Why a Monolithic Dome makes a great medical facility

When you think of a hospital or doctor office, you see a box structure often with multiple floors. Long hallways and far away nurses stations are staples of standard medical offices. We at Monolithic are hear to tell you about a better structure for a medical office, the Monolithic Dome.

A Monolithic Dome is a concrete dome built with steel reinforcement and polyurethane foam. They boast energy efficiency and disaster resistance among their qualities. They have been built all over the world and function as homes, schools, churches, storage facilities, sports facilities, among other things.

So why go round for a medical office instead of traditional square structure? According to Gary Clark, Vice President of Sales at Monolithic, there are many benefits of building a Monolithic Dome as a medical facility. As a business, he related, costs are a concern, specifically heating and cooling. A Monolithic Dome will have lower costs for heating and cooling, due to the polyurethane foam in the structure.

“Another benefit is lower insurance costs because it is a disaster-resistant building,” Clark said. Monolithic Domes have been known to survive hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and more. All the medical equipment inside would be protected. “If there’s a disaster, the important expensive equipment that make up your livelihood would be well protected.” Clark offered the hypothetical situation of a doctor after a disaster hit a medical office. “How would you like to get that call? ‘Doctor I have a broken arm.’ ‘Oh sorry, my x-ray machine was damaged in the storm in my office.’” Another benefit during storms is the elimination of having to evacuate patients, something especially helpful to long-term medical facilities.

Apart from storm protection, Clark also said a dome is iconic. “Everybody knows where your business is,” he stated. “Because it’s a dome, it shows that you’re forward-thinking. What kind of medical professional would have a dome? Someone who’s thinking, who’s looking into the future.”

Another professional who recommends Monolithic Domes as medical offices is architect Rick Crandall. He explained how the design of a dome is benfical over the design of a traditional square structure.

He stated that “one of the most prolific designs with hospitals to their greatest fault has been wings. It’s easy to get lost, especially on multiple floors.” He related with a dome, it could be done to put a nurses station in the center, and due to the dome’s round design, nurses could see into each room. “It’s called a radial design,” Crandall said. “You get much better management and supervision, which is the main purpose for registered nurses.”

He notes that in hospital wings, nurses have to walk far distances to get the patients and equipment they need. In a Monolithic Dome, Crandall notes that the amount of distance to travel goes down by almost two-thirds. This reduces the load on both doctors and nurses.

Rick Crandall is familiar with Monolithic Dome medical facilities because he has designed a few of them. A facility in Missouri named Cardiology of the Ozarks is a two-dome medical office designed by Crandall. Ecoshells were also built in Ngelepen, Indonesia to be used as medical facilities. These have been functioning as medical offices, serving doctors and patients for years.

Another dome medical office was built in 1987 in Battle Mountain, Nevada. The nursing station is in the center of the facility and exam rooms and offices were placed around the perimeter. The medical personnel there told us how efficiently the building was designed.

One more reason why domes would make good facilities, according to Gary Clark, “you get all the benefits of a dome for about the same price as a standard building.”

Anyone interested in looking into or building a Monolithic Dome should contact our professionals. Call our office at 972-483-7423 or email at [email protected]. Ask for Gary Clark, Vice President of Sales, or Mina Watkins, Commercial Structures Specialist.