CHECK OUT THE LINK.. IT HAS A PICTURE OF THE "DOME HOME"! COOL

'Dome Home' weathers storm
Finding security in structure built to withstand hurricanes
REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK
By Kerry Sanders
Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 9:39 a.m. ET Sept. 16, 2004PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. - PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. -

First light revealed that the "Dome Home" made it through the night and did exactly what it was designed to do -- survive even the worst hurricane.

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I’ve been hunkered down with an NBC News team in a “Dome Home” right on Pensacola Beach, directly in the path of Hurricane Ivan.

The shape of the home is what you might suspect from its name. It was designed by Mark Sigler to withstand winds up to 300 miles per hour and a direct hit from a hurricane.

FEMA, the federal agency, approved the plans, and even provided a small grant to the beachfront project.

The house sits on 16 pilings, driven 17 feet into the sand. It's a solid concrete house with 5 miles of steel reinforcements for added support.

The shape of the house, in conjunction with the pilings, was designed to allow the water to literally wash around the house, rather than knock it down. And that’s exactly what happened.


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I saw this house on the news last night...pretty good idea. I think that if insurance companies have their way that houses are going to have to be designed this way in order to still be on the coast and to get insured...

The way things are going, all house may have to end up being built like this, the weather is so unpredicatable and powerful, anything could happen. Its a very good idea though!

Or a big dome for a town, a city. WHich is better, dome home, or big dome?

just build underground

Domes ah?! I personally prefer pyramids but u know whatever!?

Guess there will be a lot moving out.

I love those things. I wanna live in one some day.

Monolithic Domes

Oh, man. I live in Illinois, but I still want one of those! Well, that or a geodesic dome. (Those are freakin' awesome!) I saw a news report about the dome home a few weeks ago, and the inside is really snazzy.

I guess for now I can satisfy myself thinking "Someday, someday..."

I live in a house made up of several domes! I don't know about hurricanes but the high domes are really effective against the heat of the desert