Javier Burón / Fab Lab Limerick Director, School of Architecture, University of Limerick &

Magda Sánchez / Founder of Colaborativa.eu, Design, Technology and Social Action Agency

An open-source, low-cost
& digitally fabricated
geodesic dome system
Self-build as a social tool: Communities need collective spaces to gather for group activities and social
support. The lack of a collective space to meet, discuss and perform group activities, especially at the
early stages of the development of the community, can generate negative consequences in the future.
Self-build can be a powerful social mechanism for strengthening communities. Examples of these
communities are families, neighbours or young people in need of spaces for developing creativity,
social actions or educational activities.

John Turner in his book “Freedom to Build” Council’s planning authorities, the method
estimated that almost one third of the evolved into a great tool for social housing
world’s dwellings are constructed by provision and community development.
amateurs, their future occupants, with
no architect intervention. Despite this Lewisham Borough Assistant Architect Brian
staggering figure, architects and designers Richardson, together with Walter Segal
have paid little attention to self build and developed a system in which people in need
it has been normally considered a sort of of social housing were able to take part
natural phenomenon outside architects in a collective self-build housing scheme
competencies and normally circumscribed to regarding their lack of skills, age or income
vernacular architecture using traditional and level. The Council picked seven plots that were
labour intensive construction methods. unbuildable using traditional construction
techniques. They formed random groups of
The researched initiatives described in this self-builders taken from the Council housing
article use self-build as a social tool for waiting list and selected by ballot. More than
strengthening communities. Some of them twenty years later these self-build housing
focus on creating innovative construction schemes show an unprecedented level of
methods which reduce intensive labor and community engagement and improved
References
Turner, John F C, and Robert Fichter. 1972. Freedom to Build. facilitate the adoption from non-skilled social and economic conditions. Since then,
Galilee, Beatrice. 2012. “WikiHouse: Edilizia Open-Source.” self builders, such as the Segal method and the method has been applied in larger scale
Domus, no. 959 (June). Italy: 72–75.
Wikihouse Rio. Others initiatives design community projects such as civic, day care and
Broome, Jon and Richardson, Brian. 1996. The Self-Build Book:
How to Enjoy Designing and Building Your Own Home. Green complex social mechanisms to empower skill centres.
Books.
communities in creating their own built
Cirugeda, Santiago. 2010. Collective Architectures. Trucks,
Containers, Collectives / Recetas Urbanas. Vibok Works. environment, such as the traditional Barn Wikihouse Rio
Stewart, Brand. 1968. Whole Earth Catalog. Raising during the colonisation of North Wikihouse is an open source construction
Kahn, Lloyd. 1971. Domebook Two. America and Recetas Urbanas, where the kit by “00 [zero zero]” studio that enables
Jackson, Sarah, and Lionel Friedland. 1993. “A Skill Center Built
by Its Users.” Architects’ Journal 197 (7). England: 43–46. latter also seeks for new ways to apply and anyone to create, download and build
Holden, John. 2014. “FabLab Ethos Puts Community First.” The understand regulations. houses. This houses can be easily fabricated
Irish Times, June 16.
using a Computer Numerically Controlled
Kenner, Hugh. 1976. Geodesic Math and How to Use It. Univ of
California Press. Segal method (CNC) router and assembled without the
Kruschke, David. 1975. Dome Cookbook of Geodesic Geometry. This simple and yet sophisticated timber frame need for formal training. Wikihouse was
McQuaid, Matilda. 2006. Shigeru Ban. Phaidon Press. construction system developed by German- brought to Rio in 2014 in collaboration with
Preston, S J, and L C Bank. 2012. “Portals to an Architecture:
Design of a Temporary Structure with Paper Tube Arches.” born architect Walter Segal in the 1960’s Dharma agency and Estúdio Guanabara
Construction and Building Materials. doi:10.1016/j. gained some popularity among individual as a way to empower youth from suburbs
conbuildmat.2011.12.019.
Stacey, Michael. 2014. “The FAB LAB Network: a self-builders in the 1970’s. Thanks to British and favelas of the city of Rio de Janeiro and
Global Platform for Digital Invention, Education and anarchist architect and writer Colin Ward, enable creativity and active citizenship.
Entrepreneurship.” Innovations: Technology, Governance,
Globalization 9 (1-2): 221–38. who introduced Segal to Lewisham Borough This initiative combines the use of digital

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fabrication techniques and an open source

construction system to enhance community
youth development and their quality of life.
WikihouseRio is at its early stage, however
shows great potential as a social integration
mechanism. In March 2015, they built the
first wikihouse in Latin American and they
are continuously working on enabling access
to more open source CNC machines.

Barn raising
Barn raising is a collective action in rural
communities in which the barn of one
farmer is constructed collectively by all the
members of the community. It normally
takes a couple of days in which the entire
community is involved: men participate
in the build, women cook, children watch
and teenagers bring tools. Barn raising was
common during North American colonisation
as it was almost impossible for a single
family to self-build such big structures in
a reasonable time frame. Current building community while always promoting working Self-build dome based on bamboo and
technologies and modern labour division in a safe and creative environment. 3D printing by Colaborativa.eu 2014

have made barn-raising redundant and

impractical but in some rural communities in Self-build temporary collective spaces
United States and Canada it is kept as one of Frequently, years will go by before the
their most important community traditions communities can take care of their collective
and engaging social activities. space needs. Usually, the goal of community
self-build projects is a permanent building
Recetas Urbanas which requires a considerable amount of
In 2004, Recetas Urbanas studio was planning and financial resources. By self-
founded by Santiago Cirugeda, architect and building a temporary collective structure
activist from Seville (Spain). They carried out the community could enjoy all the benefits
numerous occupation projects, prosthesis of a collective self-build project which
and opening-up of spaces to the public. can be started in a very early stage of the
Santiago Cirugeda purported with the community development and ensure a
concept of “alegality”; referring to occupation healthy development for the community.
or construction strategies that use methods
which are neither regulated nor prohibited, This could represent a more organic and
in other words, “alegal”. They can be defined decentralised approach to city equipment
as occupations or constructions to empower design in which physical infrastructures
citizens to create their own build environment not only represent existing communities,
by taking advantage of those areas where but help to create and strengthen those
regulation does not exist or is unclear. communities at an early stage.

Lately Recetas Urbanas have been working There is abundant literature about the
on self-building classrooms for primary and design of temporary structures in recent
secondary schools. They develop self-building architectural history, but it reduces
workshops to perform construction by taking considerably when we narrow the search
advantage of the energy of students, families to design for self-build. For example, the
and teachers. The reuse of public and private geodesic structures designed by Richard
materials keep the cost low while supporting Buckminster Fuller were not designed with
recycling. These social-educational projects self-builders in mind but their inherent
created strong links within the school lightness, strength and the use of small size

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First laser cut connector prototype components have made them extremely which compiled vast amounts of practical
popular among self-builders of temporary information on how to self build geodesic
structures all over the world. Also, the domes with a wide rage of materials and
fascinating research on paper as a structural construction methods.
material developed by Shigeru Ban over the
course of more than two decades has created Paper buildings by Shigeru Ban
a fantastic opportunity to consider paper as a Shigeru Ban is a 58-year-old Japanese
plausible material for temporary self build. architect awarded with the Pritzker
Architecture Prize in 2014 for his work on
Buckminster Fuller, the Whole Earth Catalog building temporary emergency shelters
and the geodesic dome and facilities using recycled cardboard
Richard Buckminster Fuller was an American tubes. He has done a lot of pro bono work in
architect, engineer and philosopher born disaster zones by building temporary homes
in 1895 and well known as the inventor and schools for the homeless survivors of
of the geodesic dome. Fuller was very earthquakes and genocides, such as the
interested in high-strength-to-weight temporary Takatori Catholic Church built
designs, environmentally sustainable with after the earthquake in Kobe 1995 and
minimum use of resources. One of his fields the paper emergency shelters for Byumba
of work was the development of a system Refugee Camp in Rwanda 1999. In many of
for building temporary domes applied to these cases the system has been developed
shelters, greenhouses and trade fairs. The specifically with self builders in mind. The
United States Pavilion at Montreal’s Expo use of paper is determined by its low cost,
1967 is an outstanding example; a three- recyclability, low-tech and replaceable
quarters measuring a sphere of 76 m in capabilities. Ecological architecture and
diameter and 60 m height. humanitarianism are key aspects in Ban’s
work. Later, Ban has also introduced paper
Geodesic domes became extremely popular as a structural material in permanent public
among self builders during the 60’s and 70’s buildings and villas.
with dozens of Do-It-Yourself publications
and step by step manuals. The Whole Community innovation hubs
Earth Catalog and the latter Domebook Innovation in building technology in the
are outstanding examples of this period past decades has been principally produced

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in formal research spaces such as industry is needed. Fab Lab Limerick started in 2012
laboratories, university departments and when students and lecturers began building
design offices. For this reason, innovations their own 3D printers, CNC routers and laser
have tended to concentrate in the high cutters as part of the elective programme at
end spectrum with sophisticated material the School of Architecture of the University
developments and more efficient industrial of Limerick. In 2014, Fab Lab Limerick moved
processes. This approach has relegated self- to an empty building in the city centre
build construction to vernacular methods owned by Limerick City Council. Since then,
and amateur informal research with almost the space offers, to everyone in the city a
no input from professionals or industry. continuous cultural program, open access to
digital fabrication tools and a broad range of
In recent years, new hybrid spaces such as tutorials and courses.
hacker spaces and living labs are defining
new innovation models in which formal Fab Lab Limerick provides the community
and informal research blend together, and with flexible and high precision tools needed
professional and amateurs share space for scale prototyping and full size building.
and equipment. These new spaces are These computer controlled tools are no
producing notable innovation in fields longer limited to R&D laboratories or mass
like energy production, computing and production, digital fabrication technologies
manufacturing as they put together research accelerate the process of invention and
and the challenges of our societies. Fab ideation giving back means of production
Labs are becoming the best spaces for to everyone, in other words, democratising
fostering innovation in building technology advanced building technology.
for communities as they are at the same
time innovation hub and workshop space; Geodesic Domes
research laboratory and community centre; The Geodesic dome is a type of structure
manufacturing facility and local library. that meets many of the requirements for a
Architects and designers could participate in self-build construction system. First, a geodesic
these new innovation hubs by envisioning dome is one of the strongest, lightest and
systems based on low-cost materials using most efficient means of enclosing space so
new fabrication technologies for simplified it represents an extremely efficient and cost
manufacturing and assembly by the end effective use of materials. Second, it works
users themselves. best when used to cover large collective spaces
and compared to other long span structures,
Fab Labs the construction elements are small and light
Fabrication Labs are spaces for engineering enough to be assembled without auxiliary
and invention, allowing individuals to design equipment like cranes or scaffolding.
and produce tangible objects on demand.
Some of the tools that communities can find The sphere is nature’s most efficient shape,
in a Fab Lab are CNC routers, laser cutters, 3D covering the most area with least amount
printers and electronics assembly capabilities. of surface. Additionally, geodesic domes
More important than the technology are constitute a special case of tensegrity
the new ways of self-expression that a Fab structures in which each structural member
Lab enables. Fab Labs are conceived as a is either in pure compression or pure tension
community resource offering open access with no structural member experiencing
to the space, the equipment and adequate a bending moment. This means that the
training. The real strength of Fab Labs geodesic dome is not only the most efficient
grounded in their social consequences: structure for its spherical shape but also
decentralised and low-cost ways to make because it replicates most effectively the
things can help building better communities. tensional integrity of soap bubbles and sea
shells skins.
In 2014, there are more than 270
independent Fab Labs in 70 countries around Geodesic domes are mathematically derived
the world. To achieve the full potential of structures and the mathematics required
the maker movement, cross collaboration to describe them geometrically have
between different labs and types of users not been widely available until recently.

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 Moreover geodesic dome structures need Geodesic Geometry
to be fabricated much more precisely than The proposed design is based on the 3V
traditional building construction methods so 5/9 Fuller-Kruschke method. This method
they normally have been relegated to mass –developed by Buckminster Fuller in the mid
industrialized manufacturing facilities or 50’s and later described by David Kruschke
highly skilled and specialised crafts persons. in his 1970s book “Dome Cookbook of
Domestic digital fabrication technologies can Geodesic Geometry”– is a more complicated
overcome these obstacles and make geodesic variation of the 3-frequency geodesic division
domes more accessible to the general public of the icosahedron. The Fuller-Kruschke
and communities all over the world. method introduces a fourth length strut
which generates a flat base making it very
First prototype: bamboo and 3d printed dome adequate for architectural applications
In the summer of 2013, colaborativa.eu as weight is evenly distributed through a
developed a first prototype for temporary circular flat base and its 15 vertices.
structures based on low-cost components
and digital fabrication. This first geodesic The 3V 5/9 Fuller-Kruschke method is
dome was based in bamboo struts and 3d formed by 165 struts of 4 different lengths,
printed bio-plastic connectors. A small group and 61 connectors. To determine the dome
of people with several 3D printers was able to chord factors and angles –chord factors are
print out the necessary connectors for a 6.5 numbers that when multiplied by the radius
meters diameter dome in just one day. The of the dome give you the length of a strut–
assembly was carried out by three people in several mathematical formulas described
less than two hours and the prototype had by David Kruschke were used as well as
an approximate cost of 4€ per square meter. geometric projections using 3D modelling
software. A complete mathematical model of
Another advantage of this system is that the Fuller-Kruschke method would facilitate
both assembly and disassembly did not the geometric description of the structure
require specialised training and could and will be developed by the authors in
be made collectively: the more people future prototypes.
participating, the faster the assembly.
The connectors were a design derived from Materials
the domekit.cc project by Effalo.com adapted Paper tube is a construction material that has
to work with bamboo struts. The connector gained popularity since Japanese architect
was based on a socket-ball design which Shigeru Ban started to experiment with it
allowed rotation on each strut correcting at the end of the 80’s. Paper tube has been
small differences in length and curvature. Since described by Ban himself as “evolved wood”.
each ball was 3D printed instead of cast or This material is easily available in many parts
injection moulded, the part could be adapted of the world and its manufacturing process
to each unique bamboo strut diameter. In the does not require complex technology. Paper
end this method proved too time consuming tube is manufactured from rolls of recycled
during the prototype development. A complete paper that are cut into strips, saturated
parametric design could facilitate this process with glue, and wound spirally around a solid
and it has been considered by the authors for metal rod that creates the hollow core of the
future prototypes. tube. Tubes can be made to any diameter,
length and thickness, and used tubes can be
Second prototype: Cardboard tubes and CNC recycled afterwards.
router
In August 2014, colaborativa.eu partnered For this second prototype and due to time
with Fab Lab Limerick, part of the School constraints, tube diameter and wall thickness
of Architecture University of Limerick, to dimensions were based on Shigeru Ban’s
develop a second iteration of the design. emergency shelters from 1995. The authors
Following the same principles of low- recognise than a more analytical approach
cost and digitally fabricated, the second for the tube sections calculation is needed
iteration used cardboard tubes and digitally and they are currently working with the civil
fabricated plywood connectors. This change engineering department at the University
of materials allowed bigger for domes with of Limerick to devise a simple structural
a span of up to 14 meters and 150 square calculation model.
meters covered area.

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Paper tubes have great mechanical The prototype stood rain and adverse
properties if they are kept with low climate conditions with no apparent loss of
moisture content –an increase of just 1% of structural strength although further tests
moisture content produces a loss of strength in a more controlled environment need to
of around 10%– therefore finding a viable be carried out to ensure stability in the long
method for waterproofing the paper tubes term. Additionally, structural analysis of the
is crucial. A two step method was found in dome and finite element simulations for the
the paper “Portals to an Architecture: Design connectors will be required to adjust paper
of a Temporary Structure with Paper Tube tube sections and connector dimensions.
Arches” by Preston: first a moisture barrier
ply is included below the first few paper Finally, a skin solution based on low
layers, this waxy layer prevents moisture cost materials and digital fabrication
from penetrating deeper into the paper manufacturing is required to be developed
tube. This first step was not used on the before the design can be used as a temporary
prototype due to time constraints but this structure for communities. A third prototype
technical possibility is being discussed with of 14 meters of diameter and covered with an
an Irish manufacturer for future prototypes. inflatable transparent skin and a solid base is
The second step is to apply an external planned to be prototyped and manufactured
waterproofing layer of a low volatile this summer 2015 at Fab Lab Limerick.
organic compound polyurethane. A more
environmentally friendly solution is This prototype is the first step towards a
being considered for the next iteration complete construction system which will
of the prototype. allow communities to independently design
and fabricate collective enclosed spaces
A plywood hub detail, which differed greatly based on geodesic structures without any
from the 3D printed ball-socket connector later intervention by the designer. The next
from the first prototype, was developed steps will be releasing the construction
based on two principles. First, it had to be system under an open source license,
able to be rapid prototyped using laser allowing for further improvements and
cutting so each design iteration could be cut more flexibility to the system, as well as
and tested at 1:1 scale as quickly as possible. developing a software tool which will
Second, the hub needed to support the facilitate end users to customise the
position of the paper tubes rigidly during geometry and cut all the necessary parts
the assembly process as the whole system in any Fab Lab equipped with a CNC router.
was meant to be assembled without the The authors believe that full-scale structural
need for auxiliary structures such as cranes, systems using Fab Labs for both rapid
scaffoldings or additional supports. prototyping and manufacturing could open
up innovation in building technology to
A flat-pack two-parts joint was developed, communities all around the world.
this detail is loosely based on Shigeru Ban’s
roof detail for the Paper Log Houses built after Acknowledgments
Kobe earthquake of 1995. One part has a cross Stephen Bourke, Jack Byrne, Aoife Marnane
section and it is attached at the end of the and Jennifer O’Riordan, all graduates from the
paper tube; the other consists of two plates School of Architecture University of Limerick,
connected with a twisting rope tensor which took part in the design and manufacturing
clamps the tubes together locking them into stages of the second prototype. The dome was
place. Twelve millimetre furniture grade Birch assembled at the Electric Picnic by Michael
plywood was selected over solid timber for McLaughlin, Aidan Byrne, Stephen Bourke,
cost and ease of manufacture. The design Jack Byrne, Aoife Marnane, Jennifer O’Riordan
evolved rapidly in a five day period thanks to and Javier Burón. The authors are grateful to
very quick iterations using 6mm hardwood Global Green and WeCreate for inviting us to
faced plywood prototypes layered together. assemble the prototype at their show area at
the 2014 Electric Picnic.
Conclusions
The final prototype was successfully
assembled at the Global Green area
during 2014 Electric Picnic Music Festival.

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