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The Joe Weinstein and Major Max L. Shulman EcoSphere
The Joe Weinstein and Major Max L. Shulman EcoSphere
Architect: Dan Peleg
The Joe Weinstein and Major Max L. Shulman Eco-Sphere in the Clore Garden of Science was designed by the architect Dan Peleg in 2003. It is a geodesic dome, modeled after the one first built by famed U.S. architect, engineer and inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller in 1949. Since then, geodesic domes have been used for a variety of purposes. One example was the U.S. pavilion at the 1967 International and Universal Exposition (Expo 67) in Montreal. Domes, in general, are strong and stable (the sphere being the strongest structure in nature), but building them is extremely complicated. The domes of churches and synagogues – such as those in Milan’s Duomo or the Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv – have therefore always been considered architectural feats. Fuller, however, found a way to build domes using only flat components – pentagons and hexagons: an approach that is relatively easy to implement. The resultant structure, called a geodesic dome, was received with such enthusiasm that at one point Fuller even suggested building an enormous dome to cover all of Manhattan.
In the Clore Garden of Science, a unique open-air science museum, the geodesic dome serves to demonstrate the various principles of ecology and the study of the environment, hence its name: the EcoSphere.
The EcoSphere is built of black aluminum fitted with glass plates, so that its outer surface is a smooth glass envelope. The hothouse effect produced inside is offset by a network of sensors that control the air-conditioning system installed underneath the structure and release air through large mesh columns. The temperature inside the dome is set at 25oC and the humidity at 50% to 60%. This microclimate makes it possible to grow a variety of plants, some of which also grow outside the EcoSphere, thus allowing visiting students to observe the effects of climate difference on plant growth. In addition, the facility provides students with a hands-on learning experience about the world’s water economy and nature’s food networks.
