Commercial Monolithic Dome Structures

Aggieland Fitness Dome was complete in January 2004 and was the world’s first Monolithic Dome fitness center. The 124′ × 40′ dome encompasses 12,000 square. feet on ground level and 2400 square feet on the mezzanine level. “The dome has done all the things I was hoping it would do. It differentiates us from other buildings and brings potential customers through the door,” said Steve Lumpee, owner of Aggieland Fitness in College Station, Texas.

Read the story of the invention of the revolutionary Monolithic Dome Airplane Hangar Door in David B. South’s latest President’s Sphere. Monolithic Dome Airplane Hangars are super energy efficient, tornado safe, firesafe and earthquake safe. They are also about as bulletproof as you can make a building. Included in his story, is a sketch of a Monolithic Dome Hangar for the F-35 Airplane.

In 1834 a small settlement in northwest Indiana got its first log cabin. That settlement was Valparaiso, whose name was chosen because of its meaning: vale of paradise. One hundred sixty-nine years later, Valparaiso, now with a population of more than 27,000, got its first Monolithic Dome — a manufacturing facility built by Paul and Barbara Stitt, owners of Natural Ovens Bakery, headquartered in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

“Yeh Doggies!” and “Ride ’em, Cowboy!” Gone are the days of pretty girls and dusty ranch hands straddling wooden fences, cheering cowboys on bucking broncos at a local rodeo. During the last decade or so, that local rodeo has evolved into a far more sophisticated indoor event. Monolithic Domes, with their size, energy efficiency and versatility, make perfect rodeo arenas and barns.

Multifunctional! That’s not a term often used to describe a theater, but it fits well for a Monolithic theater. We can design and construct an elegant theater, of virtually any size, for plays, concerts, operas, graduations, special school or community events and even large funerals.

Randy South, Director of South Industries, and his family have decided to build a special, family reunion dome and name it South Sawmill Lodge. It’s located just a half-mile south of the sawmill site that Randy’s dad and granddad owned.

Monolithic now offers concession stands shaped to resemble giant football helmets and painted with a team’s emblem and colors. They’re the perfect, team-supportive concession stands for any sport stadium or venue. 

In 1844 when U.S. Army Captain John C. Fremont and Kit Carson established a rudimentary camp there, Fort Irwin was just a hot, sandy spot in the Mojave Desert. But it grew and grew. By 1979 Fort Irwin became the site of a military, world-class National Training Center. Located in California’s northern San Bernadino County, NTC now has a population of almost 9000. More recently, Fort Irwin has become home to the largest renewable energy project ever established by the Department of Defense (DOD) and Monolithic Domes are now a part of that project.

As you make your summer travel plans, consider experiencing life in a Monolithic Dome along the way by booking a room in a unique bed and breakfast. Thyme For Bed Inn in Lowell, Indiana was recently featured on a “Fantastical Five” list of unique inns. Hundreds of visitors have stayed in the Monolithic Dome’s four bedrooms since it opened in 1999.

In 2000, Catalytic Software, a global enterprise, began the construction of a massive, self-sustaining complex of domes, that would include attractive, safe areas for living, working and socializing. Located on 50 acres in Hyderabad, India’s hi-tech hub, this city of 4000 domes, mostly EcoShells, is called New Oroville.

In 2004, Monolithic designed a dome for DuPont. They wanted a structure that could survive a category 5 (155+ mph winds and 18+ foot surge) hurricane, for their plant in DeLisle, Mississippi. It got tested by Hurricane Katrina.

Can a quality bandshell be designed and built economically? Yes – with a Monolithic Dome as the curved form that a bandshell needs.

One of the greatest advantages a Monolithic Dome has over other structures is the lack of exterior sound transmission through the structure. Outside noises are rarely heard on the inside of the Dome.

Indoor golf may now be affordable utilizing the Monolithic Dome. A nine-hole course could be built perfectly in four, 400-foot domes. Proposed plans include two holes in each of three domes and three holes in the fourth dome.

Monolithic Domes — those sturdy, most stationery of stationery structures — have entered a new realm — the realm of fantasy. Rick Crandall, Consulting Architect, says, “Monolithic Domes make perfect fantasy domes, and they are rapidly gaining popularity for fantasy environments such as those in theme parks, water parks, zoos, theaters, planetariums — even shopping malls.”

We’re having a heat wave! A tropical heat wave! When this photo was taken, we here in Italy, Texas were enduring our 60th day of daytime temperatures of 100F degrees or more! And our nighttime temperatures stay in the 80s.

Monolithic has been a bit slow about designing and building multistory living units. We recognize the need is extremely great. In many places land is just too valuable to tie up with single-unit residences. So we have asked architects and designers to come up with multistory designs.

A Monolithic Emergency Center is an all-encompassing complex that includes specific areas for fire engines, rescue vehicles and ambulances; 911 and police communication centers; a disaster shelter. It is much, much more than a fire station.

A Monolithic Dome is often used in its most economical configuration as part of a sphere. But sometimes the customer wants something more grand. 

Indoor swimming pools are one of the many facilities where Monolithic Domes really shine. Essentially, a dome is an upside-down swimming pool.

Companies need secure buildings – especially if they host computer systems and store data. Monolithic Domes make secure, solid, permanent facilities that can withstand tornadoes, earthquakes, wild temperature fluctuations and even rifle fire.

Xanadu – Samuel Taylor Coleridge coined that name for his imagined paradise in 1797. Some two hundred years later, Ivan and Judy Sheinbaum began creating their Xanadu – a Monolithic Dome tropical island resort on Ambergris Caye in the West Caribbean nation of Belize.

At Monolithic, we think fire stations should be indestructible. They house emergency response teams – the firefighters and paramedics a community needs when natural or man-made disasters strike.

What’s one of the first things people need right after a hurricane? According to Peter Fedele, the answer is cash. That’s why he is building a Monolithic Dome outside of Houston to store ATMs, mobile banks, satellite communication equipment, and back up generators for financial institutions.

A one-of-a-kind, ultra-green Digital Studio and Entertainment Centre is planned for a five-acre site in Palm Springs, at Cathedral City, California. In this desert location, Monolithic Domes are the ideal “green” construction to oppose the severe desert conditions of extreme summer heat, the intense desert winds and earthquakes.

The Starship, a fully outfitted as a restaurant or fast food operation is available for sale or lease. It has a complete kitchen, a large open space dining and entertainment area, a large walk-in freezer, a security system, and serving and food preparation areas.

In an interview with Leland, I asked why Monolithic Domes provide the ideal architecture for movie theaters. Leland said, “Theaters should look unique. They always have. That’s tradition with theaters. Monolithic Domes are the perfect structure to provide a unique and interesting theater on the outside and the inside. People are attracted to the unusual.”

A uniqueness in Price, Utah is its four, interconnected Monolithic Domes, serving as its Public Works Complex since 1982. It consists of a three-story dome, 90′×40′, with administrative offices and three additional domes, each measuring 130′×43′, that house a Fire Station, a vehicle and equipment maintenance shop and a storage facility.

With its flirty eyes, smiley mouth and cowboy boots that glow in the dark, Bruco, our manufacturing plant in Italy, Texas, looks nothing like a typical factory. But while Bruco might look like a playful, giant caterpillar on the outside, it’s serious work on the inside.

Can a Monolithic Dome be designed as a prison or jail? The answer is an emphatic Yes. In fact, if any buildings need and ought to be Monolithic Domes, they are jails and prisons.