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A Monolithic Dome Hobbit House

Image: Roomy — Some people find it hard ...
JRR Tolkien, best known for his authorship of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, once said, “I am in fact a hobbit in all but size. I like gardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands …. I am fond of mushrooms (out of a field); have a very simple sense of humour; I go to bed late and get up late (when possible). I do not travel much.” Based on that description, it’s very likely that Tolkien would have loved the Hobbit House of Montana. It’s also equally likely that he would have been amazed to learn that this Hobbit House started as a Monolithic Dome. (Continued…)

The Orion

Image: The Orion — The Orion has straight, ...

How would you like to be the first owner and occupant of a new kind of house? “It’s a real kick,” said Gary Clark of Italy, Texas. Gary, vice president of operations at MDI, had recently moved into the first Orion — the youngest, newest sibling in the Monolithic Dome family. (Continued…)

The Hobbit Dome

Image: A Monolithic Dome Hobbit Home — The ...

We wonder what Bilbo, Tolkien’s hero hobbit, would have thought about the earth-bermed, 1400-square-foot, Monolithic Dome home, completed in October 2004, in Flag Pond, Tennessee. (Continued…)

Monolithic Dome’s Greenness Wins Neighborhood Approval

Image: Deck & south windows. — Fruit & ...

Charlotte, Vermont is a traditional town. Its charter dates back to 1762, its name exalts Charlotte Sophia, the wife of King George III, and most of its residents live in very traditional, wood frame, New England homes. However, in 2007, construction began on Vermont’s first Monolithic Dome, the unique home of Trisa and Dennis Gay and their son. (Continued…)

The Mudd-Puddle Dome On The Prairie: A Sight To See!

Image: A spacious, gracious home — It’s a ...

Kay and Ernest Mudd moved into their 4900-square-foot, two-level Monolithic Dome home just about seven months ago, but they’ve already shown it to 1000 people. That number almost equals the population of their hometown: Dighton, Kansas. Located at the crossing of two state highways, K96 and K23, Dighton has about 1200 residents in its 0.9 square miles. So where did all the tourists come from? (Continued…)

A Monolithic Dome Home with Brick Walls!

Image: Sty Manor — Joel Emerson and his ...

At one time, Joel Emerson, a professional, creative brick mason, jokingly told Debbie, his wife, that someday he would build her a brick igloo. In the years that followed, Joel learned about Monolithic Domes, and in 2003 he attended a Monolithic Workshop. So what started as a casual joke became a serious project – with a little modification: Joel’s original brick igloo became a Monolithic Dome enhanced with brick. (Continued…)

Xanadu— A Dome in Paradise

Image: Xanadu Island Resort — Ivan Sheinbaum’s first ...

Xanadu – Samuel Taylor Coleridge coined that name for his imagined paradise in 1797. Some two hundred years later, Ivan and Judy Sheinbaum began creating their Xanadu – a Monolithic Dome tropical island resort on Ambergris Caye in the West Caribbean nation of Belize. (Continued…)

Very Small Town; Big Dome Home

Image: The Simmons’ Dream Dome — Their retirement ...

The town of Jay, in northwest Florida, has less than 600 residents in its 1.6 square miles. But this farming community, known for its peanuts, cotton, soybeans and hay, has a history of more than 100 years and an annual Peanut Festival. It’s got something else too: a technologically sophisticated Monolithic Dome home! (Continued…)

The Roundhouse Down Under — A First!

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Anthony (Tony) Clarke is one busy Aussie. He runs a migration office that helps immigrants to his country with their necessary, complex paperwork, is involved with industrial hemp, markets music videos and DVDs and serves his community as Justice of the Peace and a Knight of the Order of St. John Hospitalier. Nevertheless in April 2001, he found the time to travel to Italy, Texas and take one of Monolithic’s dome-building Workshops. (Continued…)

Curlew Keep — Hard To Get To But Easy To Appreciate

Image: Curlew Keep — The 2800-square-foot Monolithic Dome ...

For most Americans going to see a movie is no big deal! But what if you had to leave the country to do it? And what if you had to make sure you had valid, picture ID with you so you could re-enter the US? Believe it or not, that’s exactly what going to a movie entails for Dianne and Bryan Bremner, two sixty-something retirees who built a Monolithic Dome home in Republic, Washington, 25 miles south of a border crossing into Canada. (Continued…)

A Big Mom-and-Pop Project: The Pember Dome Home

Image: The Pembers’ Monolithic Dome Dream Home — ...

About ten years ago, the Pembers decided to build a new home, and, after investigating alternatives, decided to make that new home a Monolithic Dome. So Dale, a professional plumbing contractor, enrolled in the Spring 2001 Monolithic Workshop. What he learned, coupled with his years of experience in construction, convinced Dale that he and Ida – occasionally with help from friends – could build their dome home. (Continued…)

Scared into Going Monolithic!

Image: The Watts Monolithic Dome Home — Harrilyn ...

Most folks just don’t associate Florida with tornadoes. Most think of Florida as hurricane country. But Harrilyn and Rudy Watts know better. They live 21 miles south of Chipley. It has a population of about 3600, a motto that describes it as “A small town with a proud heritage and a bright future” – and tornadoes. (Continued…)

Geronimo! Bond Passed!

Image: Geronimo, Oklahoma — A whopping 73% of ...

There’s not much to look at as you drive up Interstate 44 from Texas into Oklahoma – until you get a bit south of Lawton. Then, surprise, surprise! Off to your right you spot the rounded tops of a cluster of copper colored Monolithic Domes, just sitting there in the middle of what appears to be nowhere. It isn’t. It’s Geronimo, Oklahoma, 0.53 square miles of Comanche County and home for almost 1000 residents. (Continued…)

Whaley’s Dome: From fun and games to comfort and safety

Image: Monolithic Dome Multipurpose Center — Built by ...

For a stranger in Gainesville, Texas, a town of about 16,500 people, the Whaley United Methodist Church and its Monolithic Dome multipurpose center is a little hard to find. But most resident can tell you exactly where “the dome” is. That’s because, since it’s completion in 2005, this Monolithic Dome is used, not only by the church, but by the community. (Continued…)

A Monolithic Dome Home with a WOW Factor

Image: Monolithic Dome Home in Mohave Valley, Arizona ...

After retiring his position as an American Airlines’ flight dispatcher at DFW, Don Steelman enrolled in one of Monolithic’s hands-on Workshops. What he learned and did convinced him of the innate qualities of a Monolithic Dome home. Impressed by the dome’s longevity and energy efficiency, Don and wife decided to move to Mohave Valley, Arizona and build a Monolithic Dome home. (Continued…)

Insurance Rates: Shop Until They Drop

Image: Monolithic Dome home in Shamrock, TX — ...

Can the annual premium for homeowners insurance on the same Monolithic Dome structure for the same coverage drop? “Sure can, and did,” says Don Tuttle, who, with wife Shirley, built a Monolithic Dome home in Shamrock, Texas. (Continued…)

Pilgrims United Church of Christ

Image: Pilgrims United Church of Christ — Parishioners ...

After five years of continual use, most members of Pilgrims United Church of Christ in Fruitland Park, Florida are just as enthusiastic about their two Monolithic Domes as they were at that deciding meeting when eighty-four of the eighty-nine present voted for their construction. (Continued…)

Polish Entrepreneur Builds His Monolithic Dome Dream Home

Image: Pregowski Monolithic Dome Home — In 2000, ...

Jan Pregowski has three loves: God, his family, and – of all things, but to our delight – Monolithic Domes! Jan, a 53-year-old native of Poland, first heard about Monolithic Domes in 1985. Since then, he has worked on more than a hundred dome projects in various countries, including several in the United States. (Continued…)

Life Above the Treetops at Cloud Hidden

Image: Cloud Hidden — It’s a Monolithic Dome ...

Story time in the treetops? That’s the fantasylike environment four-year-old Meili Kaslik enjoys. When it’s Meili’s story time, she and her mom Melanie cuddle into comfy chairs in a cozy, glass-enclosed nook perching above the treetops at the Monolithic Dome home they call Cloud Hidden. (Continued…)

Morrisett Dome Home in Alaska

Image: Morrisetts’ Monolithic Dome Dream Home — It’s ...

If you visited the Morrisetts’ new Monolithic Dome home in Anchorage, Alaska and asked, “Is everybody happy?” you would probably get an enthusiastic “yes” from the three humans and an affirmative bark from their dog. The reason is simple: the Morrisetts — David, who is 42 and a computer programmer, April, who is 39 and an office manager for a vending machine company, Joshua, their almost-4-year-old son, and Chewbacca their dog— all love their new dome home. (Continued…)

Abundant Life Church

Image: Abundant Life Church — This Monolithic Dome ...

Abundant Life Church in Denham Springs, Louisiana built a sanctuary with a Monolithic Dome atop a stemwall that is eighteen feet high and one foot thick. This main sanctuary has a diameter of 192 feet and encompasses 28,000 square feet, with a seating capacity for 2800 worshippers. (Continued…)

City Bible Church

Image: Monolithic Domes at City Bible Church have ...

Since its opening in 1991, the two Monolithic Domes of City Bible Church have become somewhat of a landmark in Portland, Oregon. Art Johansen, facility administrator at City Bible, is very much in favor of that development. (Continued…)

New Monolithic Dome Multipurpose Center at Avalon

Image: Avalon, Texas Multipurpose Center — This Monolithic ...

While the population count of Avalon, Texas may be in doubt and small, its pride and interest in their school is not. Most recent proof of that is Avalon’s new Multipurpose Center, for its 250 students in pre-kindergarten to Grade 12. Designed by Monolithic Architect Rick Crandall and built with a 12’ stemwall, this Monolithic Dome measures 124′ × 25′ with a total height of 37 feet. (Continued…)

Tolchii Kooh’s Monolithic Dome Schools – 1998

Image: Traditional Decor — Entrances to the Monolithic ...

When the Native American community saw their need for not one, but two, new school facilities on its Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona, they got innovative. Superintendent Mark Sorenson explained, “We designed Tolchii Kooh to be like a district office, with Leupp and Little Singer as independent schools, subcontracted to Tolchii Kooh.” (Continued…)

A New, Monolithic Dome Technology Center

Image: Rock Port Technology Center — This Monolithic ...

If you want to talk to happy, excited people, just call or visit Rock Port, Missouri. This mainly agricultural community, populated by only 1500 and located a short eight miles from the great Missouri River, recently completed a new, Monolithic Dome Technology Center for its school. (Continued…)

A Dome With Wings

Image: Lake Christian Church — Located in Palymra, ...

While it can’t fly, Lake Christian Church in Palmyra, Virginia is a Monolithic Dome sanctuary with wings, designed by D. Thomas Kincaid, A.I.A. The sanctuary’s 104-foot diameter encompasses an area used mainly for religious services that can be easily converted into a multipurpose room, since its seating is movable. (Continued…)

Cost Savings Persuade Megachurch To Go Monolithic

Image: Legacy Church — Legacy Church in Albuquerque, ...

Legacy Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico fits the bill of a megachurch. It has a current congregation of 5,000; a new Monolithic Dome sanctuary that seats 3,000; a ministry that includes special programs for every age group; televised, recorded services with contemporary music and drama presentations; an elementary school and a bible academy. (Continued…)

Faith Chapel Christian Center

Image: Faith Chapel Christian Center — Located in ...

Birmingham, Alabama is home to the largest diameter Monolithic Dome in the world. Built in 2000, Faith Chapel Christian Center measures 280-feet in diameter with a seating capacity of approximately 3,000. The dome encloses 61,575 square feet. The church was designed by Architect Rick Crandall and Dome Technology of Idaho Falls, Idaho built the dome shell. (Continued…)

Brooksville Assembly of God

Image: Brooksville Assembly of God — In 2003, ...

It took two and a half years from groundbreaking to the first service, but Brooksville Assembly of God in Brooksville, Florida successfully completed their Monolithic Dome church — debt free. Presently 1300 call Brooksville A/G their church home, but the dome offers room to grow with seating capacity for 2300. (Continued…)