Bucky Bar (dismantled)

On Friday evening Feb. 19th, 2010 the illegal appearance of the Bucky Bar led to a spontaneous street party in wintertime. The dome bar made entirely of umbrellas, seemed to appear suddenly out of nowhere around a lamppost in the centre of Rotterdam. The fully equipped bar, complete with DJ and drinks, was built directly on site. Approximately 300 visitors danced despite the cold under the umbrella roof until 2:00am when the police ended the party, as there was no permit.

The Bucky Bar was part of a series of five unsolicited positive proposals for the future of the city of Rotterdam, that DUS architects in collaboration with the NAi Studio for Unsolicited Architecture launched at night by modifying official municipal billboards by pasting their own ideas over the top. The Bucky Bar was first in the series to be realized, made from the most common and yet most unusual of building materials: umbrellas. The title refers to the great American inventor, Buckminster Fuller, who demonstrated how minimal energy geodesic domes could open a way to a more environmentally sustainable future. Could an umbrella dome to lead the way to a more socially sustainable future? The Bucky Bar is a fullscale model of such a future. It shows the power of space for spontaneous gathering, for improvised shelters to host conversations, debates, games or even parties.

The Bucky Bar used one single light post as its construction; providing structure and light as well as electricity. The several umbrellas (each with a diameter of 1045 mm, and several custom made larger star-shaped umbrellas) were connected together on the spot using shoelaces and eyelets. The Bucky Bar was a temporary structure, built up and taken back apart in one night: February 19, 2010.