Triangle

There's a million ways to subdivide a sphere but the geodesic is the only really strong way to do it. A triangulated sphere will collapse, as well as quadrilaterals. I've spent time with different models of these and only the geodesic works. This is to save others the trouble: geodesic frameworks have to be precise and other geometry’s aren't worth the bother. The sticks you build the dome from have to be measured with precision, when you bolt or tie the structure together, its angles should self-align. Also worthy of note is that a geodesic is probably stronger from top stress then from side stress, meaning that it would survive a car being dropped on it better then a car driven into the side. Of course it ought to be pretty transparent to wind nevertheless, and relatively strong.

You probably get a tradeoff between dome shape and impact strength. A half-sphere dome (as if cut from a perfect sphere) may be stronger then one with a lesser arc - which would be more aerodynamic. So a lower profile dome may be more susceptible to damage from debris flying around during a tornado, but may be more transparent to the high speed winds. Depends a lot of materials I guess too. And finally, it's possible to create immense geodesics. One starts at the top, and adds pieces to the bottom, gradually pushing the structure up to completion.

Offered by Joe.