Karl Zane Yost

YOST Karl Zane Yost, architect and disciple of Buckminster Fuller, died at St. Vincent's Hospital on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 after a long illness. He was 81. Affectionately know as "Zane," he was born in Zanesville, Ohio on May 3, 1930 to Karl Yost and Laverna Imes Yost. After graduating for Canandaigua, N.Y., Academy, he received a BA in Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied under Buckminster Fuller. As a sophomore at MIT, working solely from Fuller's earliest formulae, Zane built the first wood-strut geodesic dome. It was later reassembled as a guest house on his parent's property in New Hampshire. After graduation, Zane was selected by Fuller to supervise the construction of the first public geodesic dome at the Trienalle in Rome, Italy where he lived and studied on Fulbright Scholarship. He was drafted into the US Army during the Korean War and served in Germany until 1957. In the early part of his career, he worked for architect Victor Christ-Janer in New Canaan, before establishing Zane Yost and Associates in 1962. He worked in association with fellow MIT classmate and engineer, Donald Tarinelli of Bridgeport, and later moved his practice there until retiring in 2011. His firm was responsible for designing and building low, moderate and high-income housing across New England. A member of the American Institute of Architects, he served as chair of the National Housing Committee and received a CSA/AIA honor award in 1979 for the development "Summerwood on the Sound" in Old Saybrook, the first condominium project in CT to receive funding form the U.S. Dept of Housing and Urban Development to utilize active solar technology. He lived in New Canaan from 1961 to 94 until moving to Bridgeport. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Megan Owen Yost; four children, Owen Yost of Hoboken, N.J., Deirdre Yost of Saranac Lake, N.Y., Jason Yost of Norwalk, and Molly Yost DiStefano of Randolph, Vt.; as well as five grandchildren; and a sister, Theda Yost Clemans of Marysville,Ohio. Services are private. Arrangement are in care of the Larson Funeral Home 2496 North Avenue, Bridgeport.