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Geodesic domes have always occupied a special place in the heart of MIT, and of the Media Lab in particular. They are deeply [solar punk](https://pinkcastle.productions/) in their modular archiecture and utopian ideals. Inspired by [Jake, Sara and Agnes' dodecadome](https://gitlab.cba.mit.edu/jakeread/dodecadome) from a previous [99F](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HsdU3MGi3vtlB2OIukiFrpB3p9z2m6j6qDhQZCE4PzQ/edit?usp=sharing), we decided to build a new one for the first outdoors 99F. Because the dome would be outside, we decided to go bigger in size.
The dome was designed for robustness. We did some beam analysis to determine critical nodal loads that the dome would be submitted when assembled. As it was such a large structure, the own structure would need to be eventual scafolding supporting structures for the top nodes. The loads were multiplied with a factor of safety of 4 and the result was that the structure really didnt care about those loads. The overal safety factor was over 41.
Most [geodesic domes are designed to](http://www.domerama.com/dome-basics/odd-frequency-geodesic-domes-and-flat-base-at-the-hemisphere/) have a flat base by using a perfect hemisphere. This one was designed to have an additional layer of triangles below the halfway point, giving it a more upright form.
The final design was a 2V dome, 3.1 meters tall and 4.3 meters in diameter.
Then we cut the 2x4's down to size, and pre-drilled them with a 3D printed component.
<img src="img/drill.png" alt="scheme" width = "800px">
<img src="img/fab1.png" alt="scheme" width = "800px">
Assembly took around 7 hours, with 3-5 people working on it continuously.
<img src="img/dome2.png" alt="scheme" width = "800px">
<img src="img/assemble_early.png" alt="scheme" width = "800px">
<img src="img/assemble_mid.png" alt="scheme" width = "800px">
<img src="img/dome5.png" alt="scheme" width = "800px">
<img src="img/dome8.jpeg" alt="scheme" width = "800px">
<img src="img/dome1.png" alt="scheme" width = "800px">
<img src="img/alfonsodome.png" alt="scheme" width = "800px">
## Partying in the Dome
The 99F Party explored themes of hope, renewal and integration with nature.
<img src="img/dome_party.jpg" alt="scheme" width = "800px">