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Old Man River’s City Revisited

Time Magazine Cover

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Buckminster Fuller and His Utopian Vision
"All the problems that people are trying to solve with words and politics will be solved by the design revolution. Now we have information about men and environment, so we can see and understand what happens.” -Buckminster Fuller 1970

Richard Buckminster Fuller, also known as Bucky, was born in 1895, in Milton Massachusetts. In 1917, he married Anne Hewlitt, whose father was renowned New York architect James Monroe Hewlett. Fuller worked a variety of jobs throughout his life including machine fitter apprentice, Naval Lieutenant, president of a small unsuccessful building company, magazine editor and owner, college professor, public speaker, philanthropist, inventor, and architect.

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He has been called "the first poet of technology," "the greatest living genius of industrial-technical realization in building," "an anticipator of the world to come—which is different from being a prophet," "a seminal thinker," and "an inspired child." But all these encomiums are fairly recent. For most of his life, R. Buckminster Fuller was known simply as a crackpot. - Time Magazine 1964

After many failed inventions and endeavors, Fuller began to succeed and gain notoriety. He is most famously known for his inventions of the Dymaxion Car, Dymaxion Ocean-Air Map, and the geodesic dome. By 1970, Fuller had already made quite the name for himself. He had been issued 150 patents across 58 countries. At the very least, he held 20 honorary degrees. Even though he had been kicked out of Harvard twice, he had a Phi Beta Kappa key bestowed to him by Harvard University. He traveled often, speaking at hundreds of college gatherings as well as other academic society meetings. It was Fuller’s innovative thinking regarding sustainability, global resource allocation, and technology that led his good friend Katherine Dunham, world famous dancer and East. St. Louis resident, to approach him about a possible solution to the crisis building in East St. Louis, in the early 1970's. This consultation resulted in the proposal for the Old Man River City project.
“Through technology we can take care of everyone by learning to do more with less. I was the first to gain the awareness that it is highly possible for all mankind to live at a high standard of living” - R. Buckminster Fuller
Critical Path
In chapter 4 of his book, Critical Path, Fuller outlines his plans for the Old Man River City Project. More theoretically, the crater shaped city under glass would have included everything a human could want to live a quality life. In addition to housing, it was designed to be ecofriendly with sustainable features, outdoor green space, shopping amenities, and sporting venues. Man would want for nothing, thus reducing crime and poverty. While the physical design was revised throughout the years, the concept remained the same.
For the full Critical Path text, please click here.

< East St. Louis Background                                    Event at the Mary Brown Center >
Media Coverage of Old Man River

The media coverage of R. Buckminster Fuller and the Old Man River's City project started off optimisticly positive but as time went on and the project lost steam, it became more apparent that the project would not come to fruition.

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< The Design Pathway Interview with the Old Man River City Designers >