A self-trained architect, engineer, and systems thinker, R. Buckminster Fuller saw invention as a way to rethink the relationship between humans, technology, and the environment. Over five decades, he produced countless design prototypes; however, because he lacked academic credentials, he felt he could not publish his ideas in scientific journals. Patents became Fuller’s substitute, and he called them “an equally valid scientific record of my discoveries and inventions.”
Inventions: Twelve Around One is a portfolio of prints that brings together drawings from Fuller’s 28 US patents with images of their realized artifacts. These include an air-deliverable dwelling, a prefabricated bathroom, a three-wheeled car, and a metal framework system for large-span construction. His most famous creation was the “geodesic dome,” a lightweight structure of interconnected components that encloses large spaces with the least amount of material. Together, these proposals reveal Fuller’s pursuit of maximum function with minimum material and energy—a principle he saw in nature and the clearest expression of his lifelong project of “doing more with less.”
Organized by Evangelos Kotsioris, Director, Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment and Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, and Marco Piscitelli, Curatorial Assistant, Ambasz Institute, with Lydia Mullin, Manager of Collection Galleries, Curatorial Affairs, and Elizabeth Wickham, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture.