Image: My sisters, Melinda and Rebecca, my brother, Dave, and me on July 4, 1976 in Shelley, Idaho.
For years my father, David B. South, thought and talked about Buckminster Fuller and dome geometry. One morning in 1975, I awoke to find my father at the far end of the pasture busily building the skeleton of a geodesic dome.
Image: The geodesic dome frame built by David B. South in Shelley, Idaho about a year prior to the first Monolithic Dome Inflation. (January 18, 1976)
The dome skeleton weathered the winter well, but by summer, my father and his brothers, Barry and Randy, had devised a better way to build a dome. They built their first Monolithic Dome in Shelley, Idaho in 1976--a 105′ × 35′ concrete dome to hold Idaho potatoes. The geodesic dome would remain unfinished for a few years.
Image: A vintage South's Inc. Monolithic Dome advertisement for storage featuring the first Monolithic Dome ever built. Source: The Monolithic Dome Institute.
As they say, we've come a long way, baby, from that first Monolithic Dome in 1976. The domes being built today are some of the most elegant structures in the world. I am sharing more beautiful/artistic photos of domes from The Monolithic Dome Institute's photo archives.
Image: A Hidden Haven--The Bodenstein Residence in Hew Hampshire. Source: The Monolithic Dome Institute.
Image: Rainbows at Charca Casa. Source: The Monolithic Dome Institute.
Image: The Dawn of a New Day at The Monolithic Dome Institute. Source: The Monolithic Dome Institute.
Image: Eagle's Eye in Ohio. Source: The Monolithic Dome Institute.
Image: The Patrick Residence in Texas. Source: The Monolithic Dome Institute.
Image: Autumn at Cloud Hidden in North Carolina. Source: The Monolithic Dome Institute.
Image: The Byrne Residence after a downpour. Source: The Monolithic Dome Institute.
Image: The Chauvin Residence in Nevada. Source: The Monolithic Dome Institute.
Image: The Wika Residence in South Dakota. Source: The Monolithic Dome Institute.
Image: "Bruco the Italian Caterpillar" at the Monolithic Dome Institute in Italy, Texas. Source: The Monolithic Dome Institute.
