BUCKMINSTER FULLER
[QUADRAT-PRINT]
Buckminster Fuller [Author], Otto Treumann [Designer]
Buckminster Fuller [Author], Otto Treumann [Designer]: BUCKMINSTER FULLER [QUADRAT-PRINT]. Hilversum: Steendrukkerij De Jong & Co, n.d. [circa 1959]. First edition [limited to 2,000 copies]. Text in Dutch, English, French, German. Square quarto. Portfolio folder printed on silver foil-backed paper. 18 pp. Loose sheets printed on multiple paper stocks printed via lithography and offset. Elaborate graphic design throughout. Wrappers worn with a couple of short, closed tears. A couple of spots to sheets. A very good copy.
9.75 x 9.75 square quarto with 18 pages laid into a beautifully-produced folder sleeve. Includes a facsimile TLS on Fuller's letterhead to Pieter Brattinga; Fuller answering the question whether he had been influenced by 'Bauhaus' ideas and techniques; a facsimile of Fuller's geodesic dome patent and other images.
"These new homes are structured after the natural system of humans and trees with a central stem or backbone, from which all else is independently hung, utilizing gravity instead of opposing it. This results in a construction similar to an airplane, light, taut, and profoundly strong." -- Buckminster Fuller, 1928 "The Quadrat-Prints are a series of experiments in printing ranging over the fields of graphic design, the plastic arts, literature, architecture and music. They are edited by Pieter Brattinga and are not for sale."
"The Quadrat-Prints appear at irregular intervals. They are published only after the most stringent requirements of intellectual and technical production have been met."
Steendrukkerij De Jong & Co. published 34 Quadrat-Prints between 1955 and 1974, with Brattinga serving as general editor and individual designers given free reign with their chosen subjects in the visual arts, literature, music, architecture, typography, etc. None of these publications were for sale -- they were distributed to friends and business associates by De Jong as elaborate self-promotions.
From the Buckminster Fuller Institute: "R. Buckminster Fuller [1895 – 1983] spent much of the early 20th Century looking for ways to improve human shelter by applying modern technological know-how to shelter construction; making shelter more comfortable and efficient; and making shelter more economically available to a greater number of people . . . Fuller examined, and improved, interior structure equipment, including the toilet (similar to the ones now used in airplanes), the shower (which cleans more efficiently using less water), and the bathroom as a whole. He studied structure shells, and devised a number of alternatives, each less expensive, lighter, and stronger than traditional wood, brick, and stone buildings.
He could do this, in part, because newer building materials were available, and partly because his structures use the principle of tension instead of the usual compression. In 1944, the United States suffered a serious housing shortage. Government officials knew that Fuller had developed a prototype single family dwelling which could be produced rapidly, using the same equipment which had previously built war-time airplanes. They could be "installed" anywhere, the way a telephone is installed, and with little additional difficulty. When one official flew to Wichita, Kansas to see this house, which Beech Aircraft and Fuller built, the man reportedly gasped, "My God! This is the house of the future!"
After the war, Fuller's efforts focused on the problem of how to build a shelter which is so lightweight, it can be delivered by air. Shelter should be mobile which would require great breakthroughs in the weight-reduction of the materials. Technology would have to follow nature's design as seen by the spider's web which can float in a hurricane because of its high strength-to-weight ratio. New shelter would have to be designed that incorporates these principles and that was Fuller's intent.
One of the ways Fuller described the differences in strength between a rectangle and a triangle would be to apply pressure to both structures. The rectangle would fold up and be unstable but the triangle withstands the pressure and is much more rigid--in fact the triangle is twice as strong. This principle directed his studies toward creating a new architectural design, the geodesic dome, based also upon his idea of "doing more with less." Fuller discovered that if a spherical structure was created from triangles, it would have unparalleled strength.
The sphere uses the "doing more with less" principle in that it encloses the largest volume of interior space with the least amount of surface area thus saving on materials and cost. Fuller reintroduced the idea that when the sphere's diameter is doubled it will quadruple its square footage and produce eight times the volume.
The spherical structure of a dome is one of the most efficient interior atmospheres for human dwellings because air and energy are allowed to circulate without obstruction. This enables heating and cooling to occur naturally. Geodesic shelters have been built all around the world in different climates and temperatures and still they have proven to be the most efficient human shelter one can find.
Fuller's first world wide acceptance by the architectural community occurred with the 1954 Triennale where his cardboard dome was displayed for the first time. The Milan Triennale was established to stage international exhibitions aimed to present the most innovative accomplishments in the fields of design, crafts, architecture and city planning.
The theme for 1954 was Life Between Artifact and Nature: Design and the Environmental Challenge which fit in perfectly with Fuller's work. Fuller had begun efforts towards the development of a Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science which he defined as, "the effective application of the principles of science to the conscious design of our total environment in order to help make the Earth's finite resources meet the needs of all humanity without disrupting the ecological processes of the planet." The cardboard shelter that was part of his exhibit could be easily shipped and assembled with the directions printed right on the cardboard. The 42-foot paperboard Geodesic was installed in old Sforza garden in Milan and came away with the highest award, the Gran Premio.
Fuller's domes gained world wide attention upon his Italian premiere and by that time the U.S. military had already begun to explore the options of using domes in their military projects because they needed speedy but strong housing for soldiers overseas. With the interest of the military and coming away from the 1954 Triennale with the Gran Premio, domes began to gain in public appeal and exposure.