Buckminster Fuller: Dymaxion Deployment Unit


Precedents	The Aerocar

Buckminster Fuller Dymaxion Deployment Unit	Committee Trailer
Fuller began his "Dymaxion investigations in 1927, with a proposal for a mass produced bathroom and a house. His early investigations coupled with the happy (if anecdotal) accident of seeing a grain bin, led him to develop the version of the Dymaxion Deployment Unit seen above. Commissioned by the army for field housing, hundreds of these units were shipped to the Persian Gulf during World War Two. Fuller's continued research into this production method led to the development of the Wichita House in 1949 Image Credit:The Artifacts of Buckminster Fuller, edt James Ward, Garland Publishing, 1984
Fuller drew inspiration for the Dymaxion house, not from technological innovations, but from a structural form that he believed had already been well tested - a silo. His refusal to radically alter the exterior of that form was based on his concern for speedy and cheap production. This approach led to the unit's great popularity with the U.S. Army, but also contributed to its lack of success after the War, despite its low cost ($1,250.00).