A space-frame structure in the desert, the proposed pavilion combines the plan of Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Map with the layered section and node-and-tube construction of Konrad Wachsmann’s aircraft hangars.

The Dymaxion Map is a projection of the globe onto an un-folded approximation of the spherical Earth, and both architect/engineers were fascinated by the potential of the space frame as the structural embodiment of a networked globe: lightweight, endlessly reconfigurable structures capable of spanning vast distances, with inter-connected nodes like the inter-connected points of communication networks criss-crossing the planet.

On the ground, the seemingly random outline echoes the profile of the surrounding mountains, but from an aerial view (say, Google Maps) the Map and the reference to Fuller becomes apparent—the Dymaxion specifically situates the project in Las Vegas and Red Rock Canyon, and at the same time, reflects the Museum’s broader mission to represent a global, Greater West.