<== Site of the Week for 2011-11-28 ==>

Domes For The World

Domes For The World builds eco-domes in communities devastated by disaster, wars or economic hardships. Eco-Domes are cool looking structures. The domes require substantially less material than traditional building techniques and stand up well to natural disasters.

From what I gather, the domes are built by pouring re-inforced concrete around a re-usable styrofoam shell. A developer can build a community of shells at a low cost. The shells require little maintenance.

I think living in a dome would be a hoot. Unfortunately, these domes aren't insulated. They were designed for tropical climates. Although the domes are structurally sound, they are unlikely to pass rigid zoning laws in the U.S., which are notorious for stiffling innovative design.

Unfortunately, the way things work in the US is that the first person who wants to build a ecoshell for housing in the US would have to spend several million in court fees and political donations to the zoning board. Once ecoshell construction is an accepted building technique, we might start seeing them popping up in our neighborhoods.

A company in Italy, Texas suggests a building called a Monolithic Dome for schools, churches and companies that want a notable structure for a low cost.

Apparently there are some ecodomes in the Navajo Nation that were built in conjunction with a Charter School built using the monolythic dome technique.