CEE 134F: Making Buckminster Fuller

Course Description

A singular figure of the postwar period, Buckminster Fuller has had a lasting influence across many design fields. This interdisciplinary seminar makes use of the unparalleled resource of the Fuller archive, which is held at Stanford. Students begin the term with an introduction to Fuller's life and work, before reviewing materials from his archive in Special Collections at Green Library. Students individually research projects found in the archive and engage in analysis of Fuller's work by making drawings and models based on the archival documents that they discover, before departing from Fuller's work to develop their own designs for spatial structures. Projects will be carried out at varied scales and in varied materials, with potential for collaborative work. Students will be expected to complete basic safety training in the Product Realization Lab and/or other campus fabrication facilities, in order to use those facilities to develop their projects outside of class time. There are no prerequisites, however students should have a strong interest in drawing and physical making.