NEST Dome
Curiosity Questions
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What is a geodesic dome? A geodesic dome is a sphere-like structure constructed of short, straight segments that create
triangles.
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The NEST Dome is not a perfect half-circle. Why do you think the structure is framed using triangles? Constructing a fully round
dome would require too many curved materials. By using straight lines in a triangle grid pattern, the dome can approximate the
shape of a circle while providing easy connection points during construction.
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What is stronger: a square box or a geodesic dome? A geodesic dome is stronger because it has more interdependent connection
points that push against one another to carry the load of the structure.
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Where have you seen geodesic domes before? Houses and planetariums use these structures.
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Look at an image on your phone. What would happen if you stretched that image on the ceiling of the NEST Dome? Without
increasing the detail of the image, the image would appear very blurry when stretched on a larger area.
Science Themes
• The NEST Dome is a geodesic hemisphere, a shape that is nature’s most efficient at covering the most living area with the least
amount of surface area. They are also very strong. They are constructed using a framework of triangles and polygons that follow
geodesic lines, or large circles. The more triangle supports there are, the closer it comes to resembling a hemisphere.
NEST Dome
Science Themes
• The NEST Dome has multiple projectors that project graphics on the dome’s vast geodesic
ceiling. Because the ‘screen’ is large and curved, several projectors are needed to display the
graphics. For certain high resolution films, it can take computers weeks of rendering, or video
processing, to produce one minute of video.
• Rendering is the digital processing of image files, sound, animation, and special effects into one
final video that can play files sequentially. Like cooking, video rendering brings together the
video elements into something that is greater than its parts.
• Because the NEST Dome has such a large surface area for image display, the video files are large
in order to contain enough information to produce crisp, high definition, non-blurry picture
quality. Processing such a large amount of data into a finished video requires a lot of computing
power.
Makers and Making
THE ARTISTS | Sean Caruso and Patrick Pomerleau – Sean has 15 years of experience working with video, lighting, and sound. Patrick
has a degree in physics from the University of Sherbrooke and has worked in industrial electronics for over 10 years. Their awardwinning films have played in full dome festivals around the world.
INSPIRATION | The NEST Dome was created to provide an immersive space where artists can feature their 360° digital content.
DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION | The dome is a geodesic structure with a 13 meter diameter and a domed ceiling height of 6.7 meters. It
can fit 220 people standing. It features 360° visual projections and surround sound similar to a ‘planetarium’ found at museums. Since
guests are fully immersed in the visuals, the dome provides an experience similar to virtual reality without headsets.