Safe Harbor
 

I've been following online the progress of a house being built in Florida over the last year or so. The house is being built to demonstrate the proper way to build a hurricane/tornado/termite/rot proof home. They are making a TV documentary of it too. It's been pretty interesting to watch the building go up. Construction is basically complete. And last week they got to test it out when they got nailed by 100+mph winds of Frances.

The house came through absolutely unscathed.

They just updated their website to include pictures of them watching movies and hanging out while the hurricane force winds were howling outside. (They have a generator.)

Safe Harbor

What makes it hurricane/tornado proof? It is a concrete dome. It costs the same as a regular wood framed house, but will survive just about any natural disaster.

This may be the house of the future. Especially in Florida. If I were building a house in Florida, this is what I would build.

awesome. we have a bunch of older dome houses around here but they aren't concrete. i think the theory was that before A/C was so prevalent the dome would stand up to the heat better. i've thought about buying one but my wife will have none of it.

That's pretty cool. And it's a bit more aesthetically interesting to look at than the standard house built in the Bahamas. In the Bahamas, the outer and primary inner walls of the average house are put together like legos. They're made of solid concrete or similar very hard material with steel bars running through them. The bars are then interconnected at the corners. The roof is generally one or two large units that are battened down in a similar matter, with steel rods and hooks.

Result: a very centered and sturdy house that will not move/cave in/splinter/break even in Cat 4 and 5 hurricane winds. The roof may come off at those wind speeds but it's designed so that if it does, it won't go too far and can be put right back on the house like the lid of a pot. Genius. May not look all that pretty but DAMN is it functional. And when you get hurricanes like the Bahamas does, pretty usually just gets blown away.

that is the ugliest thing I've ever seen.

Reminds me of some of the late FLW work.....

There's a company that makes these, situated in the middle of nowhere on I-35 between Austin and Dallas. Their offices are, of course, a series of the dome buildings, and in the past they've painted it to look like a giant caterpillar. I don't know why they think this will attract more business.

Is that a challenge?

You know, I would have expected this to have propper bloody hurricane shutters, not cheap and nasty wood hacks.

Ugly, huh?

Well, houses are different all over the world. America was settled by Europeans, and adopted their house styles. So that's what we are used to. This house is not a style that you see every day, but many cultures would find this house to be attractive.

For me personally, I'd much rather have a unique-looking house that can withstand all weather you thrown at it, than have a typical house that may or may not survive the storm. I guess I'm practical that way. I've always thought form should follow function.

I think this dome house is no more ugly than most of the vinyl sided monstrosities that get slapped together in the suburbs of every American city. This house, with virtually no maintenance, will be standing 100+ years from now. Most typical new houses built today will not be.

Yeah, I agree. It is still under construction, but it looks like they didn't plan for the hurricane shutters. Don't understand that.

I don't have a particular problem with it being ugly, but a two bedroom home? On the other hand, I guess resale value is not a big priority with them.

Edited for lysdexia :blush:

Probably on order *shrug*.

It looks like one of those plastic igloo doghouses. Not very attractive, but I guess that's not what they were going after with this house.

Bauhaus fanboy :P

that is the ugliest thing I've ever seen.

I have a friend that lives in a geodesic dome house and he loves it to no end. The struggle to purchase it, however, was nearly a year in fighting and extremely frustrating for him. Because these houses are so unusual and unique in appearance (read: "fugly"), it seems that no banks or companies will provide a loan for one because any attempt to re-sell is difficult. He searched endlessly until someone finally gave in, but attached some rider to the agreement that complicated matters if he ever could not make payments, had to sell, etc.

And while almost all geodesic domes have a really great wind rating, its never the wind that gets you, its pieces of your neighbors' houses and trees flying through the air that get you. The concrete shelter would sure be a good defense against that stuff, though, and probably very energy efficient.