Monolithic Dome Airforms
The interior of a transverse Airform designed and manufactured at Monolithic in Italy, Texas seen here inflated at low pressure,
The Airform is the key component in Monolithic Dome construction. Manufactured from architectural fabrics made of a polyester or nylon base and coated with PVC, an Airform membrane is inflated to create the shape of the final structure. Once inflated, layers of foam, steel rebar, and shotcrete are applied to the interior surface to create the finished building. The Airform is left on as a waterproof roofing membrane and as a base for exterior coatings.
It was the Airform that made the Monolithic Dome possible. Before inflatable forming, a typical thin-shell structure required an earthen berm or extensive wood scaffolding to achieve the desired shape. All of this is replaced by inflating a fabric membrane.
Each Airform membrane is custom designed and manufactured at Monolithic to achieve the desired shape at inflation. It can be a huge, single dome with an integrated stem wall, or a house-sized membrane that inflates into multiple domes, or anything in-between. The shapes and combinations of shapes of Airforms that can be constructed and inflated are endless, and we push those boundaries every year.