A different way to build a house #56 – Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion pre-fab house from the 1930s

This house was designed by the legendary Buckminster Fuller, and it came before he had invented the geodesic dome. It was called the Dymaxion House. It was a round aluminum and glass structure intended to be manufactured like an airplane to provide the perfect home. Although the Dymaxion house never made it into production, two prototypes were produced. One of them is at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan:

Dymaxion House

A Dymaxion House was designed to be about 1,100 square feet or about the size of a small Cape Cod-style bungalow. It was supposed to cost about $6,500 in 1946, approximately the cost of a high-end automobile. With just two bedrooms, it was most convenient for a single family of no more than four people. The house has been restored with furnishings from the period.

In these videos you get to take the museum’s tour of the house:

Internal structure

The internal structure resembled that of a dome, but was not quite there yet:

More on the huge vision of Buckminster Fuller, including shots of the Dymaxion house and a Dymaxion neighborhood (jump forward to 2:45 to get to it directly), or watch the whole thing to better understand his complete vision:

Other House Ideas

The Official Site for Marshall Brain