Alec & Bindi's geodesic dome tent

We built a dome tent  to use for holidays and festivals such as the Glastonbury festival and Healing Fields gathering. We constructed the frame ourselves and bought the canvas from Albion Canvas. The tent is sixteen feet in diameter and has eight foot (!) headroom. Living in it is far removed from traditional camping. There is more space than you could shake a stick at (or 65 sticks to be precise). With the central area as a "living room" there is still room in the surrounding area for a double bed and plenty of storage. If the tent was otherwise empty we reckon you could sit about twenty people inside in a circle. One of the nicest aspects is that it is very low tech - if anything were to break we will never need to got back to any manufacturer to fix or replace any fancy fibre glass or carbon fibre poles The struts are made of ash and the all the joints are 25 mm alkathene water pipe which has been melted in hot cooking fat then flattened to make the spade ends. It is totally waterproof and appears to be immune to the wind. Probably the biggest risk would be turning up at Glastonbury without the tin containing the twenty six 8 mm roofing bolts which are required to hold the whole thing together...hmmm.

This site will eventually include the details of how it was put together -
but for the moment there are some photos, video and general information.
 

Photos / Videos / Information / Thanks

Testing the frame

Trying out the large doorway

On Dartmoor - 1

On Dartmoor - 2

On Dartmoor - 3

On Dartmoor - 4

Glastonbury Healing Fields - 1

Glastonbury Healing Fields - 2

Video of erecting the tent

Video tour of the inside

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Information and notes

Useful links

There's lots of information on the web
about how to build geodesic domes.
Among many good sites I made
particular use of the following:

The Buckminster Fuller Institute
(Bucky - The original Mister dome)

Albion Canvas
(supplied the canvas, mat, groundsheet,
advice etc.)

Geodesics Unlimited
(includes great photo of the joints)

Chris Southall
(unfortunately the link to his
dome instructions page is
not currently working but I kept
the link cos he's a great guy!)

Geodesic dome calculator
(calculate for any shape, any size)

Geo-dome UK
(has good links to other sites)

This diagram shows the relative positions
of the long (shown blue) and short struts
(shown red) during assembly of the frame.

click on image to show larger version

We made a tenth scale model so that we
could play with various arrangements hanging
drapes to create a nice feel for the interior.

The model is made of gardening sticks
whittled flat at each end and with 0.5 mm
holes drilled for the "bolts" which are made
with single strand electrical wire.

click on image to show larger version

Whilst playing around with the model we realised
that five drapes could easily be hung from the
central pentagon to create an inner sanctum.

This arrangement in the full size tent  still
leaves room for a double bed and plenty of
storage in the outer ring.

We used the inner sanctum for counselling
sessions - keeping all our camping gear
tidily out of sight.

The drapes are hung from curtain wire which is
stretched between the main frame roofing bolts.

click on image to show larger version

This is how the joints of the frame look when
the tent frame is assembled. The blue parts are
25 mm (outside diameter) alkathene water pipe,
cut into  100 mm lengths, softened in boiling
water to fit tightly over the ends of the wooden
struts, then dipped in cooking oil heated to 180
degress centigrade for about 10 seconds before
being squashed flat in a vice to give a nice flat
"spade end". The edges of the plastic are then
cleaned up using a surform tool. The pipe is finally
secured in place with a single 3/4 inch
countersunk stainless woodscrew. A single
60 mm roofing bolt (8 mm diameter) secures
the joint with washers each side and a wing nut.

click on image to see larger version

This Adobe Acrobat file shows the costs
and time spent building the frame

DomeBuildCostsXls.pdf

This personal bit is from Alec - I'm not thanking Bindi here cos we did it together as a team. It wasn't really such a big task but in thinking about who to thank for help I realise that many people contributed in ways of which they are probably totally unaware:

So thanks to Thinley Chodron for the initial inspiration and instructions,
to Alan Wenham at Albion Canvas for solid ideas and advice,
to Chris Southall for his notes, drumming and that workshop in Spain,
to my brother Rob, the lover of shape, for showing me it was possible 30 years ago,
to my dad Frank for the maths, practicality and discipline to see it through,
to my sister Ros for all her support over the years,
to my mum Eileen for teaching me how to connect with people.