What happened to dome houses? Shop possibility?

[Bill Dufour]

we rented a dome mountain cabin last weekend. Built in 1977. The idea was popular around then and a little earlier. Claim was maximum interior volume for minimal heat loss/gain through exterior skin.
Lots of weird wasted corners etc. Half of it had 8' vertical walls then dome on top. The other half had vertical walls to window sill height. Seems like a shop could be built with a big span. I think the introduction of roofing trusses kind of killed the idea. Also the roof/walls are not thick enough for modern insulation levels. Looked like a lot of infill with tricky stud angles for the drywall and plywood exterior skin.
Bill D

[Malcolm McLeod]

... a dome mountain cabin ...

Still around. A neighbor (1/2mi down the mtn) is building one (sort of) right now (paused until the snow melts).

[Mel Fulks]

They did some tests and found that a domicile DID NOT have to have a dome.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

There's been a couple built a few miles west of us over the last couple decades.

[Tom M King]

I know someone who has lived in one since the 1970's. I think they were more time to build than people thought, but the main complaint I remember hearing was bad acoustics. You could here anything that made the smallest noise anywhere inside one.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

My dads group of college colleagues recently opened a time capsule that they sealed up and put away in the seventies. Buckminster Fuller was predicted to be among the "Very important people of the future" by several of the participants. One participant was living in a dome when the time capsule was created. That dome burned to the ground not long after.

[Bill Dufour]

but the main complaint I remember hearing was bad acoustics. You could here anything that made the smallest noise anywhere inside one.[/QUOTE]
Definitely noticed that in the great room. I could hear people 30 feet away better then someone 10 feet away due to bouncing sounds.
Local high school, built in 1972, had similar problems with no interior walls. Teachers built "walls" of file cabinets etc before it opened. Air handling system never worked right. Some rooms have no light switches to this day. I know one teacher who got dinged on a shelter in place drill. His "room" had no door he was supposed to take kids into room next door. That teacher was on prep during the drill and he had nowhere to take his class. Make sit a huge deal one one door key is lost. The entire building is compromised until all the doors are rekeyed. They did add some kind of radioactive lighted exit signs in the 1990's.
Bill D

[Jim Becker]

The "modern" version is called a yurt.

I think that it would be fine for a shop, just like a quonset hut, if there was one existing, but I don't know that I'd choose that format of building for multiple reasons for a woodworking shop.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

A neighbor out at the woodlot is turning a grain bin into a house. Images coming soon.

[Cameron Wood]

Coincidentally, I was just talking with a passer-by & We established that we had both lived in Norcal in the '70s. He was a dentist at the community clinic. I remembered the name of the director as I had largely built his dome home at the time. I recall that for the interior walls, every stud had a different length, and only every 2 or 3 had the same compound angle. Roofing was also tricky. It was on a ridge with a fantastic view, & I would hang out after work to watch the sunset- I even made a chair to sit in. Herbal libations may have been used....

[Jerry Bruette]

There's A school district in southern Wisconsin that has concrete domes for all of their buildings. IIRC it's a 5 dome complex.

[Mark Wedel]

A chain of century movie theaters out here had domed theaters - in that usage, it sort of makes sense - each dome basically housed one big theater - no worry about interior walls, and so on.

As OP noted, odd angles are one problem - while a circular (dome) might minimize exterior walls, if in the end you end up arranging things within that dome to be basically rectangular (of diminished size), that benefit may be lost. while a high domed ceiling might be nice (like vaulted ceilings), that is now extra space that is being heated and cooled. And most of the world just operates in right angles and straight lines - streets, property lines, etc. I imagine from a building perspective, much easier for established builders to build those rectangular buildings. I could imagine with domed buildings you get into situations like 'this window is supposed to be 18' from that door. Is that measured via the curved wall, or a straight line (chord) from the door to that point.

[Mel Fulks]

“Our Town” has an old train station with a dome , and large exterior columns. Can’t remember the name of the architect, but he was
a big deal. When I was about 5 or 6 years old the whole class rode the train to Washington DC. Now the building is a science museum.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I am still friends with and do projects for the guy who built and lived in his dome in the seventies. He still has very fond memories of those years. His marriage even survived the dome homestead ordeal.
The dome its self is a neat concept. The impracticality of turning one into a conventional(ish) house is where the problems listed above and lots of others reveal themselves. Buckminster Fuller imagined an entire building industry, redesigned from the ground up, around the concept of the dome. I just did the plumbing and wiring for the dome guys latest project. It is a lovely, conventional, stick built, rectangle, with a simple roof.

[Keegan Shields]

Here's a cool concept - 3d printed homes. Opens up a ton of possibilities like homes that don't have straight walls.

https://www.iconbuild.com/