Dome Homes
Driving down I-35 in Texas, between Waco and Dallas, there’s a curious site just off the interstate. It looks like a massive, comical caterpillar rising up from the arid land, complete with antennae and smiling eyes; its sides are decorated with frolicking, painted cowboy boots. The structure could easily be mistaken for an art installation or whimsical tourist trap, but the building is, in fact, a 14,000 square foot factory. The Monolithic Institute in Italy, Texas calls its caterpillar factory Bruco, and it is within his bowels that a curious choice of home design begins to come to life.
Monolithic Domes are constructed from concrete ring foundations, reinforced with steel, and an inflated fabric Airform which creates the shape of the home – which is coated with polyurethane foam and a special spray mix of concrete. The homes are energy efficient and highly durable, built to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires. They’re the domestic choice for hundreds of homeowners and families across the country; every year, the Institute hosts workshops for people interested in learning how to build domes – and also conducts feasibility studies to help evaluate plans for such dwellings.
Here, a few dome dwellers share snapshots of their near-indestructible dwellings – and their reasons for living without edges and angles.
The Monolithic Institute’s manufacturing plant in Italy, Texas looks like a giant caterpillar and can be seen from the interstate
The Monolithic headquarters’ property features an office, homes and experimental domes in addition to its caterpillar-shaped manufacturing facility, nicknamed Bruco
TEXAS
Before Matt and Jari Whiteacre got married 30 years ago, they’d always talked about the idea of living in a dome – particularly from the environmental and efficiency perspectives. But as their brood of four children grew, they had another priority: security.
‘Safety quickly became a serious concern,’ says Matt, a professor at Texas A&M. ‘At that point in time, we had kids – so safety from a hurricane, tornado. We live in Texas and we actually could have either one of those.’
They began seriously researching their options and were highly impressed with Monolithic domes, both from a practical and aesthetic standpoint.
‘There’s just something about the aesthetics of a dome, that the more you look at them and work with them, the more you think they’re really kind of a nice structure,’ he says.
They began seriously working to construct their dome in 2011, determined to move from their ‘regular, small neighborhood house on a tiny, little-bitty postal-type lot,’ Matt says.
They bought nearly two acres on the edge of town in College Station and set about planning their dream dome home with the health of the Monolithic Dome Institute based in Italy, Texas. Matt documented the process on a blog and very succinctly summed up the unusual construction procedures.
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