Dome Layout
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First , thanks to the Domegaia team for your hard work and all the others that contribute to the forum. I would love to attend a workshop but I am 3 mos out from neck surgery and in about 6 weeks I will have low back surgery so probably a year from now I may be able to attend one. While I am sure my questions would be answered in a workshop I am too impatient to wait and wanted to know if someone would answer them. 1) Could someone give dimensions of domes they have seen and how many vertical columns of blocks were used? I guess you could say how many meridians for the circumference of the dome. 2) Is Domegaia using flat rectangular blocks now or is the contoured blocks the latest block form ? 3) Whats the development status of the rigid frame/fabric dome forms? Thanks.
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The domes I've seen built by DomeGaia builders don't have columns. The blocks can only be organized by horizontal layers.
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Gabe, our lead workshop trainer, says slabs are cut into simple rectangular blocks. The straight sided blocks are trimmed on one side (left or right) using a pruning saw to get a compatible angle. Here is a video demonstration of the technique.
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No actual testing of dome forms has been done by DomeGaia.
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Thanks Zander! Sorry, I asked the question incorrectly. I should have simply asked what dimensions do you cut the blocks for the bottom horizontal layer of the dome? The dome form I was speaking of is the one Mr Gibran mentioned in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF5jaNr8qQA at about the 5:10 mark. Again, my thanks!
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@atravis4 make the blocks what ever size you find easy to work with.. I made mine 14.5”x 15.5”. The only reason mine are that size is because at my thickness 12 blocks that size come out perfectly from one batch of aircrete.
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@kimo Thanks for info!
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@atravis4 The blocks for all layers are cut to 10" tall x 12"-15" wide x 3.5" thick. These are not magic numbers, but we find them to work well. The 3.5" thickness corresponds to the height of our 2x4 slab forms and is sufficient insulation for tropical climates.
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@Zander tHANKS!
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@atravis4 Those dome forms mentioned in the video at 5:10 are still part of the vision in progress. However, it is not being actively pursued at this time. Some tests were attempted a while back with no conclusive results yet.
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@Zander ok was just curious