Buckminster Fuller was
involved with the issue of making high-performance shelter
available to all humanity since 1927. In 1947 he began to
build prototypes of a shelter which he named Fly’s Eye dome.

The Fly’s Eye domes’ “pores” are all seven-foot-diameter
circular openings. These circular openings serve alternately
as doors, vents, solar-energy-cell mounts, etc. The circular
openings constitute three-fourths of the surface area of the
domes, while the manufactured shell-structure components
constitute only one-fourth of the structures’ surface. Since
the circles have rigid rims, the closure of the circles can be
accomplished by two, spread-apart drumheads of tensed,
thin film or fabric materials-ergo, at low relative cost.
The photo and words (above) are from Critical Path by
Buckminster Fuller (1981). Published by St. Martin’s Press.