Charca Casa: House by the Pond
Dome with a view
In Spanish, Charca means pond or puddle and Casa means house. Hence, the name Charca Casa or house by a pond. That acre pond functions as a spectacular backdrop for the spacious patio that fronts this fabulous Monolithic Dome home. A thirty-two-foot expanse of windows in the living room provides a view of the activities on the patio and the pond.
Designed as a duplex, Charca Casa has two connected forty-foot-diameter domes. The right hand dome, Casa, has three bedrooms, a small guest room and a home office. A small loft sits over the bathroom and hall at Casa’s center. Children love this loft. They scamper up the circular stairway and convert the loft into their very own camp site.
Charca, the dome on the left, encompasses a great room, a single bedroom with private bath, a laundry room, a large pantry and a spacious galley kitchen. The great room, whose obvious focal points are the patio windows, measures 700 square feet and includes generous areas for dining, entertaining and just relaxing.
Charca Casa has a ceramic tile floor throughout. Its interior framings are primarily steel studs with sheetrock. Because of its interior details, this dome-home is hypo-allergenic and easy to clean and maintain.
The feeling inside Charca Casa is wonderful. Very little outside noise penetrates the dome’s interior, and it is extremely easy to heat and cool. The curved vaulted ceilings add significant spaciousness to the bedrooms as well as the living areas.
Charca Casa is a compound house. It could have been built in stages, years apart. The first stage could have been a nice, three bedroom home and the second stage an expansion. Then a covered swimming pool, exercise room, or great room could have been added.
Charca Casa is an attractive and interesting dome-home and is available for tours by appointment.