These look very interesting. A couple things jump out at me. First, these seem like they’d be an interesting way to dump a small, easily concealed ‘cabin’ on a piece of remote property. Additionally, since they’re pretty much a ‘kit house’ I’d imagine you can knock it down and transport it if you needed to.
Not sure how much stress the design can handle, but it’d be interesting to use it as a ‘form’ and shotcrete over it or something similar. Byrying it seems unwiae but it looks like it wouldn’t take much to build up some railroad tie berms around three sides of it to make it all but invisible.
Pricing seems reasonable…for about seven grand you can get something that beats being homeless. If a fella had a piece of undeveloped property out in the sticks, this might make a nice weekend cabin sort of thing to hunker down in while you build the primary residence.
Also might make for an interesting ‘dual purpose’ building…plant int on your property as a shed or storage building that can be refitted as temporary housing in a crisis.
As I said, very interesting. I’d like to see one up close.
Looked at the pricing. That 7 grand was for a group buy of 5-10. They do have a lot of space for the footprint. F. Buckminister Fuller designed them originally. “Buckyballs”. The most amount of space with the least amount of building materials. Some are made on site using air entrained concrete like used in a in ground pool. A big balloon blown up, coated with non stick and the concrete blown on, deflate and there you go. There is a company south of Dallas that makes them with composite. Same building method. You can also build a connector (like a hallway) and have several to make more room. Like a main 20ft with two 14 footers as bedrooms. These started big back in the 70s/80s. Lower cost due to less materials. Way less square footage wall/ceiling makes for less energy loss. Build it on a 3 or 4 ft high wall and the usable square footage size goes way up.
Fuller designed geodesic dome structures, these are not geodesic.
The Inn Place, dome living in Brenham. (Brenham Texas) http://www.innplacebrenham.com
If you go to the website, click on the “history” link…interesting story.
The guy is out of Juneau, AK. It’s been shown on Doomsday Preppers. There are a number of these installed in the bush, around Fairbanks, and they’re painted olive drab, so they blend in quite well. The Compeaus family in Fairbanks have worked closely with the guy who makes these shelters. https://compeaus.com/ is a link to family business. I have NO financial interest. They are pretty cool, pretty portable. I watched 2 guys assemble one at the AK State Fair in a couple of hours.
John in Alaska
Hmm. 14′ = $6.9k, floor is another $2.5k, shipping is $250, insulation is $2k. It’s starting to add up quickly!
So, if I don’t buy the insulation, it’s $9650. For that I get a shell. A nice shell, but still, a shell. That $9650 could buy me a decent used travel trailer, with a stove, refrigerator, toilet, bunk, table, etc.
If I wanted storage, that money would easily buy 2-3 8X20 containers, plus shipping.
It’s cute, but unless you need the ability to weather extreme conditions, I wouldn’t get one.
‘Round’ is a good shape for blending into the wild. Tree canopies and hills have the same profile seen from side and top. Some paint and blending in with nearby ‘growies’ – done.
I wonder if their ‘foundation-less’ design means they aren’t taxed like a home – more like a trailer ? Also could means several of these could be built on a property without having to sub divide (though I’m sure the authoritah would insist on separate water meters). Make a great home for and older person to stay with their family and allowing them their own private space as well.
A lot of goodness here to consider – thanks for the link sir.
I’ve seen stuff like this in the past and haven’t been too impressed, but this is capital C for cool. After taking a look at the site and costing the stuff I would want, I thought it was a little pricey (20ft model, $19550 plus shipping/border duties) but in reality the cost isn’t that much. Add in the cost of an off-the-beaten-path piece of property, materials for a base to put the dome on, heating/off grid power and some sort of septic, a guy could have a nice place that’s reasonable. I’m sure a person could do a get-away retreat for less than $100,00.00 which, considering the cost of cabins and property where I’m located isn’t a lot.
Thanks for posting the link.
I’ve seen these as well, mostly used as TCC’s (Temporary Communication Centers) in the AF for field training or war games. Last one I was in before taking the golden shower of exiting was in Turkey. We were given 20, 5 were designated for Ops (Comms, Command Staff, IT, RSOD (Rotational staff on Duty), and Armory). Officers took the rest for themselves and we got the tent treatment.
I will say this, the number of these things you can fit into a C130 is amazing. A C17 will blow you mind. I know for a fact ours were not bullet proof (don’t ask) but they kept everything else out and the flange points makes it trivial to add whatever lighting you want inside or to move you GI issued “spider web” for outlets (by that I mean 2) which connects to a generator. It didn’t rain for the whole game but we also didn’t get any sand in – if you know the pain of tearing everything apart and cleaning that crap out – this is a positive review.
If it wasn’t for the curved walls I’d have one already. Still on my wish list as far as storm protection – I might not use one for daily living but if I thought bad weather was on the way my little dome would be stocked and ready to go. PSA – you need a foundation, it doesn’t need to be concrete, heck we had treated 2×12’s as a floor – just something. Don’t set these on the ground directly – the structure will be fine but you will know what it’s like to live in a vivarium if you don’t. Also be sure to ask about ventilation holes. They come stock with none (or used too, might have changed) and will vary on climate or use. Coloring is/was very inconsistent unless you stick to white. If goal is for outdoor, hard to find or even see then tell them whatever the Marines use. I swear it just vanishes. Bonus points for the Marines for throwing a cargo net over it and decorating the outside. A-holes made me waste an hour trying to find them to fix a simple antenna problem – they even camo’ed their unit plaque.
20′ round =~62sq ft. $20,000/62 = $333/sqft. That’s a pretty expensive building… Where I live for that kind of money I could buy three 40′ CONEXs, fix them up pretty nice, and have enough left over for some serious landscaping, heh, heh.
Your math is wrong.
20′ round = 314.16 sq ft. $20,000/314.16 = $63.66/sqft.
Area of a circle is (PI)R^2 = 3.14 x ((10) ^ 2) = 3.14 x 100 = 314
Youve calculated the circumference of the circle, not the area.
Circumference = 3.14 x diameter = 3.14 x 20 = 62.8
I think he’s intentionally using square footage, as the traditional means of comparing property value.
That may be, but it appears he’s calculated how much square footage there is incorrectly.
Yup, you’re correct. As per usual.
I could see burying the 14′ model somewhere in a cache, for a quicky improvement on just a tent, and rapid construction.
As any sort of a serious living accommodation $7k-14K@ is butt-rape land, and the flimsiness factor is an improvement only on tentage.
If I were going to shotcrete or railroad tie around it, I’d skip the dome, do a hexagon of actual materials, and roof it, and have a lot of change back from my $14K, for ten times the solidness and permanence, and probably 3X the ft² for the same price.
Even cinder blocks and a minimal pad with a shed roof are an improvement hereabouts, or with a 45° A-roof up yonder in snow-land. The only trade-off there is time, but that was true with the Three Little Pigs with straw/sticks/bricks as well.
14-footer in some BFE scrap of otherwise useless land for last-ditch or getaway, and able to put up as fast as a medium GP tent: sure.
Serious shelter: probably not so much.
And as already noted, erection time for a 20′ ISO container is 0 minutes, after the truck poops it out.
The only advantage to the Intershelter on that is that you could haul it anywhere 200# at a time, like on a sled or via cargo quad/snowmobile/pack mule, and put it up with hand tools.
Most likely use I could foresee:
1) Buy a scrap or eight of vacant land in various nearby locales.
2) Put it up on bare earth.
3) Dig, emplace, and bury cache.
4) Restore ground to status quo ante.
5) Deconstruct intershelter and cart off.
6) Pretend #3 never happened, let nature and some weeds solve camouflage problem.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
I’m seeing the dome shape as a plus for high wind/hurricane/tornado prone areas. The wind would just blow around the shelter, no collapsed walls, no lifted roof, intact shelter.
Just my 1/50th of a dollar.
On third thought, ditto for snow.