Earth Day at the MCA: Buckminster Fuller

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

--Buckminster Fuller

My last day of classes for this trimester was Monday. So today I had the opportunity to stop by the Museum of Contemporary Art and see the Buckminster Fuller exhibit. To be honest, I didn't know a whole lot about his work and didn't expect to be as intrigued as I was. But the exhibit is fascinating. It features video of his interviews, architectural drawing, and all sorts of wonderful models of his innovative designs. Of course I couldn't take pictures in the gallery, but fortunately I was able to find these photos over at Popular Mechanics:

The Standard of Living Package is a kit complete with all the furniture you'd need to create a small, sustainable home.

And check out this futuristic alien village. Actually, it is meant to be built here on Earth. The Dymaxion Dwelling Machine furthers Le Corbusier's idea of a house as a machine for living. And it's also pre-fab. I guess I never made a public confession of my pre-fab love, so I will do it now.

Triton City is a floating self-sufficient community. It reminds me of the arcologies from Sim City 2000. But it was designed in the 1960's. Clearly the man was a genius and way ahead of his time.

Models like this Jitterbug Transformation are a reason this exhibit would be great for a geometry or trigonometry teacher to sponsor a field trip to the MCA. How many right angles are there? How many congruent lines? Render it in 3D AutoCAD. See, kids, geometry is fun!

And is it just me, or does this picture of Fuller and his students building the dome remind my fellow Lost fans of anything?

Don't they look like they could be in the Dharma Initiative?

Anyway, writing this makes me want to play Sim City. Or watch Lost. Or even do both at the same time. Before I go, I definitely recommend you visit the MCA to see the show. It's perfect not just for Lost fans, geometry nerds, architecture lovers, and people who liked to build arcologies in their Sim Cities (which are all the reasons I liked it), but anyone who likes innovative ideas. It continues until June 21st and admission in free on Tuesdays. For more information on the exhibit, click here.