Montreal Biosphere Montreal Biosphere The Biosphere (French: "La Biosphère de Montréal") is a museum dedicated to the environment. It is located at Parc Jean-Drapeau, on Saint Helen's Island in the former pavilion of the United States for the 1967 World Fair, Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The museum's geodesic dome was designed by Buckminster Fuller. The architect of this geodesic dome was Buckminster Fuller. The building originally formed an enclosed structure of steel and acrylic cells, in diameter and high. It is a Class 1 (icosahedral, as differentiated from Class 2 domes, which are dodecahedral, and Class 3 ones, which are
Geodesic dome resists sun and weathering. Some form of internal flashing or caulking must be placed over the joints to prevent drafts. The 1963 Cinerama Dome was built from precast concrete hexagons and pentagons. Given the complicated geometry of the geodesic dome, dome builders rely on tables of strut lengths, or "chord factors". In "Geodesic Math and How to Use It", Hugh Kenner writes, "Tables of chord factors, containing as they do the essential design information for spherical systems, were for many years guarded like military secrets. As late as 1966, some 3"ν" icosa figures from "Popular Science Monthly" were all anyone