Dymaxion Car, Ivory Press Architecture, front cover, white foil block, Bamberger Dymaxion Car, Ivory Press Architecture, back cover, Dymaxion Car, Ivory Press Architecture, opener spread Dymaxion Car, Ivory Press Architecture, opener spread detail Dymaxion Car, Ivory Press Architecture, drawing p 71 Dymaxion Car, Ivory Press Architecture, model car 4 p 119 Dymaxion Car, Ivory Press Architecture, chassis car 4 p 130 Dymaxion Car, Ivory Press Architecture, wooden frame p 173 Dymaxion Car, Ivory Press Architecture, text detail Dymaxion Car, Ivory Press Architecture, front cover detail

Dymaxion Car, Ivory Press

The streamlined Dymaxion Car was the automotive future as envisioned by US inventor and architect Buckminster Fuller. A three-wheeler, steered by a single rear wheel, it could do a U-turn in its own length. The car was a revolutionary concept, but it was dogged by poor luck, including a crash outside the gates to the Chicago World’s Fair, where it rolled, killing its driver. Abandoned by its original investors, the project was all but forgotten until resurrected by fellow architect Norman Foster in 2008.

This bilingual publication, designed for limited-edition book publishers Ivory Press, traces the history of this automotive icon and Foster’s authentic creation of a brand-new Dymaxion. From historic sources to the latest construction drawings, the book presents a wealth of material and offers the reader insights into the two-year manufacturing process.

The book’s launch coincided with the opening of a Buckminster Fuller retrospective in Madrid.