“We spend too much time overbuilding homes. All we need is foam!” These are the words of Bob Masters, the man who hatched the concept for the alien-looking abodes the world would come to know as Xanadu.
The seed for Xanadu was planted when Masters read an article on a group of Yale students building homes out of insulation. The ex-teacher was intrigued and started researching the concept, which led him to architect Buckminster Fuller, who in the late 1940s popularized the concept of spherical geodesic domes that would go on to become a standard design for auditoriums, weather observatories, and attractions around the world.