Geodesic Paper Dome

Geodesic domes do not need to always be made from metal rods or wood; Paper is a great and simple way to create beautiful geodesic models.

Simon Quellen Field from Sci-Toys has graciously let Domerama present one of his creations that anyone in the family can do. This is only one of many projects you can find in his books, both available at Amazon.com:

 

Geodesic domes don’t always need to be built from wood or metal rods; paper does a good job as well. The edges of the triangles simply have the same lengths as the rods did.

If we choose to use paper, we can print out a template on a printer, and then simply cut it out, fold it, and tape the edges together to get a dome. You can print out the following page from the web site, or make a photocopy of it, enlarging it if you want a larger dome.

 

If you want an even larger paper dome, you can cut the drawing into smaller pieces, so when your printer resizes them to fit the page, you will have larger triangles. Use tape to reconnect the smaller pieces into one large piece. In the drawings below, I have duplicated the central pentagon to make it easy to see how they fit together. You will want to cut one pentagon away before taping the pieces together.

 

 

You can also cut the triangles out of cardboard or plywood, and tape them together, so that fiberglass can be applied to make a sturdy building.