Community Open House for Catoosa Dome

Ribbon cutting.

Catoosa Public Schools Superintendent Rick Kibbe, center, is surrounded by community and civic leaders for the ribbon cutting of the Catoosa Cafeteria Monoltihic Dome.

Mike South

The Catoosa Cafeteria Monolithic Dome held an open house last week. The ceremony publicly celebrated the opening of the domed addition to the school.

The event was held on the evening of Tuesday October 25th at Catoosa High School in Oklahoma. Catoosa Chamber of Commerce, the host of the event, invited business and community members to network with each other under the 136-foot diameter dome.

Cafeteria aerial view.

An aerial view of the cafeteria.

Mike South

Dome view overhead.

A view of the cafeteria from directly overhead.

Mike South

The dome was completed during the summer and opened its doors to students at the beginning of the school year. And while its day job is serve food as the school cafeteria, it also is a community storm shelter. A Monolithic Dome is able and proven to withstand storms such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and more.

Tornadoes are a real threat in the Catoosa community, where a tornado killed seven people in 1993. Schools in the area are building more structures such as these to protect their students. Other schools in the area also have Monolithic Domes. For more on the on why this structure was built, read our article New cafeteria dome provides shelter in tornado area.

Cafeteria kitchen.

Full-size kitchen with walk-in cooler, walk-in freezer, dry storage, food preparation area, serving area.

Mike South

Monolithic Dome Institute president Michael South attended the open house and said it was a great event. “It was good to see that their city and school were equally excited about being able to provide this structure to the community,” he stated.

The main reason these buildings are built is for safety. “We do quite a bit of work focused directly on helping communities save lives. We’ve got smarter buildings, and with smarter buildings, we can help save lives,” South said.

Catoosa Public Schools superintendent Rick Kibbe also attended and offered his take on the evening. “I think if you look around this dome you can see not only an awesome safe room but the way it is designed it is very inviting and very comfortable,” he stated. “This is also a place where you can hold community events as well as a place to feed the kids. It is safe, secure and an awsome building.”

He summed up the night by stating the structure was a “beautiful example of what we can do with the Monolithic Dome.”

Watch below for an aerial view of the structure.

Aerial views of the finished cafeteria/auditorium.

Mike South

Cafeteria tables.

Seating area with tables inside the cafeteria.

Mike South

Cafeteria backlighting.

The backlighting can be changed inside the cafeteria.

Mike South