Disaster Resistant Dome Homes

This Dome Home project designed by Jim Hubbell and son Drew Hubbell for Eloise Lau and Dan Kinard of Vista, Ca. San Diego County. The home was built by  Hadrian Construction Co. Dan Kinard was of great assistance and very involved on a daily basis and worked extremely close with Hadrian Construction, as changes were made on a daily basis.

The home has a spectacular view in all directions, there are many spectacular sunsets looking to the west, you can see the Pacific Ocean.

The guest house consists of one large room, with a large custom designed fireplace that is located at the base of the 20 ft. high egg shaped base, these were a challenge as we had to work inside of the cone shaped chimneys, we used #5 re-bar and created a ladder so we could go up and down.

This side view shows the deck which continues around to the side of the home. There is also a large concrete counter top and a concrete sink that is located on the back side of a large radius wall, each dome has a large eye shaped window which faces west.

The project lay out has many key points to locate for each radius wall. The location of the 3″ steel pipes had to be exact.

The engineering is a 3″ diameter pipe that is bent into the shape of each radius.  There is potential for the re-bar to replace the pipe, an option that can be discussed with a licensed engineer in your state.

The panels are prefabricated in a 4′ direction, and the diameter of the radius dictates the number of cuts per panel, and for this project the cuts were approximately 16″ to every  24″ on the center.

This home design has two large round cone shaped fire places, each approximately 24′  in height and more egg shaped than round, we built using the same method that we used to build the domes.

Installing the prefabricated panels into the Dome Home, by using a compound radius of the large dome, each dome has a large window which faces  southwest allowing direct sun light into the room.

Prefabricated concrete panels formed into a stairway.

The electric and utility rooms are under the upper end of this stairway, metal straps were placed into the panels at each side of the radius wall, then 2/8’s were used to form steps to the roof deck.

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Prepping for the window placement by removing the unwanted foam that is around the 3″ steel pipe on the deck, for the 20′ long window placement.

A method for water proofing the home is by using the back edge of window template and reversing it to let concrete create a lip to help water proof this dome.

Here is the window template for the main home.

Here is the main home with all 4 domes and the chimney on the front side. This home is all glass and steel to keep the windows as large as possible.

The nozzle man applying Portland cement to the top of the dome structure, the Portland cement was finished around the window template.

The Portland cement mortar mix being screed and leveled into place, note, the light gauge metal which creates a true radius for chimney opening.

Kryton waterproofing product called KIM was added to the Portland cement mix, 2 lbs. per bag of Portland cement were used.

Dome home, plaster adding the Kryton water proofing mix to ready mix.

Dome home with copper flashing was also used to water proof this dome with a 1/2″ slot that was cut into the finish. Portland cement, and the lip of the copper flashing was then placed into this slot and caulked, the roofing product was then brought up under the flashing.

Dome home, shotcrete crew applying stucco mix on the guest house, all stucco was hand applied.

This photo was taken off of the deck of the guest home which shows the upper side of the chimney, and large eye shaped window opening.

Lead man installing re-bar to receive foam panels, the Dome home consisted of four Domes on the main structure and one dome on the guest house.

A bird cage was created, by using 3/8 re-bars the desired shape was created, the Domes were not a true radius each of the five were different all were created by using the eye.

Here we are connecting or tying the Tridipanel to the re-bar bird cage frame, from the inside of the Dome structure, the panels are cut from two directions at the top to create the compound radius, some small pie shape pieces were removed, this was all done by eye, no templates were used at this phase.

The 4″ thick foam with 11 gauge galvanized wire mesh product shown here being cut with a beam saw with a diamond edged concrete blade.

Here is a portion of the guest house, the deck and front wall having not been installed, a radius stair well is built on the left side of this structure not shown in this photo.

Side view of the exterior Tridipanel stairwell.

The finished stairway, with small flat rocks were placed into wet cement steps at the owner’s direction.

A view of the chimney and deck on the roof of the guesthouse, also the small low Tridipanel walls.

Five different Dome windows were installed, a template was created for each of the manufactures spec, semco windows were used, they provided the templates.  All of the windows fit the opening, this photo shows workers holding and installing the finished template into the rough dome opening.

Installing bond breaker onto the window template prior to installation.

The semco window installers, installing the finished product

Metal flashing was installed under the Tridipanel where the roof connects. Most of the panels connect to the concrete footing below. We used plastic p.v.c. piping it through out for a plaster screed or guide to give us a nice radius wall.

The carport had a custom pop out designed by the architect. And note the plastic p.v.c pipe was used for the radius curved walls.

The plaster crew is applying the first coat of cement. The plaster crew uses a pump,  with Portland cement and sand that are mixed on site.

Applying Portland cement to the chimney of the guest house.

The nozzle man on top of the dome, with plasters leveling the Tridipanel wall.

At the base of this dome we used a ready mix company. We applied a pea gravel with a Portland cement design mix that was applied 12″ thick at the base of the dome, this was tapered up approximately 7′  above grade, and the plastic p.v.c. pipe was used for screed lines.

A custom color, applying the stucco finish coat around the window opening, earth tone colors were used.