Prefabrication experiments - 214 - oddities - 05 - Tetrahedral City for One Million People

Large scale buildings made from repetitive geometric components have always been part of prefabrication’s kit-of-part approach to building. Using a modular structural unit in a type of building block assembly for architecture and even urbanism was highlighted by many during the twentieth century. A notable modular unit, the patented octet truss explored by Buckminster Fuller as a three-cell unit of tetrahedra could pack and structure any space while reducing structural weight. Illustrated for domes, roofs or free-formed structures, the octet truss was defined as the elemental constituent of large spanning structures. Its basic unit, a pyramid composed of 4 equilateral triangular faces was aligned, stacked or juxtaposed with any number of related pyramids to span vertically or horizontally. 

The octet truss’ largest projection came in the form of The Tetrahedral City. One of Fuller’s unbuilt visions, the mega structure was mandated by Japanese businessman Matsutaro Shoriki to serve as a floating city in the ocean to accommodate increasing urbanization. The floating machine was designed by Fuller and his associate Shoji Sadao as a complete floating ecosystem where salt-water desalination, energy production, food production, and waste recycling were all part of closed loop propelled by nuclear energy. Approximately 2,6 km high the tetrahedra would shelter one million people within 300 000 adaptable and flexible flats. Each tetrahedra terraced unit would frame a private space into which owners could deploy their own moveable capsule homes. Housing units could be moored to the framework or moved to other areas of the structure during their lifecycle.

The colossal tetrahedra rested on a 61-meter deep reinforced concrete foundation. This floating harbor measuring 3,2 km per side could accommodate ships, loading docks, transport barges and airplanes - a proper city port. The raft foundation acted as a shock absorber adjusting to seismic activity. Every 50th level of the 200 story structure would be an open deck area letting sunlight and air into the heart of the massive tetrahedron. Triton city, a second version, also designed by Fuller and Sadao, was a smaller version designed as a test module for tetrahedral city. Both remained unbuilt and certainly avant-garde even by today’s standards. The floating cities were envisioned as artificial land masses floating permanently in the ocean. 

Elevation and section through the Tetrahedral City