the R. Buckminster Fuller Dome Not-for-Profit in creating a sustainable future in harmony with Fuller’s masterful vision. The design of our parametric panels pays tribute to his groundbreaking work while showcasing the capabilities of 3D printing in construction. Together, we are advancing the cause of sustainable architecture combined with advanced construction technology.”

Most famously on display at Disney’s EPCOT in Orlando, Florida, the geodesic dome was perfected by Fuller in 1947 and is the quintessential symbol of his life’s work as a disruptive architect. One of the twentieth-century’s most original thinkers, “making high performance shelter available to all humanity” was at the core of Fuller’s mission, as he wrote in his 1981 book, Critical Path.
In one characteristically Bucky section of Critical Path, Fuller goes into great detail describing a plan to construct shelters he dubbed the “Fly’s Eye” domes, which he anticipated could be dropped via helicopter into areas of the world most urgently in need of shelter. While this may not have literally panned out, the spirit of that plan is alive in the intentions of many of the forward-thinking companies constituting the burgeoning AC market segment, and perhaps Mighty Buildings, most of all.
While Mighty Buildings’ prefab, net-zero homes may not be geodesic, Fuller would no doubt recognize the affinity between his most deeply held convictions as an engineer, and Mighty Buildings’ drive to make the widespread availability of affordable, energy-efficient shelters a reality. Moreover, collaborating with the R. Buckminster Fuller Dome Home organization will allow new generations of innovators to experience directly Fuller’s legacy for themselves, breathing new inspiration into exactly the sort of minds that can someday build on the foundation Mighty Buildings is now establishing.
Images courtesy of Mighty Buildings
Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter
Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.
Print Services
You May Also Like
Aussie 3D Printing OEM AML3D Expands into UK Defense Market via BAE Systems Deal
The Australian original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of wire additive manufacturing (WAM) systems, AML3D, has made expansion into the US defense market the cornerstone of its business strategy since pivoting a...
Q5D’s Wiring Robot Could Save Carmakers $200 Per Vehicle
UK-based company Q5D Technology will launch what it calls the world’s first robotic system to automate the production of wiring harnesses, a part of every vehicle that’s usually made by...
What I Would Do If I Were Josef Průša, Part 2: Right on the Nose
How can you beat Garry Kasparov? With a baseball bat. If you ask yourself the question, “How can I beat Garry Kasparov,” and silently add the fragment “at chess” in...
Automation Alley Lays the Infrastructure for Distributed Manufacturing in Michigan and Beyond
For over 25 years, Automation Alley has been at the forefront of Michigan’s technological evolution, helping to reposition the state from its Rust Belt reputation to a modern hub of...