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A millennium in architecture has been reached in the invention of the Dymaxion House, designed by Buck minister Fuller, of Chicago and exhibited this week by the Harvard Society for Contemporary Art in room 204 of the Harvard Cooperative Building.
Although a full sized house has not yet been constructed, the inventor claims that it is flood-proof, earth-quake-proof, wind-proof, tornado-proof, heat-proof, cold-proof, and economical and that an airplane could run into it without damaging it. In addition, the partitions and struts are made of hollow duralumin which is pumped full of air to increase the tensile strength of the structure and to enable the children of the house to fall down without being hurt by the springy flooring.
The living quarters of the house are several feet above the ground giving it, the appearance of a bushy tree. The structure is hexagonal in shape, suspended from a central tower by cables. The inventor uses for the main theory of his work the principle that triangles and hexagons are the usual forms of natural objects, and, consequently, the most stable. He pointed out that the force of gravity tends to destroy a square and strengthen a triangle or hexagon.
The model house which the inventor shows consists of five rooms. Arrangements are made so that the servant problem is solved by having most of the household work done automatically. One of the features of the plan is the electric washer which washes and dries clothes within three minutes after they are placed in it. The library contains all kinds of maps, a moving picture projector, typewriters, and a mimeograph as well as various other handy means of getting knowledge.
The house is glassed in on all sides by hollow flasks of an unbreakable material partially exhausted of air. They are of a triangular shape and are held in place by rubber tubing which fits in grooves in the edges and when filled with compressed air, tightens to form an airtight enclosure of high tensile strength.
In order to accommodate the crowds wishing to see the demonstration, the Society has requested that people arrive promptly on the hour of the exhibition since doors will be closed ten minutes after. Demonstrations begin at 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock in the morning and at 3 o'clock and 4 o'clock in the afternoon and at 9 o'clock in the evening.
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