The Monolithic Dome is often described using the above words. But is that a valid description? Let’s analyze each.

Free

Most of us agree that a free lunch just doesn’t exist. How then can a Monolithic Dome be free? Consider this: To heat and cool, a Monolithic Dome uses a fraction of the energy required by most, similar-size, conventional structures.

Now let’s calculate the cost of the dome based on its lifespan. If you divide the dome’s cost by the number of years in its lifespan, you get a very small number. With minimal maintenance, a Monolithic Dome will last several centuries, and that significantly reduces its per annum cost. Couple that with the energy savings and a Monolithic Dome compared to a conventional structure becomes virtually free.

Forever

We call Rome’s Pantheon a Monolithic Dome’s oldest cousin. The Pantheon will be two thousand years old in 2126. That is not a unique longevity for a concrete dome. It can survive neglect and still last for centuries.

Concrete is a super, long-lasting material. We can actually measure its growing strength for approximately twenty five years. Generally, that strength can only be compromised if the concrete is polluted during the mixing process.

Again, look at the Pantheon. Its concrete was vastly inferior to our modern Portland cement concrete, but it’s still here and going strong. Now look at our modern concrete roads and bridges and the abuse they take. On a daily basis, many are traversed by heavy trucks and equipment, and in icy weather they’re covered with salt. Those roads and bridges are built of concrete because concrete can better endure the abuse than can steel or wood.

In addition to reinforced concrete, Monolithic Domes have thick layers of polyurethane foam. The Army Corp of Engineers has determined that urethane foam kept out of sunshine has no known lifetime. In other words, like concrete, foam is virtually forever.

Safe

Monolithic Domes – The technology and the materials used in their construction enable Monolithic Domes to provide what FEMA calls “near-absolute protection,” from natural disasters. That means that a Monolithic Dome – whether it’s a home, school, church or whatever – can survive severe wind storms, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes while protecting its inhabitants from such calamities.

Obviously the dome’s windows can be broken, and domes built in low places can fill with water. But the structure itself is certainly safer than most other types of construction.

Sullivans Island, South Carolina has a hurricane history. When a hurricane warning is issued, all of the island is ordered to evacuate except for two Monolithic Domes and two World War II military bunkers.

Monolithic Cabins – Since they’re designed to be loaded on trucks and transported, Monolithic Cabins do not have the concrete thickness of Monolithic Domes. Nevertheless, Monolithic Cabins are stronger than any cabin presently being built.

They have curved shapes, so wind doesn’t have much of a tug on them. Then too, Monolithic Cabins can be reinforced with an additional two inches of concrete to make them as tornado-safe as a Monolithic Dome. And those slated for a hurricane area, can be provided with hurricane-rated windows and doors.

We do not know of any other way to make a safe building at an affordable price.

Serene

That’s the quiet, peaceful, safe feeling most people experience inside a Monolithic Dome.

I first experienced this serenity in the first Monolithic Dome home we built – for my mother in Menan, Idaho. We had recently finished it when a local architect asked to see it. But he had two appointments and was in a hurry. So we walked through the house and upstairs into a large, cozily furnished, single-room loft. We sat down and started talking. Twenty minutes later, he borrowed the phone and canceled his appointment. In another thirty minutes, he borrowed the phone again and canceled his second appointment. That and similar experiences taught me never to let guests sit down in that loft sanctuary if I was not prepared for a long stay. Its cozy, serene feeling was almost overwhelming.

Fifteen years later I moved my operation to Italy, Texas. Shortly after we built our first model home in Italy, we had an interesting experience with a couple who came to see it. After they wandered around for a bit, the wife approached her husband and said, “Honey, if you build me this, you can go.”

That remark absolutely flabbergasted me, and I asked her to explain. She said her husband loved to work in Egypt and would be gone six months at a time, leaving her terrified to be alone. But she said that the Monolithic Dome home made her feel safe and serene.

Still amazed by her reaction, I continued questioning her. I wanted to know what it was about the dome that made her feel serene. After all, the dome was not impenetrable; it had windows and a glass insert in the door, all of which could be broken. Knowing that, she said the dome still made her feel serene, but she couldn’t explain how or why.

Since that discussion in 1991, I have asked many people, “How do you feel in a Monolithic Dome?” Many say they experience a feeling of serenity and peace that they don’t get in a conventional home. Is it the roundness? Maybe! One lady said she felt wrapped, as if sheltering arms surrounded her. Some people think that its serenity comes from its quiet. The outside world’s noise does not penetrate the inside quiet of a Monolithic Dome.

This feeling of serenity has also been pointed out to me by pastors of Monolithic Dome churches. And school teachers make some of the same remarks. They say that their students enjoy the dome’s serenity and lack of outside sounds. Bruce Klaehn, Superintendent of Grand Meadow, Minnesota ISD, credited the dome’s openness and high ceilings for the feeling of serenity his students expressed.

People who move from a Monolithic Dome into a conventional house say that they note a vast difference immediately. So, if you want lasting peace, safety and serenity at an affordable price, for yourself and your descendants, consider a Monolithic Dome home, school, church, cabin, office, etc.

January 23, 2009