Monolithic Dome Rentals

Recently, WFAA Channel 8 featured Monolithic’s president, David South, and his monolithic dome rental units on Good Morning Texas. Reporter, Paige McCoy Smith, traveled to Monolithic’s headquarters in Italy, Texas to interview Mr. South and see first-hand, “How these domestic domes can become dream dwellings for people around the world.”

For several years now, Frank Smith has been unsuccessfully struggling with politicians, city councils and business people, trying to get their approval to build drastically needed Monolithic Dome rentals in their communities. Those Texas communities include Corpus Christi, Ingleside and Aransas Pass. All are in a hurricane-prone area – the same hurricane-prone area that made Woodsboro ISD eligible for a FEMA grant.

Monolithic was not the first to build dome homes using Airforms, concrete and steel rebar, but we do believe we’ve perfected the building technique for these super-strong structures that meet the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s standards for near-absolute protection.

I am often amazed by a community’s initial response for permission to build affordable, clean, safe, low-maintenance, long-lasting housing.

When we think of people who do not have access to clean drinking water and sanitation, the image of refugees in Africa or other parts of the developing world usually come to mind. But the poor and homeless in the United States often face the very same problems, according to a U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Water and Sanitation. After a U.S. visit earlier this year, the U.N. investigator Catarina de Albuquerque found that the challenges faced by U.S. homeless are in violation of international human rights standards.

As a professional with experience in the best practices of gerontology, psychology and human relations both in Europe and America, I believe that Old Age should be as enjoyable as any other season of human life. The Future of Senior Living Project has a mission to create, implement and continuously develop an innovative concept for happy and healthy aging in a safe and comfortable home and family environment, with opportunities for community senior activities and information resources for social, medical, financial and other services applicable to the elderly.

On a stretch of Interstate 35, in Central Texas between Waco and Waxahachie, is an enormous caterpillar. The curious stop to explore and come across Monolithic Dome Village. The caterpillar is a manufacturing warehouse; there are dome offices, dome storage buildings and upwards of 60 domes rented out as single person dwellings.  I was informed that these buildings are ‘green’ in every way.  They will withstand winds of 450 miles an hour (FEMA rates them as near absolute protection), they are environmentally friendly and have an R value of 60.  Their lifespan is measured in centuries, they don’t burn, or rot, or get eaten by termites. I decided to sign up for the workshop that Monolithic offers to learn how to build them.

Although it’s small, the Io-24 is a Monolithic Dome that provides disaster-resistant and fire-resistant security. It’s energy-efficient and easy to maintain. Those qualities make the Io-24 a great rental for retired seniors or a single working person.

This Monolithic Dome is an oblate built on a 3.5-foot stemwall. It has a diameter of 20 feet, an overall height of 10.5 feet and a living area of 314 square feet.

We are finding that an Io-20 even when rented at an affordable, fair price will turn a profit for the owner. Conclusion: It is possible to provide drastically needed housing and make money at the same time. That’s a win-win!

Although it’s small, the Io-24 is a Monolithic Dome that provides disaster-resistant and fire-resistant security. It’s energy-efficient and easy to maintain.

Our new Oberon Four-plex is a Monolithic Dome oblate ellipse, with a diameter of 32 feet and a height of 12 feet, that encompasses four, separate apartments. With a living area of 201 square feet –– about the size of a large, double motel room –– the apartments are designed for one-person occupancy.

I have been contacted by various cities about building little rental units as part of the answer to affordable housing in their areas. Many city administrators now acknowledge that their towns lack affordable housing for those who work and live on the lower end of the pay scale. Those same areas often lack affordable housing for seniors, the physically and mentally challenged, and others.

Like its larger siblings, an Io-16.5 has the strength and durability of steel-reinforced concrete, insulated with polyurethane foam and blanketed with an Airform. It’s energy-efficient, easily maintained, disaster- and burglar-resistant, fire- and termite-proof.

As a participant in our September 2005 Workshop, Kevin McGuckin studied the Monolithic construction process. He also inspected domes at and near our headquarters, including Monolithic’s rental facilities. What he saw and learned convinced him to build a Monolithic Dome rental complex.

Tolchii’ Kooh, a nonprofit organization, is a recipient of a HUD/NAJASDA Grant to build a Monolithic Dome, 36-unit, housing project for teachers and staff and as rentals for residents of the reservation . The homes are located next to the charter school on the Navajo Nation reservation at Taloni Lake, Arizona — some 65 miles east northeast of Flagstaff.