Spraying Foam, Sharing Stories: A Dome Workshop Experience
A brain surgeon, an opera singer and a doomsday prepper sit at a table. It sounds like the start of a joke, but it’s actually lunch at a Monolithic Dome Builders Workshop. All three wear work clothes that are a bit grubby from their time spraying polyurethane foam inside the dome that morning. I had no idea who they were when I sat down to visit with them.
The brain surgeon—technically a neurosurgeon—is here at his wife’s behest. The couple wants to build a Monolithic Dome home. She sent him to learn more about the process, but he is under strict orders not to do manual labor—lest he risk those highly skilled hands. The yellow foam flecks on his clothes are evidence he ignored those orders. He asked us not to tell.
He talked a lot about the practical nature of Monolithic Dome construction. The energy efficiency, strength, and construction process make sense and both he and his wife look forward to owning their own dome.
Students at the Fall 2024 Monolithic Dome Builders Workshop embed rebar hangers in the foam before helping apply the next foam layer.
The opera singer is a legit professional. She’s sung with many companies, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She wants a Monolithic Dome home because she finds the green aspects of Monolithic Dome construction attractive. Less material. Lower energy use. Environmentally friendly. The roundness and organic shape.
The third person at the table is a survivalist who wants a structure that can withstand extremes in weather and dangers from people—a “zombie fortress,” if you will. He plans to construct the entire home himself, from the slab to turning the key to the front door. He wants it off-grid, self-sufficient, and hidden.
The opera singer wants something sustainable, the brain surgeon wants something practical, and the survivalist wants to know how far back to cut the trees around his property so he could protect it from invading forces.
A student applying shotcrete to the interior surface of the Monolithic Dome constructed by the students during the workshop.
It’s improbable these three would ever be in the same room together, let alone visiting over lunch. Yet here we are, enjoying each other’s company.
Every Monolithic Dome Builders Workshop attracts people from all over the planet—from every continent. And I mean every continent. I once ate lunch with a man recently returning from constructing a South Pole habitat. He would tell stories of how hammers shattered in the extreme cold—even though it was “summer.”
It’s satisfying to work inside a real structure instead of just learning about it in a classroom.
Different languages, cultures, and goals converge twice yearly during these week-long classes, where students learn from doing. At the most recent class, a student marveled that he’d paid us to let him put in what he said was the most challenging day’s work he’d had in a long time.
“Do you regret coming?” I asked.
“Never! It was the best technical course I’ve ever had,” was his reply.
The Fall 2024 class of the Monolithic Dome Builders Workshop poses for the class photo after a week of construction experience.
This is why we will continue teaching people about the Monolithic Dome technology. The diversity, the dreams, the people—all are united by the Monolithic Dome.
Come and see for yourself. Sign up for a Monolithic Dome Builders Workshop offered every April and September—since 1993. It combines classroom instruction with hands-on construction for a one-of-a-kind experience. And who knows who you will meet when you are here.
The Fall 2024 class worked five days on two Io-20 Monolithic Dome structures in Dawson, Texas.