Rebuilding, Learning, and Community at the Spring 2025 Monolithic Dome Builders Workshop
The final structure constructed in Dawson, Texas, is a 28-foot diameter Monolithic Dome with a two-toned stemwall. The Airform was an experiment in using different fabrics to create a simple design. Future Airform membranes can in corporate more complex designs.
In 2022, Peter Price’s second home—a cabin tucked into the northern New Mexico forest—burned to the ground in the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire. It was the largest wildfire in the state’s history, started by the U.S. Forest Service as a controlled burn that went disastrously wrong. Thousands of structures were lost, including the geodesic dome Peter once helped his father and stepmother build in 1987.
Now retired from a career as a geologist for the state of Missouri, Peter is looking for something stronger, something safer. That search brought him to the Spring 2025 Monolithic Dome Builders Workshop.
“I could rebuild a log cabin that was there,” Peter said, “but I don’t even know if anybody’s still building log cabins, it probably costs a whole lot more, may have all kinds of potential problems with insurance, and it may not be any better a structure.”
What makes sense to him now is a Monolithic Dome—fire-resistant, wind-resistant, and structurally sound in ways traditional homes cannot match. He’s not alone.
Gary Clark, who has 43-years of dome building experience, instructs almost 30 students in today’s topic, rebar placement. Every Monolithic Dome Builders Workshop is a mix of hands-on and classroom instruction. After this session, the students head over to the job site to tie rebar.
The graduating class of the Spring 2025 Monolithic Dome Builders Workshop.
Nearly 30 participants gathered in Dawson, Texas for the final workshop held at this site. Over the years, these hands-on events have brought together people from all walks of life—some planning a home, others a retreat, and a few building entire dome communities.
Chris and Nick, retired Air Force pilots from nearby Waco, attended to gather insight for a veterans housing project. John Quinn, who bought a dome built by a past workshop graduate, came for advice on refurbishing the 60-foot diameter home he now lives in in Polo, Illinois. Tim Curry traveled from New Orleans, where he says securing home insurance is becoming impossible. He’s hoping to build a dome so resilient that insurance becomes unnecessary.
And then there’s Ben Seilheimer, a Florida contractor with land, heavy equipment, and a 50-foot airform already in storage. “I just want to build,” he said.
A rendering of the interior of the laundromat shows how the washing machines will be lined up in the center of the dome with the dryers placed around the perimeter.
The laundromat floor plan shows how it will start with three washers and dryers, but can expand to 10 washers and dryers if needed.
The workshop’s hands-on project this time? A laundromat.
It’s may not be the most glamorous structure, but it is a welcome addition to the dome community constructed in Dawson. The current plan is to install three washers and dryers, but the 28-foot diameter dome has room for up to ten washers and dryer sets. If successful, the laundromat design may be used in other dome communities.
This is the final dome constructed in Dawson. The Fall 2025 Monolithic Dome Builders Workshop will be held in Italy, Texas—home of the Monolithic Dome Institute.
Why do people come? Everyone has their reasons. Some come for answers, some come to work. Others want to see domes up close, touch the concrete, tour a living space, or meet others who believe—like they do—that it’s possible to build differently.
Whatever the reason, what they leave with is shared: knowledge, connection, and a concrete vision of what’s possible.
Gary Clark snapped this picture of the group he led around the Monolithic Dome Research Park to tour the various domes, homes, offices, and Bruco, the Texas Italian Caterpillar manufacturing plant.