Any sturdy building had to be declared a hurricane shelter in the Woodsboro, Texas area up until four years ago. At that time, two hurricane-proof Monolithic Dome gymnasiums, which could act as hurricane shelters for the community, were built in Woodsboro and Edna, reports J. R. Ortega in the story, Hurricane-proof domes could provide salvation for those in path of storm, in the Victoria Advocate.
In David B. South’s latest President’s Sphere, he addresses the risks of constructing low-profile Monolithic Domes. Using his forty years of experience building Monolithic Domes and thin-shell pioneer, Dr. Arnold Wilson’s engineering expertise, he cautions dome-builders that dropping the profiles of Airformed domes can have catastrophic consequences with no appreciable benefits.
Have we mentioned that Monolithic Domes are super strong? Cuzzins Jeb and Joe found that out the hard way in Barry Byers’ latest Monolithic Dome Comic, The Legend of Domestone.
Beaumont Enterprise in Beaumont, Texas recently published a story detailing the need for additional funding to complete a storm shelter/performing arts center for the people of Beaumont in Dome needs more money by Cassie Smith.
Petroleum coke, often called “petcoke,” is a byproduct of oil refineries. Monolithic Dome Petroleum Coke Storages are the best solution to the problem of storing petcoke out in the open in massive dust-pollution generating piles that is swiftly becoming an unacceptable solution to the American public. Read more in David B. South’s latest President’s Sphere.
Aggieland Fitness Dome was complete in January 2004 and was the world’s first Monolithic Dome fitness center. The 124′ × 40′ dome encompasses 12,000 square. feet on ground level and 2400 square feet on the mezzanine level. “The dome has done all the things I was hoping it would do. It differentiates us from other buildings and brings potential customers through the door,” said Steve Lumpee, owner of Aggieland Fitness in College Station, Texas.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do, but when in Indonesia, use coconuts to build scale models of dome projects! Albert Einstein purportedly said, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” We agree and think this coconut model of a future project of Indonesian dome builder, Antonius “Yoss” Yusanto, is both creative and smart.
Recently, China’s Grain News featured the first Monolithic Dome granary in the country. Located in Taiyuan, Shanxi, the granary is comprised of two Monolithic Domes built by American Monolithic Dome builders, South Industries of Menan, Idaho.
Sometimes people find the Monolithic Dome to be so efficient, they can heat them in creative, non-traditional ways. Monolithic Dome owner, Jerry Cleveland, recently sent us an E-mail about the super energy-efficiency of his Monolithic Dome. He had been heating his Monolithic Dome with Christmas lights which had stopped working, so he substituted a ceiling light with five sockets.
Are you interested in learning more about Monolithic Domes, but don’t know where to start? We have simplified the process for you by providing links to Monolithic Dome articles, books, newsletters, house plans and more. Check it out!
This week, Monolithic Dome Schools in Locust Grove, Oklahoma were featured on KSL TV and on KSL.com in a report entitled, Utah architect uses dome design to create safe school buildings, by Candice Madsen and Debbie Dujanovic.
Are you afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
Read the story of the invention of the revolutionary Monolithic Dome Airplane Hangar Door in David B. South’s latest President’s Sphere. Monolithic Dome Airplane Hangars are super energy efficient, tornado safe, firesafe and earthquake safe. They are also about as bulletproof as you can make a building. Included in his story, is a sketch of a Monolithic Dome Hangar for the F-35 Airplane.
Musician, Rich Lynch recently told us, “The only thing I thought I could do to get the dream of living in a dome moving along was to write a song about it.”
Well, he did and we think it’s great! According to his website, “Rockin’ Rich Lynch has been writing and recording music for over 30 years.” This indie rocker out of New Jersey hoping to build his Monolithic Dome Home soon says he’s “ready to build this house – and career – one song at a time.”
The Monolithic Dome was recently featured in The New York Times Dot Earth Blog by Andrew Revkin. After Sunday’s spate of deadly tornadoes, Revkin says it is time to "think outside the box—and inside the dome. Revkin points out that Monolithic Dome Schools meet FEMA standards for community tornado shelters and can provide safe haven for residents as well as students and teachers. “A growing number of school districts in tornado or hurricane hot spots, many with grants from FEMA have chosen this option,” he says. Enlightening, interesting and on the mark. The Monolithic Dome is hard to overlook with all of it’s outstanding benefits, safety being a major one. It’s time to think round.
This gorgeous Monolithic Dome sits next to Flathead Lake and has a spectacular view of the Mission Mountains. The property includes 4.5 acres of prime Montana real estate and a pond with a waterfall in front of the house. The view and the home are truly amazing.
In 1834 a small settlement in northwest Indiana got its first log cabin. That settlement was Valparaiso, whose name was chosen because of its meaning: vale of paradise. One hundred sixty-nine years later, Valparaiso, now with a population of more than 27,000, got its first Monolithic Dome — a manufacturing facility built by Paul and Barbara Stitt, owners of Natural Ovens Bakery, headquartered in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
Monolithic Dome Houses are the houses of the future…just ask B.C. The creators of the comic strip “B.C.” show logically, The Evolution of the Domicile, in this comic strip. Keep thinking round!
Building an Ecoshell I is a simple, inexpensive process. Watch our “How-To” video today and learn how to build an Ecoshell I for yourself.
A beautiful Airform was inflated recently for Shallowater ISD’s new practice gym. Read more for Airform details and to view more photos.
Have you ever thought about berming your Monolithic Dome? If you have, you’re in luck! It’s very simple to do because of the Monolithic Dome’s inherent strength. Learn how to avoid water problems by addressing the footing. Read about the preferred method for backfilling and more.
Dome homes are both safe and spacious.
Have you ever wondered what exactly it takes to build a Monolithic Dome home? Matthew and Jari Whiteacre built a gorgeous three-dome home in College Station, Texas and chronicled their journey with beautiful photographs and careful details on their blog.
Often we are asked how to lay out the foundation for a prolate ellipse. Some people want to have their Monolithic Dome home shaped as a prolate ellipse. One reason people might want this design is because they have a narrow lot and need to squeeze the dome in the middle to make it fit. Sometimes they want the length of the dome to be longer so they get more of a look of what is on the outside of the building.
The Hatley and Hamilton Schools in the Monroe County School District, in Hatley, Mississippi are awaiting FEMA funding approval to build two new domes on their campuses. The new domes will feature a basketball gym, restrooms, a coach’s office, an electrical room and storage closets, and will also serve as a shelter for students, faculty as well as the community in the event of severe weather.
Author, Linda Federico-O’Murchu, wrote an article entitled, “Are Dome Homes the Future of Housing?” that was featured on CNBC, Business Insider and The Fiscal Times recently.
When building in remote locations, there can be some extra requirements that need to be considered. In this article, David B. South, gives some of his top tips for building in these out-of-the-way places. Fire safety, planning, construction, generators and contract workers are some of the topics he addresses in this helpful article.
Crockett ISD used more than $3 million in grant money from FEMA to build the Andrew J. Hopkins Activity Center. This Monolithic Dome is more than just a gym it’s also a safe shelter in case of a disaster.
My imagined neighborhood of Monolithic Dome-like structures would have come out of yesterday’s Midwest storms with minimal damage to homes.
A First Lego League (FLL) team, Steel of the Knights, selected Monolithic Domes as their “Natures Fury” season project this year. They have been invited to participate in the Iowa School Board Association annual Expo.
In response to the deadly explosion six months ago in West, Texas, Federal agencies will soon be making recommendations to Congress on how to reduce the risk at fertilizer storage facilities. Should igloos (Monolithic Domes) be among the ideas? During a recent interview with Dave Fehling that appears on the website StateImpact.NPR.org, David South answers that question.
As they say on TV, “Don’t try this at home.” Don’t shoot holes in your home with a 30-06 caliber rifle. To test the bullet-resisting strength of a Monolithic Dome, Gary Clark, our VP of Sales, fired at our Monolithic Dome storage buildings.
Multifunctional! That’s not a term often used to describe a theater, but it fits well for a Monolithic theater. We can design and construct an elegant theater, of virtually any size, for plays, concerts, operas, graduations, special school or community events and even large funerals.
The Monolithic Ecoshells built in Indonesia by the Domes For The World Foundation are featured on About.com in their Architecture Section. The article, featuring house styles, is titled “Picture Dictionary of Houses in North America and Beyond.”
The ammonium nitrate storage in West, Texas that exploded on April 17 illustrates how other structures could have that same problem.
Channel 12 News Now of Beaumont, Texas featured the new FEMA funded monolithic dome being built for the Lumberton ISD by Dome Technology in a recent news report. The news article describes the monolithic dome as a disaster dome that will allow first responders and people who are unable to evacuate during emergencies to safely ride out storms like hurricanes.
This cartoon depicts in a funny way what often happens to building projects. A school or prospective home owner will describe their needs to a contractor and will very often end up with an end result far different than what was needed.
School children were killed in the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma in the spring of 2013. That need not happen at your school – or any school. It is possible to have A TORNADO-SAFE and AFFORDABLE SCHOOL.
Dan Hildebrand is a man trained in building Monolithic Domes, who has helped on several projects in places like Haiti. He has a real passion for that type of work and for helping people. What he describes in the article that follows is help for a small number of Haitians. But before you read Dan’s article, let me tell you about two magnanimous plans that never saw reality.
A Mexia family is building their dream home, but it won’t have pillars, gables, tiles on the roof or many other familiar architectural details. James and Dawn McKeand are building a Monolithic Dome structure for their new home. Read the entire story as it appears in The Mexia Daily News.
Farmland Industries, the largest cooperative of farmers and ranchers in North America, completed a two-dome facility for storage of dry fertilizer in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa. The larger dome is 120’ in diameter and 60’ high, while the smaller is 115’ in diameter and 58’ high.
MDI president David B. South and retired architect Rick Crandall gazed into their crystal ball and did some informed speculating on life in a future community called Dometown, USA. Their shared thoughts are thought provoking!
Today’s schools have two relatively new, major problems: 1) How to keep students safe; 2) How to design and maintain a campus that provides what the community needs and does it affordably.
Since the fall of 2007, financing homes, especially Monolithic Dome homes, has become a big problem. The federal government, determined to keep the banks from failing, established new rules for home financing. Those rules helped the banks and some home owners, but they destroyed the progress being made by builders of energy-efficient, greener, better homes. How do we get those rules reversed?
In 1976 I hired a German engineer for a dome project in Germany. Although I never asked for it, he sent me a report stating that, during World War II, thin shell concrete buildings in Germany faired far better than other structures.
The Monolithic Dome school in Geronimo, Oklahoma was recently toured by Oklahoma’s Own newson6.com news reporter, Kelly Ogle. In his report, Ogle interviews NOAA Research Meteorologist Dr. Harold Brooks where he agrees that Monolithic Domes are safer and cheaper options for schools.
The Oklahoma City FOX affiliate KOKH TV online investigative report features part two of a special report about how Monolithic domes at one school could become the model for schools everywhere.
The Kiii-tv online news source in Corpus Christi, Texas reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has recently awarded the city of Corpus Christi several million dollars for three community saferooms. Most of these are and will be Monolithic Domes. Read more about Monolithic Domes.
In an article in the News-Star.com, of Shawnee, Oklahoma, it is discussed how Oklahoma public schools are being pressured to install safe rooms. Dale Public Schools and others are touted as already having done so with their Monolithic Domes.
A recent news article at KMOV-St. Louis features a video interview with Valley R-6 officials in Caledonia, Missouri. Quoting, ‘At first glance the five domes that make up Valley R-6 Elementary School in Caledonia, Missouri look odd, but school officials say they are the safest buildings in the face of a tornado. “They are tornado proof – hurricane proof – fire proof and so our kids are very safe,“ says Valley superintendent Brad Crocker.’