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PermaCrete In The Round

Folks around that part of the Lone Star State an hour south of Dallas are still talking about the unusual, round structure that sprang up in Italy, Texas. But, then, what else would anyone expect to find at a place called Dome Park? The unusual building itself is a monolithic dome manufactured by the Monolithic Dome Institute in Italy, Texas, and its owner loves to tell the story about that dome and its PermaCrete surface.

"It's become quite a conversation piece out here," remarked David South, Jr., vice-president of the company. "That particular dome had been in place for a while. We sell them for storage purposes mostly, but people could do anything they want with one."

As the story goes, it seems that in early 2003, David was contacted by Advanced Building Systems from Jacksonville, Texas. The owners, Jill Weeks and Mark Hankins, were PermaCrete Dealers and wanted to demonstrate the versatility and uniqueness of their product, not to mention their own proficient application skills. David tells the story this way. "The people at Advanced Building Systems called us and said they wanted to show us a coating idea they had for our domes. We talked back and forth and soon enough, they were on site and applying PermaCrete to that dome over there beside our shop." He pointed to the one in the photographs. "That was early in 2003 and now it's over a year later, and the PermaCrete looks like it was just applied." Smiling, he added, "The installers sure knew what they were talking about. They did an excellent job. We’ve had inquiries since then, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some more colorful domes sprouting up soon."

Each dome is 16.5 feet in diameter with about 1,600 cubic feet of volume inside. The floor area is 214 square feet and the exterior surface covered with PermaCrete, including the special designs shown in the picture above, is about 531 square feet. The Monolithic Dome Institute uses this particular dome for storage. It is also possible to install an air conditioning unit in the wall below the window which increases the useages for the uniquely shaped structure. The shape is reminiscent of an igloo. Can't help but wonder what the Eskimos would think? Maybe we should send Ed Thompson on another distant trip, this time to Alaska to sell PermaCrete igloos!