The Singer Dome: A Story of Perseverance

Almost done — Windows will go all around cupola

I met William Singer in 1995, first by phone, then through the Monolithic Workshop he attended, and we have talked considerably since then. I am guessing that William was sixty plus when we first met, and, of course, the years piled on us all. After graduating from that Workshop, William, one of those independent guys who makes things happen, built his own dome-home.

Help Us Be A Changemaker

David B. South has spent most of his life trying to change the world. Since building his first Monolithic Dome in 1975, he has been working to convince people to think outside the box. Now he has a chance to be formally recognized as a Changemaker as part of an international competition for sustainable urban housing.

An Invitation To Study the Architecture of the Future

We now have the technology! It’s here. We have it! We now know how to construct domes affordably. Monolithic suggests that architects, engineers and anyone else involved in structural design or construction learn the advantages of modern domes, and study the technology it takes to build them. Let us teach you.

SprayFoam.com features David South’s book

On its homepage, SprayFoam.com, a website designed to serve the spray foam insulation community, is featuring Urethane Foam: Magic Material – And the Best Kept Insulation Secret. It describes the book as “a must-read for anyone with questions about the nature of urethane foam or its insulating qualities” and provides links for its purchase or free download.

Domes For The World: Rebuilding Haiti’s Orphanage Project Hope

Haiti’s devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010 claimed millions of victims. Some of the most destitute were parentless children living at an orphanage called Pwoje Espwa (Creole for Project Hope) in the Southern Region. Project Hope, which had been operating since 1998 by providing shelter, food, education and vocational training, was completely destroyed.

Domes For The World Foundation Asks You to Help

Indonesian village of New Ngelepen — This village of 80 Domes brought new homes, clean water, a school, a masjiid and a medical clinic to 71 families.

The Domes For The World Foundation’s mission is to improve the lives of people worldwide through the introduction and construction of Monolithic Domes and EcoShells for personal and public use. We will initiate and coordinate efforts to alleviate shortages of housing and community facilities in struggling cultures and impoverished lands.

Dome friendly lending companies

You’ve found the dome home of your dreams or you have plans to build one of your own; now you need financing to make it happen. While getting a mortgage used to be relatively simple, the 2008 downturn in the economy changed everything. Now lenders are requiring squeaky clean credit, bigger down payments, and solid appraisals.

Permafrost

Permafrost layers — The active layer will melt and freeze as the seasons change. While the permafrost stays permanently frozen and the talik never gets cold enough to freeze.

Permafrost is something most of us don’t ever have to worry about. In some parts of the United States, such as Florida, South Texas, Southern California and Arizona, the ground never freezes. You go further north and the ground only freezes a foot deep during the coldest winter months. But as you travel north, the ground may freeze two or three feet, then five or six feet.

The Hobbit Dome

A Monolithic Dome Hobbit Home — The front entrance of this earth-bermed, Monolithic Dome home was designed to look like the entrance to a hobbit hole.

We wonder what Bilbo, Tolkien’s hero hobbit, would have thought about the earth-bermed, 1400-square-foot, Monolithic Dome home, completed in October 2004, in Flag Pond, Tennessee.

Smaller Homes Are Greener Homes

Green construction – that term has now taken on a lot of new meanings. It obviously can mean something as simple as painting a building green. But it more likely means something we do that helps keep our planet user friendly – since we and all living things are the users. There are many ways to make our planet greener. One, obviously, is to build smaller homes.

An old fashioned approach to dome layout

3-D Model — After brainstorming their floorplan, the Ecker’s built this cardboard 3-D model to study how light and room area might appear in their finished Monolithic dome.

Chris Ecker, a Monolithic Dome owner and designer, says, “There are numerous ways you could go about designing your dream dome, whatever the intended use will be. Based on our experience, here are our suggestions.”

Monolithic Dome’s Greenness Wins Neighborhood Approval

Deck & south windows.  — Fruit & veggie gardens go all around the dome.

Charlotte, Vermont is a traditional town. Its charter dates back to 1762, its name exalts Charlotte Sophia, the wife of King George III, and most of its residents live in very traditional, wood frame, New England homes. However, in 2007, construction began on Vermont’s first Monolithic Dome, the unique home of Trisa and Dennis Gay and their son.

The Mudd-Puddle Dome On The Prairie: A Sight To See!

A spacious, gracious home — It’s a multi-level dome with 4,900 square feet and has 6 bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms, a large center room with living and dining areas, a kitchen, laundry, storage and maintenance areas.

Kay and Ernest Mudd moved into their 4900-square-foot, two-level Monolithic Dome home just about seven months ago, but they’ve already shown it to 1000 people. That number almost equals the population of their hometown: Dighton, Kansas. Located at the crossing of two state highways, K96 and K23, Dighton has about 1200 residents in its 0.9 square miles. So where did all the tourists come from?

Monolithic Compost Covers: Contributing to a Green Technology

Since 2005 Managed Organic Recycling, Inc. (MOR) has been improving the process of composting organic waste – something our society produces by the thousands of tons every year. But while some people continue seeing this waste material simply as waste, John Bouey, MOR’s president, calls it a valuable resource.

Monolithic Indoor Waterparks

Monolithic Dome Waterpark — One of its most fun features is a gigantic tube slide that starts atop the dome and finishes on its inside.

The image of children running around in bathing suits, in the winter, in Minnesota, Maine or Canada, seems an unlikely sight. Equally unlikely may be the sight of sweaty adults and children standing in a long line, baking in the hot Arizona sun, waiting for a short water ride. But waterpark fun can be enjoyed year round if designed inside a Monolithic Dome.

Domes: A Model of Sustainability

News articles are supposed to contain all the most important information about a topic in the “lead” or first paragraph of the story. Chris Sweifel very succinctly sums up the key advantages of Shotcrete domes in his article, which appears in the current issue of Shotcrete Magazine. Headlined “Shotcrete Domes: A Model of Sustainability,” the article starts off as follows.

GOOD Magazine Showcases Monolithic Domes

Inventor-illustrator Steven Johnson first fell in love with Monolithic Domes when he attended a builders’ workshop in Italy, Texas. This week, he had the opportunity to showcase dome technology in an unusual way - in a cartoon panel for GOOD magazine. Each week, Steve features leading-edge, pioneering designs in a cartoon-style format. His assignment is to find examples of products and ideas that move the world forward in creative ways.

Polyurethane Foam Application

Rebar Hangers

It is imperative that you, the dome owner/builder, understand the basics of foam application to monitor the process and look for potential problems. This article describes the foam application process and could be given to a foam contractor so expectations are clear.

R-value Fairy Tale: The Myth of Insulation Values

In the following sample chapter of the ebook Urethane Foam: Magic Material – And the Best Kept Insulation Secret, David explains why the R-value is misleading, how it was devised and why it’s flawed and biased. It also includes case histories and discusses the purpose and workings of insulation.

Canadian City Considers Monolithic Dome Wellness Center

Because many people still are not familiar with Monolithic Domes, one of the biggest hurdles proponents face when pitching this new technology is a lack of awareness. In Port Colborne, Ontario Canada, resident John Mitchell is making sure that city council members understand the many advantages that dome buildings have to offer.

Arizona School Opens Innovative Dome Campus

Charter schools are known for their innovative curriculum and pioneering strategies. It is fitting, therefore, that the Career Success Charter High School in Phoenix has housed its newest campus in four monolithic domes. Located just east of downtown, the brightly colored structures are painted to look like planets - Earth, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. The buildings are also totally solar powered and equipped with the latest technology.

Fertilizer Blend Plant Video

You can’t successfully operate a blend plant in any structure. It takes a building specifically designed for that job. This ten-minute, easy-to-follow and understand video explains and illustrates the advantages of a Monolithic Dome designed and constructed as a blend plant. The video describes the technologically sophisticated process and formula used in Monolithic Dome construction. It also details Monolithic advantages, many of which simply are not available in other structure types. They include: disaster resistance, super insulation that prevents interior temperature fluctuations, strength and durability.

Letter From: Kevin McGuckin- The Inn Place at Brenham, Texas

On a stretch of Interstate 35, in Central Texas between Waco and Waxahachie, is an enormous caterpillar. The curious stop to explore and come across Monolithic Dome Village. The caterpillar is a manufacturing warehouse; there are dome offices, dome storage buildings and upwards of 60 domes rented out as single person dwellings.  I was informed that these buildings are ‘green’ in every way.  They will withstand winds of 450 miles an hour (FEMA rates them as near absolute protection), they are environmentally friendly and have an R value of 60.  Their lifespan is measured in centuries, they don’t burn, or rot, or get eaten by termites. I decided to sign up for the workshop that Monolithic offers to learn how to build them.

In With The New; Out With The Old

Systems compared — A conventional system brings in the maximum amount of outside air, whether needed or not. No allowances are made for crowd size. The cooling unit functions as an air handler even if CO2 levels are extremely low.  	

In a split system, the cooling unit only recirculates air inside the building. Human respirations increase the buildings CO2 levels and trigger the CO2 sensor to turn on the outside air intake system. So this ventilation system only brings fresh air into the building as needed, depending on crowd size. This dramatically lessens energy consumption and cost.

Within any building, many things affect air quality. Those things include carpeting, paint, paneling, furnishings, etc. Each or everyone can emit gases into the air that are bad for us. Organic materials within a building can harbor their own kind of bad stuff, such as mold, mites, bacteria, viruses, insects and even vermin.
So just what is the solution?

Is it better to build one large dome or two or more smaller ones?

This is a familiar problem. Administrators of various building projects, but particularly schools, often come up with a general plan that allows them to keep making the building bigger and as square as possible. Reason: Have the least amount of surface exposed to the weather because the surface is what generally lets in the heat or the cold. But Monolithic Domes give us a new paradigm – an attractive, practical one. The actual heat loss through the shell of a Monolithic Dome is close to zero, so it is not part of the equation.

Steel Rebar Placement in a Monolithic Dome

Workers attaching hoop rebar to rebar hangers

It’s important to understand why we use rebar (reinforcing steel bar) in concrete. It’s used to absorb tension forces in concrete, since concrete has very poor strength as a tension material. So correct placement of rebar is essential.

From Geodesic to Monolithic Domes

Framework for a geodesic dome — David B. South built this near his home in Shelley, Idaho about 1970.

While attending high school in Idaho back in the late 1950s, I listened to a lecture given by Buckminster Fuller. He was promoting his Geodesic Dome. I was instantly fascinated with the concept of a building which, because of its shape, would cover more area with less materials than any other structure.

A Dome Primer

Time and time again, we’ve seen people confuse the Monolithic Dome, invented by David B. South and his brothers, with the geodesic dome popularized by Buckminster Fuller. eHow.com, which posts informative articles on more than 1 million different topics, recently shed light on the difference between the two structures in an article headlined “What Are Different Types of Domes?”

Greener Side Spotlights Monolithic Domes

News Radio 1080 is one of the main sources for local news in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Recently, the station launched a weekly segment called the Greener Side, which focuses on new green technologies and products.

Woodsboro’s Own Superdome

Rendering: Woodsboro ISD

If you’ve ever been to an inflation of a commercial dome structure, you know how exciting it can be to watch a huge Airform expand before your very eyes. For the students of Woodsboro Elementary, the excitement was contagious. During the recent inflation of their South Texas school district’s new multipurpose center, they got into the spirit by chanting: “Blow it up, blow it up.”

March 2010: Texas Company to hold Disaster Reconstruction Workshop

As relief organizations prepare to begin reconstruction efforts in Haiti and Chile, a Texas-based company is hosting a five-day workshop to teach attendees how to build the earthquake-resistant, concrete structures that have proven to be a viable solution for countries around the world.

August 2010 – Media Advisory: Woodsboro ISD

WHAT: Construction crews building a new multipurpose dome building for Woodsboro Independent School District will be turning heads on Wednesday, August 25 (weather permitting) when they use giant fans to inflate a huge balloon, known as an Airform to create the shape of the building, which will double as a community disaster shelter.

SUBE: Building Monolithic EcoShells in Peru

With little concern about hearing anything that might impact her life, in 2008 Lynda Eggimann, a real estate investor in Pocatello, Idaho, attended a real estate conference. But there she learned about Monolithic EcoShells and their ability to survive earthquakes. Lynda immediately thought about Peru, a country she knew well and visited frequently, that included loved ones, and that suffered from devastating earthquakes and poverty.

The Next Big Future? Ecoshells

The Next Big Future is a web site that reports on new technology and science that can “impact the future course of civilization.” It covers a variety of topics ranging from new university research to economic forecasts. A recent post focused on the home of the future - the Monolithic Dome – and specifically on the EcoShells that are being constructed in developing countries around the world.

The Ideal Data Center: A Monolithic Dome

Shelters  — Shown here are two Tornado/Hurricane Shelters.  These are for storing bank buildings and emergency response equipment.  They could as well be housing data centers.

Companies need secure buildings – especially if they host computer systems and store data. Monolithic Domes make secure, solid, permanent facilities that can withstand tornadoes, earthquakes, wild temperature fluctuations and even rifle fire.