Welcome to the future. Extra rooms, banquet halls (even entire living quarters) built by an Ashland company specializing in geodesic domes
By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune
Ever feel like you need a light, airy, spacious structure in your backyard for parties or wedding receptions, for kids to rough-house in, for yoga or an art studio, maybe a class — or just to get away?
It’s here. It’s called a geodesic dome and it’s all the above, plus so strong that a bunch of workmen can crawl on it to hang the white liner.
Made in Ashland by Pacific Domes since 1980, the futuristic structures (which start at $5,000) are increasingly popular for a spectrum of uses — including trade shows, pool covers, playground toy houses, resort villages, expedition resupply stations, even temporary relief structures for hurricanes and other disasters, says Asha Deliverance, the firm’s founder.
One, donated by Pacific Domes, is being erected at ScienceWorks in Ashland for use by that interactive museum, as well as the Lomakatsi Reforestation team and John Muir School across the street at Ashland Middle School, says Deliverance.
“The typical buyer is someone who owns (clear) land and wants a vacation home,” she says. “Or maybe they’re building and they want to be on site but not in a trailer. A lot of back-to-the-land people buy them and have no intention of moving up to a real house.
Sulara and Scott Young, owners of Circle of Teran, a consciousness-raising retreat center inside an expansive mansion above Ashland, installed a 60-foot dome off in an adjacent oak grove to provide a serene, well-lit space for yoga, meditation and other classes.
“It’s a beautiful structure, light, airy and it’s easy to put up or take down,” says Young, an Ashland doctor.
For such a large structure with no columns, studs, wires or any other visible means of support, the dome is amazingly rigid.
A sharp jerk on its triangular, bolted sections moves it nary a millimeter. A series of three-foot long steel poles are bolted together in triangles, starting with a vertical first row, with the whole structure rolling over into a sphere shape.
The downside of domes, says Young, is that there’s only some waterproof sailcloth between you and the elements, so it’s cold in winter and hot in summer. How to cope? You can hitch up sides in summer and install an exhaust fan. In winter, you can insulate and heat with any of the usual systems, although city and county codes affect wood heating and other types of heating.
Domes can be temporarily erected on bare earth, but require wood floor joists and concrete blocks, says Jenny Kuehnle, who lives in a 16-foot dome with her young daughter — and gets electricity and heat from a solar panel and large batteries.
“It’s so beautiful and I love the big (plastic) window and all the light it brings in. It feels real spacious to me and I consider it sacred geometry that’s naturally pleasing to be in,” Kuehnle says. “On the solar panel, I can run my lights or CD player or sewing machine or computer but not all at once. Especially nice is that I own my own house for $5,000.”
A big plus is that a small space is easier to clean. “It would drive me crazy to clean a big house. As for water, I have to carry all the water here that I use, so I don’t use much,” she says. “I live simply. I’m happier. Life feels more secure. It’s empowering. I’m able to take care of all my needs myself.”
The domes can be plumbed and wired from the house and used as accessory units, says Deliverance, but they then become taxable extensions of the home, requiring building permits.
An array of dome accessories, including composting toilets, solar fans and other gadgets, is available online or at Pacific Domes.
Exposed to the weather as it is, the dome has developed a few leaks which have had to be fixed — and the insulation has proved too unmanageable, says Young.
For classes, however, the dome has surprisingly sharp acoustics, says Sulara and “is a thing of great beauty, providing a sense of wholeness, peace and oneness with nature.”
John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at
jdarling@jeffnet.org.
Source: Mail Tribune Article
