Reference Documents

We have provided a set of resource documents selected specifically to enrich your understanding of Design Science, sustainability, leverage points, etc – all of which speak directly to The Buckminster Fuller Challenge entry criteria. These resources can be found below.

You can find additional information on The Buckminster Fuller Institute website.


Design Science: A Framework for Change

Design Science: A Framework for Change by Michael Ben- Eli

During the last quarter century, Buckminster Fuller's concept of Design Science has come to mean different things to different people, evolving in the process into a potent combination of method, metaphor and myth.

The purpose of this document is to refocus the concept, address it in the context of some reflections about design in general, and link Design Science to the sustainability challenge facing humanity today.

click to download: Design Science: A Framework for Change by Michael Ben-Eli [pdf 4.1mb]

World Design Science Decade Documents
WORLD DESIGN SCIENCE DECADE DOCUMENTS

These documents comprise a series entitled "World Design Science Decade."

The series originates with the proposal made by R. Buckminster Fuller to the International Union of Architects (I. U. A. ) at their VIIth Congress in London, England in July, 1961. He proposed then that the architectural schools around the world be encouraged by the I. U. A. to invest the next ten years in a continuing problem of how to make the total world's resources which [in 1961] serve only 40% serve 100% of humanity through competent design despite a continuing decrease of metal resources per capita.

In essence, The World Design Science Decade series of documents suggests, in great detail, ways in which world architectural schools, and specifically their students, should initiate, and assume The Design Science Decade. The total series includes many of Fuller's most prescient ideas.

A note from the series editor, John McHale:
"Though the language of some of the texts may seem difficult at first approach, it should be borne in mind that one of our major problems in thinking today [1965] is the use of language systems which still represent a fixed, structurally compartmentalized world view. The terms available to us for the expression of dynamic, rather than static, concepts are far from satisfactory. Fuller's language is particularly representative of the 'transitional state' (of the western world) between the older, traditional, noun-centered culture to its present day, changing, verb-centered culture'. In his search for an adequately descriptive terminology he tends to employ concepts and usages from many different fields juxtaposed in ways which may be unfamiliar to those more customarily restrained within the vocabularies of particular disciplines."


Design Science Primer document
Environmental Design Science Primer by Howard Brown, Robert Cook & Medard Gabel

From the foreword: This primer outlines one alternative to present problem-solving techniques, an approach Buckminster Fuller calls "comprehensive anticipatory design science." Design science is "the effective application of the principles of science tothe conscious design of our total environment in order to help make the Earth's finite resources meet the needs of all of humanity without disrupting the ecological processes of the planet."

click to download: Environmental Design Science Primer by Howard Brown, Robert Cook & Medard Gabel [pdf 4.2mb]

Places to Intervene
Places to Intervene in a System by Donella H. Meadows

Dr. Donella H. Meadows (Ph.D. in biophysics, Harvard University), a Pew Scholar in Conservation and Environment and a MacArthur Fellow, was one of the most influential environmental thinkers of the twentieth century.

The central thesis of Places to Intervene in the System is "Leverage points are not intuitive. Or if they are, we intuitively use them backward, systematically worsening whatever problems we are trying to solve." Leverage points are those "places within a complex system (a corporation, an economy, a living body, a city, an ecosystem) where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything."

click to download: Places to Intervene in a System by Donella H. Meadows [pdf 92k ]

Sustainability Principes Document
Sustainability: The Five Core Principles by Michael Ben-Eli

Dr. Michael Ben-Eli is an international consultant on management and organization. He was a student and close associate of Buckminster Fuller, with whom he collaborated on projects involving research on advanced structural systems and exploration of issues related to the management of technology and world resources for the advantage of all.

The Five Core Principles of Sustainability have been developed to serve as a new framework to advance our understanding of what must guide our actions if we intend to implement breakthrough sustainability practices.

"If you wish to fly and want to successfully construct an aircraft in order to do so, you need to understand the basic principles of aerodynamics. Similarly, if we are serious about ensuring a sustainable future, we need to be guided by a set of principles which underlie sustainability as an enduring state." — M. Ben-Eli

click to download: Sustainability: The Five Core Principles by Michael Ben-Eli [pdf 112k ]

Humanity's Critical Path Document
Humanity's Critical Path: From Weaponry to Livingry by R. Buckminster Fuller

Buckminster Fuller often framed inventions and artifacts in terms of weaponry and livingry - objects and ideas meant to kill, main, destroy versus those that enhance and advance "comprehesive human success." The goal of Fuller's call for a design science revolution was to encourage scientists, inventors, architects, designers, and comprehensivists worldwide to focus their energies on creating and introducing livingry artifacts that would enrich human life and bring about "a world that works for 100% of humanity." In this piece, Fuller reiterates this call and describes his own livingry artifacts such as The Dymaxion House, Geodesic Dome, and Dymaxion Omnitransport (car).

click to download: Humanity's Critical Path: From Weaponry to Livingry by R. Buckminster Fuller [pdf 1.1mb ]



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