The earliest nodes date from 1981. A pretty functional structure with 10’ struts and 12” nodes was developed by 1984 but put on a shelf until 2007-2014 and it’s use for camp structures at Burning Man. Critical to the assemblage is the namesake node, a puzzle like arrangement of six identical orthogonally arranged planar pieces of Euro Birch providing connection points aligned with the axes of an octahedral-tetrahedral space frame. This geometry produces octahedral pyramidal structures with only two major part types. 

The integration of the node structures and pod and panel structures occurred in 2011 with the Otic Oasis, wherein 7’ and 14’ long struts and 16” cubic nodes created a 20′ tall pyramid  holding up eleven 7’ diameter pods for people to climb through. This 38′ tall assembly is still in use today with some additions, creating four different versions of the Solar Stage from 2016 to 2019 at Thailand’s Wonderfruit Festival. 

The largest of the node structures so far was the Temple of Whollyness from Burning Man 2013. The iconic images represents the synthesis of the geometrical and the structural ideals producing a whole much greater than the sum of it’s parts, cheers!  115’ square, 63’ tall, 10’-2” vertical, 14’-4” horizontal grid. It was burned into the sky/ground ceremoniously the evening of Sept. 1st, 2013

The node home (new) is 20% smaller than the Otic/Temple system more suited to residential applications. The system was introduced in 2018 with four installations, the Alter of Earth and Nohm Bar at the Lucidity Festival in April, and the BWB Advanced Outpost and the Camp YOUniversal Tea Room at Burning Man, in August. A dedicated roof structure including an overhang all around is the prime addition to the 2018 effort and allows the node home to be a true “shelter from the storm”.