NEWS
Eastampton
Geodesics Make Media Splash!
Mount Holly, NJ, 23 March 2007 – They are only two wood-frame geodesic
domes, assembled as a small part of a school consolidation project now
under construction in Eastampton. But the striking visual images of
their construction recently made the top front page of the Burlington
County Times and a spot on Channel 6 Action News. So, what’s all the
fuss?
The two 16-foot diameter domes were specified by Scott England of the
firm REGAN YOUNG ENGLAND BUTERA, Referendums, Engineering, Architecture,
Design (aka “RYEBREAD”). As partner-in-charge of the Eastampton
Community School project, he is responsible for the $18 million of
additions and renovations at the site. England designed the domes to cap
the children’s reading area in the new library, and above the outdoor
classroom outside the new multipurpose room. “The domes represent the
beauty of math & geometry, while creating the maximum impact with the
minimum of resources,” says England. “Not a bad lesson for a school.”
The two domes are made of cedar struts, with aluminum connectors. They
were fabricated and assembled by Blair Wolfram and John Kennedy of Dome
Incorporated, based in Minneapolis. The occasion for the news coverage
was not only the appearance of the domes at the construction site, but
also a presentation about domes that Wolfram made to 85 eighth-graders
at the school. He shared the podium with Joseph Clinton, a design
scientist that had worked with NASA and R. Buckminster Fuller, inventor
of the geodesic dome.
RYEBREAD specializes in the design of building envelopes, systems, and
interiors, providing architectural services to South Jersey businesses,
individuals, non-profits, and municipal governments, as well as school
boards. Recent projects include Delanco Bank, Green Bank School, the
Griffin Gateway office building in Moorestown, Chairville & Kirby’s Mill
Schools in Medford, Dempster’s Pub in Mount Holly, and renovations to
educational facilities in Pemberton, Southampton, Tabernacle, &
Edgewater Park. Work at the Eastampton Community School project will be
completed by this September.
