Hurricane Hugo destroyed George Paul's home on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. Rather than admit defeat, Paul, who is president of OmniShell, decided to use nature as the inspiration for his new home, which he named Eye of the Storm (
figure A ).
The new home was designed to imitate the shells found along the beach nearby ( figure B). "We tried to take something that's been here forever and imitate it," Paul says.
Paul's wife, Joy, says it took time for the community to get used to the dome home, which is very different from the houses next to it (figure C). "I think it can be somewhat abrupt for people," she says, "but once they see the windows and doors, and especially if they come inside, they see that it can be something good -- something beautiful -- not just strange."
Paul now builds monolithic dome houses for others, such as the Kaslik family. Jim Kaslik says that the sizes and spaces of dome houses were what helped him decide to buy one. "It wasn't that we were trying to be unique," Kaslik says. "That just happens as a matter of course. The domes have shapes and sizes and locations and other aspects that you can't get through traditional building methods."
A monolithic dome house starts out as a balloon-like air structure attached to a concrete foundation, taking shape as the air structure inflates (figure D ). The house is finished from the inside out, with insulation and concrete sprayed inside and rubberized stucco covering the outside.
Because they're made mostly of concrete, monolithic domes are environmentally friendly. They're also easy to maintain because they don't have traditional roof, gutters or siding.
A modest-sized dome can cost less than a comparable house; a larger home can cost more because of the sculptural detail added.
The big payback from a monolithic dome house is in energy savings. The mass of the home is inside the insulation, which is the opposite of most building systems. The only thing the concrete is in contact with, other than the insulation, is the ground. The concrete acts as a temperature conductor and draws the ground heat up into the shell, keeping the home at a comfortable temperature without any energy input.
Another big payoff is in peace of mind.
"The curves of the home are soothing," Joy Paul says. "It's like living inside a sculpture. Also, there could be storms and a lot of tornado watches or warnings out, but we're in the safest place we could be."
Guests David South
President
Monolithic Institute
177 Dome Park Place
Italy, TX 76651
Phone: 972-483-7423
Toll Free Phone: 800-608-0001
Fax: 972-483-6662
Email:
dome@monolithic.com
URL:
www.monolithicdome.com
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