The Geodesic Equaliser and why it’s such as good fit for purpose
One of the primary focus areas of Equaliser in it’s adaptation of modern technology is to build affordable, strong, hurricane and wild fire resistant homes.
Apart from providing a smart contract title registry on the blockchain, it is the ability to help others buy their own homes that drives Equaliser towards the adaptation of new technologies for building low cost, high strength homes.
The Geodesic dome design is a unique structure that provides the ability to meet those low cost, high strength requirements that Equaliser looks to adopt.
I was intrigued by this decision to adopt the geodesic dome design for building homes, and sought to get a better understanding of what they are and why choose them over traditional house designs.
I was surprised by what I found.
Geodesic designs are based on a polyhedron. A polyhedron is a three-dimensional solid that’s made up of many flat faces. Examples of which are the pyramids and prism shapes.
One of the most common polyhedrons used for geodesic dome designs is called an icosahedron, which is a solid shape composed of 20 flat faces. Each face is an identical equilateral triangle. That just means a triangle which has equal length sides. To form the polyhedron out of multiple triangles you rotate the edges of those triangles towards the center until you form a rough version of a sphere, called a geodesic sphere. If you cut that sphere in half you will end up with two geodesic domes.
A Brief History
In 1926, the world’s first geodesic dome opened in Jena, Germany, as a planetarium. its exterior diameter was 25 meters and is the oldest planetarium.
It was funded by Zeiss an optics manufacturer. A Zeiss engineer by the name of Walter Bauersfeld designed the structure with the goal of making it extremely lightweight yet big enough to fit a large audience of people. It also had to be strong enough to withstand storms. It was placed on the roof of a Zeiss factory so had to withstand the elements.
Based on this goal, a geodesic design was chosen.
Uniqueness of the Geodesic dome design
What makes a Geodesic dome design unique is that in terms of its interior space:
- Geodesic domes enclose the largest volume of space using the least amount of construction material.
- They require so little with regards to material and therefore also extremely lightweight and low cost.
- The geometric dimensions of the domes also lend the design great strength.
The low quantity of materials necessary for geodesic domes, matched with their durability means that they’ve been used all over the world such as in harsh environments such as Antarctica where they’ve stood for decades and resisted winds of around 300 kilometers per hour. Domes have also withstood hurricanes, earthquakes, and fires better than rectangle-based structures.
Geometry Fundamentals
The underlying fundamental to the geodesic dome is the use of the triangle. The triangle shape is unique in that if a force is applied to one edge of a triangle, then that force is evenly distributed to the other two sides which then transmit pressure to the adjacent triangles. That cascading distribution of pressure is how geodesic domes efficiently distribute stress along the entire structure.
Not all geodesic domes are the same. The most basic dome is based on an icosahedron which has 20 faces made up of equilateral triangles. It is possible to make even larger domes by dividing the face of each triangle into smaller and smaller triangles.
The frame for each triangle is called a strut. In more complicated domes the struts can be of different lengths, but a “one-frequency” dome uses all struts the same length. So a “two-frequency” dome uses two different strut lengths. Interestingly the lower the frequency domes are easier to build and use less parts but are smaller.
Dome struts can be made of metal or of wood. The point where the struts meet are housed in a hub usually made of steel.
Once the frame of struts is assembled the triangle panels are fitted. These panels can be made of plywood, plastic or concrete.
Some Home Benefits
The dome design results in less surface area which makes this structure less susceptible to temperature changes, and therefore less expensive to heat and cool compared to traditional structured homes. The external round shape deflect hot and cold winds better than flat rectangle walls and reduce external air pressure on the dwelling. The winds flow around the dome rather than against a flat structure.
Minor Obstacles
Whilst there are many advantages to the dome home, there are some disadvantages:
- Harder to funish
- Less privacy as Dome homes tend to be more open plan as internal structural walls are not required like they are in traditional homes.
- Waterproofing can be a big concern.
Although ultra efficient, the geodesic dome has warm moist air that rises to the top of the dome causing uncomfortable temperatures upstairs, condensation problems and potential mould problems.
Although these potential issues may arise, they are easily prevented by good building practice to ensure adequate waterproofing is applied as well as a good ventilation system to prevent build up of any hot, moist air in the upper inside area.
The benefits of the Geodesic dome mentioned earlier far out way these minor issues that are easily overcome with some due diligence.
Summary
Equaliser’s foray into the building of geodesic style dwellings at a low cost is very exciting and paves the way to provide beautiful, strong efficient homes to those that would normally not be able to afford one.
The Equaliser coin will be used to purchase one of these homes from Equaliser which will help to bolster the Equaliser coin price and bring stability to it’s value. Align that with the Equaliser blockchain title registry smart contracts and Equaliser is well placed to be a leader in the area of providing affordable homes to many with the immutable security of a recognised title registry on the blockchain.
The Equaliser project is new and just starting to build some serious momentum. I’m really excited to see what comes of it all, and definitely want to be a part of it. I’ve found the Equaliser community to be very welcoming and very active. I love being able to jump onto the Equaliser Discord channel and chat with friends. Plus the free rains of Equaliser Coin (EQLI) are an added bonus.
Paul Clarke
Medium: JellySmash
Twitter: @greenbergblue
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