We often design a Monolithic Dome with a vertical stemwwall that goes straight up and acts as a base for the dome. Over the years, we’ve developed several ways of building stemwalls and have tried several options.

Chris Zweifel shows how an Airform and some cleverness make a one-of-a-kind winter dome.

I’ve discussed solar electric with numerous clients over the years, so I figured it would be instructive to go through the process myself. Most of those clients considered solar in the context of living off-grid, totally separating themselves from the power company. In almost all cases it was prohibitively expensive because of the size of the solar arrays and storage needed to fulfill 100% of power needs.

In an interview with Leland, I asked why Monolithic Domes provide the ideal architecture for movie theaters. Leland said, “Theaters should look unique. They always have. That’s tradition with theaters. Monolithic Domes are the perfect structure to provide a unique and interesting theater on the outside and the inside. People are attracted to the unusual.”

Modern Day Dream Homes includes exciting video footage of the fire which threatened the Braswell home in California, and much more.

Polk County, Florida is all too familiar with the devastation of hurricanes. Three major hurricanes hit the state in the span of two months in 2004, flooding the county with high winds and torrential rains. Five years later, some are wondering whether local residents have developed disaster amnesia. In a series of articles on the lessons learned from the hurricanes, the News Chief quotes experts who warn about the importance of preparedness. Among those quoted is the Monolithic Dome Institute’s own David South.

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation recently broke ground a 160-foot diameter Monolithic Dome multipurpose facility adjacent to an existing sports complex in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. The Muscogee Phoenix newspaper covered the groundbreaking of the $4 million facility, which is scheduled for completion in 2010.

A uniqueness in Price, Utah is its four, interconnected Monolithic Domes, serving as its Public Works Complex since 1982. It consists of a three-story dome, 90′×40′, with administrative offices and three additional domes, each measuring 130′×43′, that house a Fire Station, a vehicle and equipment maintenance shop and a storage facility.

The first factor Kollar and Dulacska considers is that the materials of shells are elastic at most only up to a certain limit; after this they become plastic (“physical nonlinearity”). Due to the intricacy of shell-buckling problems, only a few attempts have been made to assess theoretically the effects of plastic behaviour. Hence, they use a simple approximate method that corrects the results of elastic stability theory by taking the effects of plastic behaviour of the material into account.

Although no major hurricanes have hit the U.S. coast so far this year, states like Florida will be vulnerable to severe storms for the next several months. But there’s at least one Florida family that isn’t worried about what the next few months will bring, or for that matter, the next several decades.

Gary Madson, General Manager of Cement Operations for Lone Star Northwest, Inc., described their Monolithic Dome cement storage facility as, “a highly visible symbol for our company right in the heart of Portland.”

Since the fiercest hurricane on record to hit the U.S. blasted the Texas coast in 1900, Equalizer’s location certainly is in a hurricane zone. That hurricane-proneness was one of the main reasons Equalizer decided on Monolithic Domes for the storage of their two products: ammonium nitrate and diammonium phosphate.

Chris Zynda is the current president of the American Shotcrete Association and a regular contributor to the organization’s quarterly publication, Shotcrete Magazine. In the Spring 2009 issue, he turned to his archive to select a project to feature in the “Shotcrete Classics” section of the magazine. His choice was White Memorial Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Los Angeles, a dome church with a 35,000-square foot sanctuary that seats 2,000, an adjoining chapel that seats 250, and a 10,000-square-foot classroom wing that connects the two buildings.

For a very long time we have known, planned around and used the thermal inertia of the Monolithic Dome. We call that thermal inertia the thermal battery. Why battery? Because significant savings in heating and cooling equipment can be achieved if you can trim the highs and lows by using the battery.

While they certainly are not a cure-all for skyrocketing utility expenses, there are three simple and easy but effective things you can do that should help keep your home comfortable and your costs down.

While clients often see architects as a necessary evil, I don’t. The reality is that architects are necessary. But as in any profession, there are the good, the bad and the ugly, or architects who are talented, honest and reliable and their opposites.

With its flirty eyes, smiley mouth and cowboy boots that glow in the dark, Bruco, our manufacturing plant in Italy, Texas, looks nothing like a typical factory. But while Bruco might look like a playful, giant caterpillar on the outside, it’s serious work on the inside.

Covering a Monolithic Dome with tile can be both practical and beautiful.

What does it mean to be “Green”? The original term was very simple, “the use of rapidly renewable resources.” If you read a magazine or watch a television commercial you would be lead to believe that everything made is “green,” but the truth be known that the true criteria is now very vague.

Nobody knew the truck was coming. Massive tons of steel slammed into the house, threatening to destroy it and everyone inside. But the house stopped the truck. The only damage was a small six-inch hole in a bedroom wall. Someone said, “This truck should have destroyed the entire home.” A normal home perhaps. A home built of wood and plaster would have collapsed like a cardboard box. But this was a Monolithic Dome.

One day, Bruco, our Italian Caterpillar — that really is the Monolithic Dome factory where we manufacture Airforms — lost an egg. Actually, losing this egg wasn’t so much Bruco’s fault as ours.

Like the opposing ends of a teeter-totter, concrete and steel – two main ingredients of a Monolithic Dome – complement and contradict each other, all at the same time. In a Monolithic Dome, concrete and steel complement each other by working together to give the dome its strength, durability and longevity.

School Business Affairs, the only education magazine published specifically for school business management professionals, dedicated its June 2009 issue to the topic of risk management. It is fitting that one of the feature articles focuses on keeping students safe in Monolithic Dome schools.

In the history of thin-shell structures, four of the major influences are: Anton Tedesko (1903-1994), who is attributed with much of the success of thin-shell structures in the U.S; Pier Luigi Nervi (1891-1979), who in Italy gave structural integrity to the complex curves and geometry of reinforced-concrete structures such as the Orbetello aircraft hangar (begun 1938) and Turin’s exposition hall (1948-50); and the Spaniard Eduardo Torroja (1891-1961) and his pupil Felix Candela (1910-1997) who followed his lead. Essentially, each of the latter three attempted to create an umbrella roof the interior space of which could be subdivided as required, such as Torroja’s grandstand for the Zarzuela racetrack in Madrid (1935) (Archpedia.com, 9/7/05).

Why would someone want to cover a Monolithic Dome with metal cladding? David South, Monolithic’s president, says, “Metal cladding is an arrow in the quiver – a problem solver – that’s especially useful when things get really nasty.”

The Radius of Curvature is a number that is used to determine the “flatness” of a dome. In essence, the radius of curvature tells us how curved a curve is. The larger the dome, the less curve, the flatter the concrete.

According to the experts, when lightning strikes a Monolithic Dome the electricty will travel to the rebar and dissipate into the footing. Lightning rods are used in conventional homes to prevent the lightning from traveling through the highly resistive wood of the home and starting a fire. They are unnecessary in a Monolithic Dome. The structure is already grounded.

Rising from the Texas horizon in a futuristic fashion are unusual looking white domes. Many a motorist has stopped on I-35E near Italy, Texas, for a closer look. What are these one-piece buildings that look much like a puffed marshmallow or an Arctic igloo? They are Monolithic Domes.

Water vapor molecules (or water in its gas form) try to evenly spread themselves. If one side of a room is full of water vapor molecules, the molecules will move to the other side until the room is evenly populated. In a room, this phenomenon is easily understood. It’s a little more complicated in the real world.

In simple terms, a Monolithic Dome will keep you and your loved ones safe during an earthquake. The dome has no moment connections – those points at which a wall meets a roof or a floor attaches to a wall. An earthquake can and often does disconnect those moment connections. They just come apart. But a Monolithic Dome is more like an upside-down bowl, with zero connections to fatigue or disconnect. In general, an earthquake will put no more pressure on a dome than a good snow load.

When an earthquake struck Indonesia’s Island of Java in May 2006, some communities were harder hit than others. Ngelepen, for example, was devastated by a major landslide that wiped away every structure in town. But thanks to generous assistance from the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO) and Dubai-based Emaar Properties, the Domes For The World (DFTW) Foundation was able to rebuild the community by constructing safe and efficient Monolithic EcoShells.

Monolithic Domes make the best salt storages. They are solid concrete on the inside. Concrete handles salt damage far better than just about any other building material.

Openings in a Monolithic Dome can be made in several ways.

In a Monolithic Dome, an augment is an extension of the Airform. That extension creates a vertical surface, beyond the curve of the dome, where a door or window can be installed. A smooth augment is achieved by properly planning the Airform.

Athletes need to practice when it is neither too hot or too cold. But few players get to practice football, baseball, softball, track, rugby, etc. year around. A Monolithic Dome facility makes year-round practice possible. It largely eliminates the weather factor.

Have you ever seen the inflation of a Monolithic Dome? An Ohio television station used time-lapse video to chronicle the 15-minute inflation in only a few seconds.

“The higher you go, the more susceptible a building is to hurricane or tornado damage,” said David South, president of Monolithic, at a discussion of the latest in warehouses, distribution centers and storage facilities. “That’s why the Monolithic Dome makes an ideal automated warehouse,” he added.

Concrete mix design varies from job to job due to different types of materials and other conditions. However, we have found a mix design that works well in most areas.

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation is making plans to build a 160-foot diameter Monolithic Dome multipurpose facility adjacent to their existing sports complex in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. The $4 million facility, which will encompass more than 20,000 square feet, will include spectator seating, classrooms, concessions and several multi-use areas. Construction is set to begin in late summer and will be completed in 2010.

Your dollar buys more when you invest in a Monolithic Dome bulk storage facility. Not only can you get exactly what you need for less, but you can get it designed and built by experienced, reliable and reputable professionals.

Generally, construction management has three objectives: to allow the customer to control the project and its cost; to provide the customer with knowledgeable advice; to do the day-to-day coordination for the customer using professional administrative techniques. Monolithic Construction Management adheres to those objectives and adds a few more.

David South built his first dome out of toothpicks. But then, he was just a rural Idaho high school kid, burning with youthful enthusiasm, sparked by a Buckminster Fuller speech. David didn’t foresee just building domes; he envisioned building huge domes. “I knew there had to be a way to construct really big domes,” David says. “I saw them as super-size, igloolike structures for commercial use.”

As I was perusing the Monolithic Dome Builders Bulletin Board one day, I came across an interesting post regarding a presentation given by Dan Sutterfield, a Monolithic Dome Builder from Newburg, MO.

The economy may be uncertain, but Rev. Willie Reid has no doubt that this is the right time to build a Monolithic Dome for his Fellowship Bible Baptist Church. The church, located in Warner Robins, Georgia, has experienced rapid growth and recently reached 2,000 members. But the relocation of local businesses such as Brown & Williamson combined with the transience of the area’s military population has led to fluctuations in the church’s membership base. Unswayed, Rev. Reid is moving forward anyway on construction of the $7 million building.

The Monolithic Dome is built to last 500+ years. It has a lifetime measured in centuries. Its only maintenance requirement is the singly-ply membrane on the exterior of the dome, and it can be coated with several more permanent options.

Adaptability and affordability are key words when you’re talking about Monolithic Domes built as cold storage facilities. “It’s a matter of you tell us what you want and need, and we will help you design and build it,” said Monolithic’s President David B. South. “We can do a cold storage dome of just about any size — small ones with diameters of 75 feet or less, giant ones with diameters of 200+ feet, or anything in between.”

Can a Monolithic Dome be designed as a prison or jail? The answer is an emphatic Yes. In fact, if any buildings need and ought to be Monolithic Domes, they are jails and prisons.

We have a lot of business friends. These are people who, over the years, have influenced our lives and have become our friends. Many have their own businesses, located in various parts of the world and including an entire spectrum of interests.

When we partnered with Energy Star I noticed a section called Do-It-Yourself Home Energy Audits. So I thought I would check it out.

Decades ago, tankless water heaters were pioneered in Europe and Asia where they are commonly used as on-demand hot water systems. Now tankless water heaters, equipped with computer chips, sensors and high-power heating elements, are available here as well and can be installed in a Monolithic Dome.