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The Buckminster Climatron
The Buckminster Climatron
The Buckminster Climatron
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The Climatron greenhouse at the Missouri Botanical Garden, side entrance, 2004
Interior of the Climatron as it was in the early 1980s (HABS photo – August 1983)
The Climatron is a greenhouse enclosed in a geodesic dome that is part of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Initiated by then Garden director Frits W. Went, the dome is the world's first completely air-conditioned greenhouse and the first geodesic dome to be enclosed in rigid Plexiglass (Perspex) panels. Completed in 1960, it was designed by T. C. Howard, of Synergetics, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina.[1] The broad climatic range within the dome, which recreates a lowland rain forest, is achieved by sophisticated climate controls without using interior partitions.[2]
The structure is an unpartitioned half-sphere dome, 42 m in diameter and 21 m high. The frame is supported by aluminum tubes under compression and aluminum rods under tension. The St. Louis architects Murphy and Mackey were the architects on record. Synergetics, Inc were the designers of the dome. The architects received the 1961 R. S. Reynolds Memorial Award of $25,000 for their architectural use of aluminum. In 1976 it was named one of the 100 most significant architectural achievements in United States history.[3]
The dome contains a small stone pre-existing neo-classical pavilion and over 400 varieties of plant life. A bank of 24 flood lights, revolving at night in five-minute cycles, simulates noon light on one side of the dome and moonlight on other side. The climate ranges from the Amazon through Hawaii and Java to India.
Over time, the building experienced deterioration of the original Plexiglas panels and the adverse effect of humidity on some metal elements.[2] The greenhouse was closed for extensive renovations in 1988 and reopened in March 1990.[3] The original Plexiglas glazing was replaced with 2,425 panes of heat-strengthened glass (containing a plastic interlayer called Saflex) and coated with a low-emissivity film. In 2010, the Botanical Garden celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Climatron.[4]
Via Wikipedia
The Futuro house was a product of post-war Finland, reflecting the period's faith in technology, the conquering of space, unprecedented economic growth, and an increase in leisure time. It was designed by Suuronen as a ski cabin that would be "quick to heat and easy to construct in rough terrain". The end result was a universally transportable home that had the ability to be mass replicated and situated in almost any environment.
Futuro House at University of Canberra, Australia
The material chosen for the project—fiberglass-reinforced polyester plastic—was familiar to Suuronen and was previously used in the design of a large plastic dome for the roof of a grain silo in Seinäjoki. To facilitate transport, the house consisted of 16 elements that were bolted together to form the floor and the roof. The project could be constructed on-site, or dismantled and reassembled on-site in two days, or even airlifted in one piece by helicopter to the site. The only necessity on site for its placement were four concrete piers, so the project could occupy nearly any topography. Due to the integrated polyurethane insulation and electric heating system, the house could be heated to a comfortable temperature in only thirty minutes, from −29 to 16 °C (−20 to 60 °F).[1]
An excerpt from a February 1970 copy of Architecture d’aujourd’hui describes "Futuro" as:
the first model in a series of holiday homes to be licensed in 50 countries, already mass-produced in the United States, Australia and Belgium. The segments of the elliptic envelope are assembled on the site using a metal footing. Through its shape and materials used, the house can be erected in very cold mountains or even by the sea. The area is 50 sq m, the volume 140 cubic m, divided by adaptable partitions.
By the mid-1970s, the house was taken off the market. From the beginning, it had been met with public hostility. Its avant-garde appearance and unfamiliar material influenced the public’s reluctance to accept the Futuro House.[2]
The first Futuro House that was erected near Lake Puulavesi in Finland elicited public protest because it looked too unnatural for the rustic environment. In the United States, Futuro Houses were banned from many municipalities by zoning regulations. Banks were reluctant to finance them. Some were vandalised. Some customers who committed to buy them backed out and forfeited their non-refundable $1,000 deposits.[3] Some have been destroyed. In 1999, the city of Tampa ordered a Futuro House demolished.[4] Shortly after the turn of the century, a Futuro House was purchased on Broadkill Beach, Delaware, United States, and destroyed to make way for a double-wide modular home. Some have been vandalised in drive-by shootings.[3]
The oil crisis of 1973 led to an abrupt halt in plastic production. Synthetics became very expensive to produce. Additionally, the public was shifting their view of plastics from a miracle material to an ecological concern. These problems provide context to the discontinuation of the Futuro House. Fewer than 100 were made and it is estimated that today around 60 of the original Futuro Houses survive,[5] owned mostly by private individuals. The prototype (serial number 000) is in the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The Futuro no. 001, the only other Futuro currently in a public collection, is in the possession of the WeeGee Exhibition Centre in Espoo, Finland.[6]
There are approximately 63 confirmed Futuro Houses in existence across the world. They are in Australia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Crimea, Russia, Sweden, South Africa, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.[7]
Also, if that music doesn't get your blood pumping, one must be asleep or dead.The Climatron is cool but I... just love the Hall of Doom.
So that Hall of Futuro
Nope. You do you.Maybe it’s a bit gauche to plug my own nom
Hall of Futuro
Buckytron.
The Climatron is cool but I... just love the Hall of Doom.
So that Hall of Futuro
i got a membership to mobot for christmas so it's absolutely a homer pick, but a deserving oneClimatron
Climatron
...what's the bathroom situation like in Futuro?