The Monolithic Dome Institute

[Image: The headquarters of Poland's Radio Muzyka Fakty Sp.z oo. As if stunned by their own work, the architects add: "This is a completed facility! This is NOT a drawing or a scene out of Star Wars." More on that project here].

You can't get much simpler than "monolithic.com," the website for the Monolithic Dome Institute. "Today, Monolithic is a family of companies sharing a mutual goal: to improve the lives of people worldwide through the introduction and construction of Monolithic Domes."
And aren't domes the #1 suggested gift for 13th wedding anniversaries...?


[Image: That same Polish radio station].

The Monolithic Dome Institute operates a number of subsidiary companies, all with wonderfully abstract names: Monolithic Construction Management, Monolithic Equipment (what kind of equipment, you ask...?), Monolithic Airforms, and Dome Living Rentals.


[Image: Anatomy of a dome: "The Monolithic Dome is a super-insulated, steel reinforced concrete structure used for homes, schools, gymnasiums, bulk storage facilities, churches, offices, and many other uses"].

The company is surprisingly earnest in its attempt to design affordable, safe, and easily constructed shelters that are apparently lightning-proof, earthquake-safe, and even "disaster-resistant." They even run something called the Domes for the World Foundation.


[Image: Domes built in "emerging countries"].

The company even seems to claim an architectural genealogy that stretches back to Hagia Sophia and Rome's Pantheon.
They've done sports facilities, so-called podular gyms, fertilizer storage units –


– and even churches –


– including this one in Birmingham, Alabama.


[Image: Faith Chapel Christian Church, Birmingham, Alabama].

Then there are the houses.


[Images: A home near Aguilar, Colorado; images supplied by Michael Wenzl].


[Image: Another monolithic dome home in Colorado].

Interested? Plan yours today.
How much would a BLDGBLOG pod village cost, for instance? Could it look like this?:


[Image: The Willard family dome – check out Orion's belt!].