Link faces of an icosphere for modeling a geodesic dome

Question

I want to model a geodesic dome-like object with custom struts and joining points. I want to have it be based off of an icosphere, with each piece looking exactly the same. I have done this with a subdivision-level 1 icosphere (an icosahedron), and some array modifiers, but I don't see how this can be feasible if I want to project it to larger scales with more dense icospheres. Here is a quick example of a basic version of what I want to create:

The "belt" is in yellow, the "caps" are in orange."

Modifiers for the caps:

I didn't spend a lot of time with modeling, but it gets the point across. It is two objects, one for the "caps" and one for the "belt." They each have various array modifiers on them.

Modifiers for the belt:

1. Can I create this with one object, so I only have to model it once, and it merges properly?
2. How can I extend this to a more complicated icosphere?

Alternately, can I "link" the faces to the same geometry and avoid array modifiers all together?

Answer 1

I don't know an efficient way to achieve a complex geodesic dome with Blender's modelling tools, but it is feasible with the Animation Nodes add-on.

If you can differentiate between the dome's polygons, e.g. based on the polygons' area, and manage to determine the polygons' orientation, e.g. based on the lengths of their sides, you can generate a replica of the original dome with the faces replaced by other meshes.

The Blender file should work with 2v and 3v geodesic spheres. More subdivisions would require modifications to the script that differentiates between the faces.
And (at least for the 3v sphere) you only end up with a closed sphere if you start with a 20 sided icosphere and add subdivisions (one or two cuts) manually in edit mode.