Declassified: The story of “Cloud Nine,” Buckminster Fuller’s real plan for a geodesic sphere-city that would float in the sky.
In the 1960s, architect and visionary Buckminster Fuller proposed one of the most radical ideas of the 20th century: “Cloud Nine.” This was not just a building; it was a one-mile-wide, spherical city, a “tensegrity” structure designed to house thousands of people in a self-contained, climate-controlled utopia.
As this short documentary explores, the project’s genius was its propulsion system: the sun. The sheer volume of air inside the massive sphere, when heated by just one degree, would become lighter than the surrounding air, allowing the entire city to float like a colossal hot-air balloon. This mobile, migrating city was Fuller’s solution to overcrowding and pollution.
The project, while theoretically sound, was ultimately a “lost future”—an idea too grand and too far ahead of its time to be built. It remains one of the most inspiring and audacious engineering concepts ever proposed.
At The Sterling Engine, we unearth these forgotten chapters of technological ambition. If you enjoyed this deep dive, be sure to subscribe for more stories of the machines that almost changed the world.
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