01-10-2011, 01:42 AM
Yeah, thanks everybody - I really like the monolithic.com domes.
The "Dean" domes are cool in that you can more or less build whatever you can imagine, through the use of the fiberglass forms. On the other hand, I'm not sure that the stage designer for a multi-platinum rock band has the same concept of "cheap" as I do. I suspect they only get truly cheap if you build a whole town of them, spreading out the cost of the forms across dozens of uses.
I've looked at American Ingenuity (Buckyball) domes off and on over the years: http://www.aidomes.com/ They use a concrete skinned foam very similar to the Castleblock walls. I'm curious what it would cost to ship a semi-truck full of these panels to Hilo from LA? Looks like it's about %5K in mileage costs to get from the factory to the west coast (not too outrageous on %40K of material) Thing about these domes is that I feel like they're more appropriate for a climate like Minnesota or Dubai - someplace where you don't like the outside. You can do multiple small dome designs, but then the cost advantage goes away.
Someone posted this link a while back: http://www.hawaiianbungalows.com/bungalows.htm - that floorplan matches my idea of an ideal "rainyside" house - H shape, 4 rooms with 3 exterior walls, "cozy" space in the middle, but still with flow-through air from end-to-end - easy to roof, cheap to build.
I'd like to see that kind of H-design done with the monolithic.com tubes - big high ceiling room in the middle and lots of exposure for the 4 rooms in the corners.