Former student touts dome homes at California expo

Concrete dome homes could be widely implemented as the perfect solution to housing dilemmas throughout the world, said Douglas Stanton ‘82, a former Texas A&M environmental design student, at a May 2012 alternative building materials and design expo in California.

Stanton, whose [firm] (http://www.dstantonarchitects.com/index.html) has produced residential, commercial and landscape projects, said he’s ready to design these homes to meet a need for sustainable, cost-efficient structures that provide protection from natural disasters.

“Additionally, these homes can have great architectural variation,” said Stanton, who discussed the structures in “Rethinking the Home,” a panel discussion at [AltBuild] (http://www.altbuildexpo.com/) , an expo in Santa Monica that featured professional development sessions, speakers, exhibits and hands-on demonstrations.

Developed in the 1930s by Southern California architect [Wallace Neff] (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2011/12/wallace-neff-bubble-houses.html) , the homes are built by spraying concrete on an inflated balloon, or airform.

“After the Joplin, Missouri tornado in May 2011 I recalled Neff’s airform domes, and wondered if they would be tornado resistant,” said Stanton. “Since then I discovered that they are not only tornado resistant, but that they are also fire and earthquake resistant. They can be built at a reasonable cost and they are a very sustainable construction option, requiring approximately 50% of the energy needed for heating and cooling of a conventional wood frame home.”

Stanton also touts dome homes’ shorter building time and their elimination of mold and termite problems.