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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the completion of the Fuller Dome Center for Spirituality and Sustainability (CSS) on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, by renowned sustainability pioneer R. Buckminster Fuller and his architectural partner Shoji Sadao. The CSS’s new director, Ben Lowder, plans to use the observance as a way to further advance CSS’s mission and Fuller’s vision. 

“This occasion provides an opportunity to place the Center and its organizational mission onto a global stage through its importance to Bucky’s legacy,” said Lowder. “Increased awareness will amplify fundraising opportunities that will allow us to address the physical needs of the building, while maintaining the metaphysical aspects of our mission.” 

Lowder, who currently serves as a board member for Fuller Dome Home at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, has long been involved with Fuller’s legacy and mission on both the SIUC and SIUE campuses. 

Lowder began helping in efforts to restore the Dome Home in 2010, by designing communication materials used to raise funds for its preservation. The Dome Home was successfully restored and is now open for tours. 

He has worked as a creative consultant with CSS since 2014. “Most of my duties involved crafting and communicating the Center’s mission to promote humanity’s sacred connection to the earth and each other,” he said. “I used my previous experiences as a marketing director and commercial artist to connect the Center’s mission to the legacy of its designer, Buckminster Fuller, through printed materials, the website, special events and programing.” 

The CSS board elected Lowder in September 2020 to be director. “I am passionate about providing a lived example of Bucky’s praxis and utilizing the architectural metaphor of the Center’s miniature earth dome to promote unity through the ways in which our diverse faith traditions overlap,” expressed Lowder. 

As to some of the tasks facing the CSS, Lowder noted, “The building itself, which is central to the organization’s vision, needs considerable capital investment to be viable as a gathering space for another 50 years. Our goal is to achieve a ‘Net Zero’ carbon footprint for the Fuller Dome building.” 

“The Dome allows us to offer a space on the SIUE campus where all faith traditions and belief systems are welcome. Like all organizations in this time of a global pandemic, we are pivoting from a purely physical gathering space to a hybrid space of virtual and in-person gatherings. It is our challenge to maintain the Dome as a sacred space, while addressing the secular concerns of finances and technology.” 

However, Lowder puts these problems into perspective. 

“As we look at the daunting challenges facing us, the legacy of the Center’s designer, Buckminster Fuller, provides a hopeful example of how one person dedicated to making a difference can nudge us towards an abundant and unified future,” he continued. “As early as the 1920s, Bucky predicted that without preventative action we would be facing the social and environmental challenges that we are in fact facing today. The Southern Illinois University System is blessed to have Bucky’s legacy as part of its history. It is time to properly honor that legacy, and share it with the world.” 

The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability is a non-profit, multi-faith home for spirituality and sustainability efforts housed in the Buckminster Fuller Dome on the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville campus. 

Photo:
Ben Lowder, director of the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability.