Geodesic dome
Domes and spheres made of triangles or hexagons, like those of Buckminster Fuller and the Eden Project. Choose the frequency, how far you cut the sphere and which faces become glass. The struts are laid in blocks as 3D lines. Click blocks you have placed to keep track of where you are.
The higher, the more and smaller faces and the rounder the dome.
With 2 to 5 domes they run into each other, like at the Eden Project.
Elevation
Plan
lighter = higherThe dashed lines run through the centre of each dome. x and z count from the centre of the first dome.
Build breakdown
Per layer, from bottom to top
| Layer | Size | What is in it | Blocks |
|---|
Layer 1, row by row
| Row | Start | Pattern | Blocks |
|---|
Build tips
- Build all the struts first, layer by layer, and only fill in the panels after that. The skeleton shows clearly whether you are still on track.
- Mark the 12 five-way points (the vertices with five struts) first with a striking block. The whole shape hangs on them.
- A 5/8 dome is taller than a half sphere. You get more headroom and the wall rises almost straight up at the bottom.
- Struts of iron bars, chains or walls instead of full blocks make the dome light and airy. Use All glass for the panels then.
- Tinted glass or light blue stained glass for the solid panels gives a real biodome look. With lanterns on the inside it glows at night.
- In a cluster, build the largest dome first. The others connect to it with their open side.
3D and layer-by-layer build plan
To Minecraft
Download the design as a schematic file and paste it into your world with WorldEdit, or build it along with a hologram in Litematica. The struts and the base wall get the block you choose. Glass becomes Glass, solid panels become White Concrete and the floor Smooth Stone. With a block palette you choose everything yourself.
Shopping list
Put the amounts of this design on your list. There you see everything together, converted into stacks and shulker boxes.
How it is calculated
History and fun facts
A sphere of triangles
A geodesic dome is a sphere divided into triangles. It starts with an icosahedron: a shape with 20 equal triangles and 12 corners. You split each triangle into smaller triangles, and push all the points outward until they lie on the sphere.
The more often you split them, the rounder the dome. That number is called the frequency: 1V, 2V, 3V and so on. Triangles are strong because they cannot be pushed out of shape. This gives you a large, sturdy space with little material.
The first planetarium
The first geodesic dome was built in the 1920s by Walther Bauersfeld, an engineer at Carl Zeiss in Jena. He needed a light frame for a planetarium, onto which the stars were projected.
Bauersfeld built a grid of iron rods and sprayed a thin layer of concrete onto it. The Zeiss Planetarium in Jena opened in 1926 and is still there.
Buckminster Fuller
The American inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller made the dome world famous after the Second World War. He received a patent for it in 1954. Fuller wanted to build fast, cheap and light, with as little material as possible.
His largest work is the Biosphère in Montreal, the American pavilion for the world's fair Expo 67. It is almost a full sphere. Fuller also used the phrase 'Spaceship Earth' to show that the Earth is a closed system.
Radar domes and polar stations
The military used geodesic domes as radomes: a dome around a radar antenna. It protects against wind and snow and lets radio waves through.
At the South Pole, a large geodesic dome stood at the American Amundsen-Scott station from 1975 to 2003. In the tool you can choose a polar station with a closed lower edge.
Biodomes and the Eden Project
A dome full of glass keeps heat inside, like a greenhouse. That is why people build biodomes where plants from warm regions can grow.
The Eden Project in Cornwall, England, opened in 2001. It has domes of hexagons and pentagons that run into each other, and one of the largest indoor rainforests in the world. Spaceship Earth at Epcot in Florida is a well-known geodesic sphere, and in many science fiction films and games people live under such domes on other planets.
Did you know?
- An icosahedron has 20 triangles, 30 edges and 12 corners.
- Every geodesic dome made of triangles has exactly 12 points where only five struts meet. At all other points, six meet.
- The Biosphère in Montreal is 76 metres across.
- The molecule C60, discovered in 1985, has the shape of a geodesic sphere and was named after Fuller: buckminsterfullerene.
- A football with black pentagons and white hexagons has the same pattern as a dome of hexagons and pentagons: 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons.
About this tool
With this Minecraft geodesic dome generator you build domes and spheres of triangles or hexagons, like those of Buckminster Fuller and the Eden Project. The struts are laid as 3D lines of blocks, and you fill the panels between them with glass or a solid block.
You choose the pattern (triangles, or hexagons and pentagons), the frequency from 1V to 6V, and how much of the sphere you keep: a half sphere, 5/8, three quarters or a full sphere. Then you set the diameter, thin or thick struts, and whether the panels are all glass, alternating, random, with a closed lower edge or in bands. You can add doors, a base wall and a floor. With the biodome cluster you join 2 to 5 domes together.
Examples include a Fuller dome 3V, a glass greenhouse, the Eden Project, a polar station, a planetarium, a climbing frame and a radar dome. The layer plan shows every block, and you can view the dome in 3D, from the front, from the side, as a cross-section and from above. Click the blocks you have placed to keep track of your progress.
The tool counts all the blocks, with glass and struts listed separately, and converts them into stacks. With the block palette you pick your own blocks, and with the .schem download you paste the dome into your world with WorldEdit or Litematica. It is ideal for a Minecraft biodome, a greenhouse, a base on another planet or a futuristic city.
Frequently asked questions
Which frequency should I choose?
The higher the frequency, the more and smaller the panels and the rounder the dome. On a small dome, a high frequency makes the panels so small that you no longer see the triangles. A 3V dome 25 to 40 blocks wide is a good start. For large domes you can use 4V or higher.
What does 5/8 mean for the cut?
It is the part of the sphere that you build. A 5/8 dome is a bit taller than a half sphere. You get more headroom and the wall rises almost straight up at the bottom. That makes it easy to fit a door.
How do I start building?
First build all the struts, layer by layer, and only then fill in the panels. Place the points where five struts meet first, using an eye-catching block. The whole shape depends on them. The frame shows clearly whether you are still on track.
Which blocks look good on a biodome?
Struts made of iron bars, chains or wall blocks make the dome look light. Use All glass for the panels. Tinted glass or light blue stained glass gives a real biodome look. With lanterns inside, it glows at night.
Can I join several domes together?
Yes. Set the biodome cluster to 2 to 5 domes. They then run into each other, like at the Eden Project. Build the largest dome first; the others connect to it with their open side.
Does this work in Bedrock?
The layer plan works in every edition, including Bedrock. The .schem file is for Java Edition with WorldEdit or Litematica. Looking for a regular round dome of blocks? Go to Spheres and domes.