Buckminster
Fuller first envisioned geodesic domes as sturdy, easy-to-construct, low-cost
housing for the masses in the late 1940s. His idea took hold in the decades
following, and today the geodesic dome — part engineering triumph, part
philosophy-in-action — is a symbol of an era when world peace was a goal, not
just a logo.
           But none of this was on Mike and
Jill Martin’s mind when they first saw their geodesic dome home in Walworth.
They had been looking at Cape Cods and other homes within their price range,
but hadn’t found anything that suited them.
           “My husband is six-foot-four,” Jill
Martin says. “We’d be walking through a Cape Cod and I’d be admiring the
leaded-glass French doors and Mike would be getting hit on the head by the
ceiling fan.” The geodesic dome house, with its over-25-foot ceilings and
wide-open space, is much more comfortable for Mike, she says.
           The dome sits atop a squared-off
base that is punctured by a few small windows and the front door. You enter
halfway between the downstairs bedrooms and the main living area. From the
front door, you can see sunlight pouring into the main living space above from
the three, six-foot-wide, hexagonal windows.
           Fuller was really onto something
with these dome homes. Although the Martins’ home is 1,600 square feet, it
feels about twice or three times that size. Everywhere you look — at the
varnished wood hexagons that form the wall-ceiling panels; up toward the
third-floor loft, where Mike keeps one of his two drum sets; or into the
kitchen — the walls seem to move. Space expands the more you look around.
Perhaps the
man who built this house in 1987 was inspired by Fuller. According to Jill, he wanted
it to be a prototype for houses in Gananda. “I don’t know if you’ve seen the
rest of the houses in Gananda,” Jill says, “but this didn’t fly.”
           Their home might not be for
everyone, Mike says. The hexagonal windows pose a problem, because the Martins
can’t find any curtains or shades to cover them. It’s impossible to dust the
ceiling panels, Jill says, but she’s tried. The eight-sided kitchen made
installing hardwood floors so challenging that the workman “went nuts, because
he had to put in so many cuts,” Mike says. And good luck finding a flat wall to
hang a picture.
           “You have to have a lifestyle that
lends itself to this house,” Mike says. For the Martins, the house seems to
work just fine. They entertain a lot, and their friends say they love to hang
out there. Mike works at home and takes care of their son. “The open area is
great for our son to play in. We don’t have to chase him from room to room.”
           After they moved in, Mike started
reading about other geodesic domes and about Fuller. He’s certain they’ve made
the right choice in buying this unusual home.
           “We had friends with brand new homes
with grand entrances in new tracts, but they were still cookie-cutter,” he
says. “As beautiful as they were, as much as they spent, it really wasn’t us.”
This article appears in Oct 9-15, 2002.
