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The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

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Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#61

Post by brucehauman »

finnh wrote: post #54

If you want to live in a city, it's not the cost of the house that kills you: it's the dirt. In Seattle, where I live, my property tax statement tells me that my (large, nice) house is worth roughly half as much as the land it sits on. Given that these domes don't float, you still need a place to put 'em. If your goal is to opt out of the cost of housing - an evil which this blog post expounds upon at length - your f…

I agree with your statement whole heartedly. There are trade-offs to everything. I hope that you don't think I am claiming to have solved the housing issue. I am simply offering an "alternative" alternative structure. But there is a place for them and it works for me.

Please see the tiny housing / simplification movement for discussion about the trade offs of relocating and living simply. It's not for everyone.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#63

Post by finnh »

mattjaynes wrote: post #47

This is awesome. I especially love his focus on reducing the complex down to the very simple. He put a lot of work into simplifying the design and the payoff was huge - only 3 shapes make up the whole thing! From the article: "The three shapes we derived above amount to a remarkable simplification in fabrication and construction. We have decimated the complexity of the dome." "Decimated" is the perfect word for it. H…

Actually, "decimated" is not the perfect word for it. He's done much better than mere decimation!

(Decimated means "reduced by 1/10th" ... not, as is popularly believed, "reduced to 1/10th")

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#64

Post by onehp »

aclevername wrote: post #15
deletes wrote: post #9

How does it fair again strong winds in a storm and occasional hail? Is the isolation good enough to provide comfort in environment ranging from 35°C to -15°C ? What is your solution for a bathroom? Where do you shower?

This. I'm curious as to how the bathroom is laid out, where you go for any and all of those purposes. This "house" is missing a lot of viable (standard) infrastructure to be considered what we usually call a house in North America. It's closer to that of a very small travel trailer, or a tent. All in all I still love the idea.

At the low cost for that dome I'd be pretty tempted to stick another one on and divide it in two for kitchen and bathroom.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#65

Post by RyJones »

jquery wrote: post #56

The efficient-home problem has already been solved. We call them manufactured homes. They're cheap, and are actually up-to-code for long-term living.

they're cheap to acquire, but long-term, not so good. They're also very flimsy, so everything sort-of goes at once.

Yes, you can spend a lot more on one and get nicer finishes, but the end state is the floor sags and none of the doors shut.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#66

Post by mmagin »

ebbv wrote: post #34

While neat this seems to offer zero advantages in reality vs. traditional housing, unless you're a lone hermit living away from everyone else. Assuming you have 10-20 people to house, each person having their own dome seems less efficient than building a more traditional house with shared kitchen, bathroom, etc. facilities, since the dome cannot contain those, at least without scaling up significantly at which point…

There are many people who would rather live in a tiny little shack than in a larger house with 10-20 other people.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#67

Post by finnh »

brucehauman wrote: post #61
finnh wrote: post #54

If you want to live in a city, it's not the cost of the house that kills you: it's the dirt. In Seattle, where I live, my property tax statement tells me that my (large, nice) house is worth roughly half as much as the land it sits on. Given that these domes don't float, you still need a place to put 'em. If your goal is to opt out of the cost of housing - an evil which this blog post expounds upon at length - your f…

I agree with your statement whole heartedly. There are trade-offs to everything. I hope that you don't think I am claiming to have solved the housing issue. I am simply offering an "alternative" alternative structure. But there is a place for them and it works for me. Please see the tiny housing / simplification movement for discussion about the trade offs of relocating and living simply. It's not for everyone.

I used to live in a pretty small house. I loved it.

Then I had two kids =)

EDIT: added smileyface.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#68

Post by nobodysfool »

aclevername wrote: post #15
deletes wrote: post #9

How does it fair again strong winds in a storm and occasional hail? Is the isolation good enough to provide comfort in environment ranging from 35°C to -15°C ? What is your solution for a bathroom? Where do you shower?

This. I'm curious as to how the bathroom is laid out, where you go for any and all of those purposes. This "house" is missing a lot of viable (standard) infrastructure to be considered what we usually call a house in North America. It's closer to that of a very small travel trailer, or a tent. All in all I still love the idea.

This doesn't have a bathroom, it's just a place to sleep and work. Think of it like a workroom, or greenhouse. It was built on a foundation of masonry blocks and 2x4s If you wanted plumbing, you could certainly add it. That's the idea, you build it yourself.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#69

Post by sp332 »

grannyg00se wrote: post #59
sp332 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've stayed in this house http://i.imgur.com/EgZRY9g.jpg It easily held 30 people. There was a large upstairs room with many beds side-by-side, and 5 other small rooms with one or two bunk beds each. This left the downstairs mostly open with a big kitchen, two medium-sized meeting/dining rooms, and a big classroom.

Wow, that's a huge looking house. How is that more efficient though?

Well for starters, the surface area per person is a lot lower. Even with framing and siding, it's probably less material per person than building a little bubble around each person. Certainly running 20 little air conditioners is less efficient than central air. Maintenance over time is probably lower. The big deal is that it uses way less land per person, partly by using a two-story design which a dome can't do.

Re: The Frameless Geodesic Dome I currently live in

#70

Post by outworlder »

finnh wrote: post #54

If you want to live in a city, it's not the cost of the house that kills you: it's the dirt. In Seattle, where I live, my property tax statement tells me that my (large, nice) house is worth roughly half as much as the land it sits on. Given that these domes don't float, you still need a place to put 'em. If your goal is to opt out of the cost of housing - an evil which this blog post expounds upon at length - your f…

True, to an extent. But considering that some people still live in unkempt shacks, there is some room for improvement.

Mass producing the dome parts seem like a nice proposition. Might not even be for housing at first but as an addon for a existing house. Say you wanted to clear your garage and store your stuff somewhere else in the property. Maybe for government-sponsored housing programs.

Or, I don't know, Africa? There are places where shelter is more important than the land.

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