denny Architectural Art & Design

Geodesic dome made from umbrellas leads to spontaneous public street party in Rotterdam (NL) A spontaneous street party in winter? Last Friday evening Feb. 19th the Bucky Bar -- a temporary public building designed by DUS architects was launched. The dome bar made entirely of umbrellas, seemed to appear suddenly out of nowhere around a lamppost in the centre of Rotterdam. The fully equipped bar, complete with DJ and drinks, was built directly on site. Approximately 300 visitors danced despite the cold under the umbrella roof, until at 2:00am when the police ended the party, as there was no permit. The Bucky Bar is part of a series of five unsolicited positive proposals for the future of the city of Rotterdam, that DUS architects in collaboration with SUA (Studio for Unsolicited Architecture) launched on Thursday night by modifying official municipal billboards by pasting their own ideas over the top. The Bucky Bar was first in the series to be realized, made from the most common and yet most unusual of building materials: umbrellas. The title refers to the great American inventor, Buckminster Fuller, who demonstrated how minimal energy geodesic domes could open a way to a more environmentally sustainable future. Could an umbrella dome to lead the way to a more socially sustainable future? The Bucky Bar is a full-scale model of such a future. It shows the power of space for spontaneous gathering, for improvised shelters to host conversations, debates, games or even parties ...