https://doi.org/10.15255/KUI.2021.063
Published: Kem. Ind. 71 (3-4) (2022) 215–222
Paper reference number: KUI-63/2021
Paper type: Review / Chemistry in Teaching
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Chemistry and Architecture

N. Raos

Abstract

Chemistry, as well as architecture, are synthetic disciplines; keeping in mind the function of a final product, they attempt to find construction solutions to obtain a desired shape. There is certainly a difference in the object of design, as architecture is aimed at the design of buildings, and chemistry at the design of molecules, the size of their objects (macroscopic vs. submicroscopic), their nature (classical-physical systems vs. quantum systems) and, most importantly, they differ in forces a designer has to cope with (gravitation vs. electromagnetic interactions). This paper presents examples of architectural projects inspired by chemical structures (Atomium), as well as the application of chemical principles in architecture and construction of geodesic domes, devised by American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983).

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Keywords

chemical education, philosophy of chemistry, structural chemistry, geodesic domes, Richard Buckminster Fuller