With so many traditional geodesic domes at Burning Man, I wanted to set mine apart. I used a different method of dividing up my face triangles, as shown below.
I chose this method because it is aesthetically pleasing. The dome ends up with four complete pentagrams, illustrating the theme for Burning Man 2004, which was "Vault to Heaven". Having four stars built into the structure exemplifying the theme solidified the design.
There is a reason traditional domes aren’t built this way. Ideally the struts on a geodesic dome are either as close to the same length as possible or they make as close to equilateral triangles as possible. This makes a very strong dome.
However, with the division I choose my longest strut is over twice as long as my shortest strut. With the same amount of material a frequency V traditional geodesic dome could have been built.
I knew that my dome was going to be a lot weaker because of the design but strength is not everything.
I’ve made what is known as a "net" of the dome. You can print out the image in this link. Glue the paper to a yellow file folder, cut out the shape, fold, and tape together to make a small desk model of the dome.
click here
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