Fuller produced designs for various gargantuan architectural projects that were never undertaken. Once again, any real assessment of these designs, especially judgements as to their technical feasibility, requires some grasp of synergetics.
Examples are: Manhattan Dome, Old Man River, Floating Cities, Cloud Structures, Yomiuri Tower.
Gordon discusses the relevance of the Griffith crack length to the issue of size:
"One consequence of Griffith is that, on the whole, we can use high strength metals and high working stresses more safely in small structures than in large ones. The larger the structure, the the lower the stress which may have to be accepted in the interests of safety. This is one of the factors which tend to place a limit on the size of large ships and bridges." (p.107)
See also Size and Shape, High Tensile Steel, and an architectural curiosity, the Cenotaph for Newton.
© Paul Taylor 2001