Feature Stories

TBT: The past and future Johnson Creek School

POSTED 30 Jul 2020 By Dave South

Today’s Throwback Thursday is a bit different as we look to the past and the future in Johnson Creek, Wisconsin. In 2016 the Johnson Creek School District opened a five-dome school to serve as the combined middle and high school. The small district of 750 students was dealing with old school buildings plus a hodgepodge of additions and portable classrooms. The maintenance costs were increasing and they needed something new. They tried several times to pass a bond to build a conventional school, but each time the voters rejected it. So they sought for a more innovative, affordable solution and found the Monolithic Dome. … read more

The story of a Hawaiian dream home — now for sale

POSTED 14 Jul 2020 By Dyrinda Tyson

Whoever buys Jo King’s Hawaiian dome will buy so much more than a home. They’re buying a dream. The dome has a lot to offer, starting with breath-taking views. Snuggled on an acre of land in the Waimea Valley on Kauai, it’s surrounded by an abundance of history and natural beauty. The open floor plan offers two bedrooms and two and a half baths upstairs with another bath as well as two outdoor showers downstairs, all covering about 1,700 square feet. Painted coconut palms adorn the concrete walls, and a large lanai takes full advantage of the scenery. … read more

The many uses of a Mississippi storm shelter

Aerial view of safe room near both elementary schools

POSTED 6 Jun 2020 By Dyrinda Tyson

As tornadoes tore through parts of their state on Easter weekend 2020, many Louisville, Mississippi, residents made their way to their community safe room — again. … read more

TBT: The Lincoln County Farm Center

POSTED 28 May 2020

Today’s Throwback Thursday is the Lincoln County Farm Center on US Route 66 in Chandler, Oklahoma. It’s home to the first Monolithic Dome fertilizer storage project — built more than 40 years ago in 1978. In 2011, the storage dome was covered with stainless steel and in 2015 they built a large, Monolithic Dome ranch store. … read more

Delaware Military Academy: Fulfilling their mission in a Monolithic Dome

Outside of Anthony N. Fusco Sr. Athletic Center

POSTED 17 Apr 2020 By Amy South

Located in Wilmington, Delaware, the Delaware Military Academy is home to the first Monolithic Dome of its kind in the Mid Atlantic United States. With over 500 young cadets attending the school, the dome has opened up new opportunities for the cadets. The administration of the academy has expressed gratitude for the many benefits of a Monolithic Dome, and the cooperation and generosity of those involved to make the project completion possible. … read more

A new landmark: Palapa Pineapple Monolithic Dome home stands tall

POSTED 13 Apr 2020 By Dyrinda Tyson

For the Spellings, a house on the beach was their dream. Inspired by a Monolithic Dome Island Resort, Dave Spellings decided that a dome would be the perfect abode for him and his wife. Overlooking the Caribbean Sea, the two-story dome home provides a comfortable place for the couple to enjoy their island life. … read more

TBT: We revisit Shalom Dome

POSTED 9 Apr 2020 By Dave South

As we migrate content from our old website we feel it’s time to start our own version of Throwback Thursday. This week it’s the Shalom Dome home in Platte City, Missouri. Completed in 2017, the 3,000 square foot house features three bedrooms, three bathrooms, office, home theater, loft, and a beautiful great room with kitchen and dining area. The unique shape of the Monolithic Dome combines orion-style stem-walls with a multi-dome shaped Airform. … read more

The Hennessey superintendent said, ‘I want to build a dome.’

POSTED 28 Jan 2020 By Jack Quirk

Before the sun came up on a cold December morning, the crew turned on the four large blowers that were to inflate the structure. They said it should take about three hours to completely inflate, which gave my team plenty of time to set up the four time-lapse cameras, a drone, and several ground video cameras. Next thing we knew, the roof was up within minutes, including that big heavy ring. We were not ready! Think about this, an entire weather-sealed, full-size gymnasium was completely standing in about 45 minutes! … read more

Tour the nearly completed Jackson Farmers fertilizer blend plant

Aerial view of Monolithic Dome fertilizer blend plant

POSTED 25 Sep 2019 By Dave South

The tent is up, chairs placed underneath, tables set up nearby, grills are hot, steaks are ready, and pickups are parking on the grassy field. Time again for the annual Jackson Farmers, Inc. open house where farmers see demonstration crops, listen to sales presentations, eat steak, drink beer, and — this time — inspect their new Monolithic Dome fertilizer blend plant. … read more

The Vanguard School charters K-12 education in new Monolithic Dome

POSTED 7 Nov 2018 By Robin Intemann

Facing west toward the Front Range of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, The Vanguard School in Colorado Springs provides a dramatic foreground thanks to its royal blue sports field and the dome structure situated nearby. The 20,000-square foot Monolithic Dome houses twelve classrooms and two science labs for the school’s 215 seventh and eighth graders. “It looks cool,” says student Ciera. “A lot of people see it and wonder what that thing is and I get to tell them it’s the junior high building!” … read more

A mountaintop dome event center

POSTED 6 Apr 2018 By Stewart Ulrich

When the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma set out to build a new building at the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, a Monolithic Dome was not the first thought. In fact, it was practically an afterthought. But what it became was a Monolithic Dome conference center hosting thousands every year. … read more

A family legacy continues in Monolithic Dome store on Route 66

POSTED 4 Apr 2018 By Dyrinda Tyson

Children are generally the first to notice them, pointing up as they enter the Lincoln County Farm Center. “I think their perspective is magnified because they’re low,” said Mandy Myers, who runs the store with her mother, Nelda Matthews, and her sister, Mara Blackwell. “They immediately notice the ceiling. They’re the first to see the eagles.” … read more

Shalom Dome gets underway

POSTED 4 May 2017 By Stewart Ulrich

After 20 years of dreaming, the Small family is finally seeing their desire for a dome home realized. The process of construction is underway, to their great excitement. They recount their journey in choosing to build a Monolithic Dome home. … read more

Johnson Creek’s five-dome school was the product of planning and thought

POSTED 15 Mar 2017 By Stewart Ulrich

When the new Johnson Creek middle and high school opened in September 2016, its unique design generated a lot of attention. The school is comprised of five interconnected Monolithic Domes, the first of its kind in Wisconsin. Much planning and design went into this structure, as would be imagined for a project of its size and prominence. … read more

New Catoosa cafeteria dome provides shelter in tornado area

POSTED 23 Sep 2016 By Stewart Ulrich

A new Monolithic Dome now stands on the school grounds where a tornado came tearing through 23 years ago. Catoosa, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa, was the site of a F4 storm in 1993 that killed seven people and injured many more. Thanks to a new Monolithic Dome, people at the school can now feel safe from another such storm. … read more

Mile Hi Church and its ‘work of heart!’

POSTED 16 Feb 2009 By Freda Parker

“We’ve built a work of heart!” On its website that’s how Mile Hi Church in Lakewood, Colorado talks about its new sanctuary — a huge Monolithic Dome that called for an Airform of over 55,000 square feet. Opened in April 2008, the dome has a diameter of 233 feet, a height of 63 feet, a seating capacity of 1500, and a balcony that will eventually accommodate 600 more. … read more

Luxury Monolithic Dome home

POSTED 10 Nov 2008 By Freda Parker

A rare and exceptional Monolithic Dome home sits on nearly an acre of land, close to Cherry Creek State Park in Centennial, Colorado. Nearly 50 mature trees shade the dome and provide privacy. Designed for energy-efficiency and durability by Chris Barnes, a former aeronautical engineer who worked with Howard Hughes, the dome was built in 1982. … read more

The Gladiator Coliseum in Italy … Texas

POSTED 1 Mar 2002 By Freda Parker

Once the 2,000 residents of Italy, Texas, passed a $2 million bond for a multipurpose center, administrators began researching popular construction methods for school facilities. Superintendent Mike Clifton said, “Of course we were all familiar with the domes. We had a good overview. But we really had to see for ourselves, so we visited Thousand Oaks — a dome already operating — and we came away convinced.” … read more

Xanadu — A dome in paradise

POSTED 21 Mar 2000 By Freda Parker

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. … read more

Building The Eye of the Storm

POSTED 1 Jan 1998 By Freda Parker

On a sunny morning in 1991, at a home site on Sullivans Island, South Carolina, George Paul, designer and builder of dome structures, anxiously watched an Airform inflating. Paul had watched many such inflations before — but never with this much anxiety. … read more