Spaceship Earth

Here it is, the final project. I've divided it into four sections...plus a sources page. Enjoy!

Richard Huxley's Journal: Section 1

Richard Huxley's Journal: Section 2

Richard Huxley's Journal: Section 3

Richard Huxley's Journal: Section 4

Sources Page

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Project Proposal

The pyramids at Giza, the Empire State Building, the Colossus of Rhodes, Zeus at Olympia--these are the kinds of monuments encompassed by the term "architectural wonder." And rightfully so! Often overlooked, however, is Spaceship Earth. Standing 249 feet high with a diameter of 165 feet and a total weight of 16 million pounds (!!!), Spaceship Earth is the main attraction at Walt Disney World's Epcot ("Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow") Center. Most of us can probably agree that the Disney Company has become an utterly reprehensible, money-grubbing vampire bat, but in my mind this does not detract from the uniqueness of its parks' attaractions, Spaceship Earth being a key one. And it is not just unique in an architectural sense--no, it is far more than just a building, a gigantic golf ball, a piece of eye candy. It's a ride, it's a history book, it's a selling point, it's a part of countless people's childhood memories (including mine), it's a central part of a world inside a world inside a world. In short, it's practically begging to be unwrapped. I intend to examine its obvious characteristics, but place the real focus on its functionality in various contexts and on its various connections.

(A nice collection of photos: http://www.wickedtallbuildings.com/SpaceshipEarth.html)

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A bit about me: Robert Crook

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Return to Ten Things 2006: Projects

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Posted at Feb 16/2006 12:05PM:
Daniel Steinbock: Buckminster Fuller was deeply concerned with developing a mathematically optimal shelter. Geodesics contain the maximum amount of volume with the minimum amount of material. They also, counter-intuitively, become more structurally stable as their size goes up.

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Posted at Feb 21/2006 11:51AM:
[klfsong]: What motivated Disney to built something so futuristic when most of their films during the time of construction focus on historical stories and old fashion views of socialization -- girl must be pretty, boy must get girl by conquering evil?

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Posted at Feb 21/2006 01:02PM:
Robert Crook: Good points. Keep them coming.

As an aside, I'm thinking of structuring the paper as an account of an archaeological excavation of Epcot years from now. Thoughts?

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Posted at Feb 27/2006 09:29AM:
[spitz]: Yeah, I think it would be cool to evaluate how future peoples might interperet it. Maybe the pyramids were just symbols of a huge ancient theme-park! :)

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Posted at Mar 01/2006 12:29PM:
Daniel Steinbock: Though this style of architecture may seem to us to be ultra-futuristic, Buckminster Fuller (who "invented" this kind of building) would say it is far more natural that typical architecture based on ninety-degree angles and resisting gravity by direct opposition. The geodesic sphere resists gravity by distributing its force evenly throughout the whole structure -- like an eggshell or a volvox. Bucky designed buildings according to what he called "Nature's coordinate system" which has no ninety degree angles in it. It's based on the simplest fundamental 3d shape: the tetrahedron, and its expansion, the icosahedron. Geodesic structures are energetically-optimal (see my previous comment) and they do appear all over in nature. Point being: to us, this appears futuristic; to Nature, it's business as usual.

http://www.bfi.org/domes/

http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gte470q/TrussWhy.htm

http://bfi.org/node/441

http://www.biotensegrity.com/paper5.html (search for volvox)