The habitat for the 21st century?
By Christa TerryFancy living in an igloo, but hate the cold? Consider foam instead of ice if you’re planning on building a house from scratch. The high-density expanded polystyrene foam used to build dome homes is apparently a great insulator, meaning increased energy efficiency and lower heating and cooling bills.
Your neighbors might balk a little at your well-rounded domicile, but I bet they’ll want their own dome homes when you tell them that Styrofoam brings with it benefits that wood and metal just can’t match. It doesn’t rust or attract wood-hungry bugs, it will still be standing after an earthquake or typhoon, and the materials cost just under $30,000. As for transportation and assembly…you do have to figure those into the final price.
Other benefits?
- Great air circulation
- Formaldehyde free
- Shape helps to dissipate wind energy
- No posts or beams to collapse
- No deforestation
According to this all too short video, Styrofoam dome homes are easy to assemble (the pieces snap into place!), easy to finish, and better for the environment because they don’t produce waste in the form of wood or metal scraps. The basic dome home has a footprint of only 475 square feet, but you can expand the structure by adding more pieces during construction or attaching a few domes together.
You can even have a steam room…
I want one!
August 12th, 2008 at 7:28 am
I love dome houses. The husband and I had seriously considered getting a Monolithic Dome house (http://static.monolithic.com/gallery/homes/index.html), but they were a wee bit pricey for us. We love them, though — so unique!!
August 14th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Those are fantastic, La Petite Acadienne! My friend’s parents live in a geodesic dome up in New Hampshire, and I am tremendously jealous. When I was growing up, I wanted either one of those or the underground eco homes that were kind of popular in the 80s. I still think those are the coolest.
February 17th, 2010 at 12:45 am
WOW!! ive never heard of a styrofoam house!! this is incredible!! …a perfect thing to put on my property in colorado! i had planned on putting up rental cabins. but for the price of the cabin, heat, etc etc… i think this would be more efficient!
THANKS!!
i plan on doing LOTS of research on this concept!!