Zaishui Art Museum / junya ishigami + associates © arch-exist

In 1962, the architect Buckminster Fuller envisioned a floating city that would free humanity from its dependence on the Earth. The speculative project consisted of enormous geodesic spheres that would naturally levitate in air warmed by the sun and be anchored to mountaintops. Designed to house thousands of people, Fuller ’s Cloud Nine aimed to ease land ownership pressures, address housing shortages, and contribute to environmental preservation.

More than half a century later, we remain far from realizing Fuller’s vision. Creating a truly floating structure on the Earth’s surface is still, for now, an unattainable ideal.…