Geodesic Dome (Lattice-Shell Polyhedron)

Hemispherical thin-shell space frame of triangulated great-circle struts enclosing maximum volume with minimal surface area.

Specifications & Metrics

type: Load-Bearing Structural System
load mechanism: Omnitriangulated spherical tensegrity/space-frame shell distributes local loads across the entire hemisphere
governing relation: V − E + F = 2 (Euler polyhedral formula; icosahedral subdivision into 12 pentagons and 10(ν² − 1) hexagons)
classic configurations: Icosahedral frequency subdivision (2V, 3V, 4V, 5V) hub-and-strut or hexagonal/pentagonal panelized shells
exemplars: Zeiss-Planetarium Jena (1926), Montreal Biosphère (Expo 67), Epcot Spaceship Earth, Jeddah Super Dome (210 m)

First engineered and built in 1922–1926 by Walther Bauersfeld of Carl Zeiss in Jena, Germany, for the world's first projection planetarium, the structure was named and popularized after 1948 by R. Buckminster Fuller (US Patent 2,682,235 in 1954), after whom C₆₀ buckminsterfullerene molecules were later named.
Subdividing the 20 equilateral faces of an icosahedron along great-circle ('geodesic') arcs into a network of rigid triangles creates a spherical shell whose strength-to-weight ratio actually increases with scale, since enclosed volume grows with the cube of radius while surface area grows with the square.
Geodesic domes withstand extreme wind and snow loads without internal columns, from Arctic DEW Line radar radomes and the 1975 Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station dome to Fuller's 76-meter Montreal Biosphère (1967) and the 210-meter Jeddah Super Dome (2021).