Yumadome: A Massive Desert Dream Home

Yumadome is a giant, three-story Monolithic Dome home built to house four generations of family in Yuma, Arizona. Family members share areas of the lower level, which include a big kitchen, a computer room, an entertainment room, and an atrium. The 11,500-square-foot (1068 m²) house has eight suites on the upper levels, each featuring one or two bedrooms, a bathroom, a sitting room, and laundry.

The dome is an almost half-sphere, 84 feet (25.5 m) in diameter and about 40 feet (12 m) tall. Move-in day at Yumadome was January 1, 2000, and in the ensuing decades, the dome has lived up to its promises.

The owners report using less than half as much energy as a traditionally built house. Energy bills stay low even though they have 11 refrigerators and freezers, an electric range, a well that pulls 2.3 kilowatts an hour, and a wall of windows that spans 1000 square feet. As temperatures outside rise as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit, the dome stays cool and comfortable.

Yumadome has withstood earthquakes and the fierce Arizona heat. The family says they have only had to do minor maintenance, such as repairing a tear in the Airform and repainting the exterior. A major upgrade to the Monolithic Dome house is the 10,000 watts of solar power they installed in 2005. In 2010, they added 7,000 more watts.

“It has exceeded all our expectations,” Mark Henrikson, co-owner (and co-builder) of Yumadome, said in 2023, also citing the acoustics that make it ideal for community theater celebrations.