Rural Builder - Summer 2010

Chinese Alliance Church photos

The Chinese Alliance Church in Wheaton, Ill., completed in 1993, consists of two domes. Its sanctuary, right, is a graceful and exalted space that is energy-efficient and boasts excellent acoustics.

CONCERN: Air stratification and moisture distribution within a dome are unusual and tend to quickly degrade wood framing or interior paneling.

RESPONSE: In a dome, you don’t get air stratification because it provides continuous air circulation. Bathrooms and kitchens are vented to the outside and if the owners use the vents, interior moisture is not a problem.

CONCERN: Privacy is a problem because a dome is difficult to partition satisfactorily. Sounds, smells and even reflected light tend to be conveyed through the entire structure.

RESPONSE: If you try to live or work all in one room, this is true. Framing to the ceiling will provide sound and light separation.

bedroom, a pie shape becomes a closet. We provide simple modularity for the interior plan. Right angles come off exterior walls.

CONCERN: Floor space next to sloping walls can be difficult to use due to lack of headroom. This creates a volume that might require heating, representing an energy cost, but that cannot be lived in.

RESPONSE: As said, some edges in a loft might have less than 5 feet of headroom. So make it a closet. But it is not a heating problem because air circulates.

CONCERN: Dome builders, using cutboard sheathing, find it hard to seal domes against rain because of their many seams. Also, these seams may be stressed because ordinary solar heat flexes the entire structure each day as the sun moves across the sky.

RESPONSE: Same in a rectangular structure, only worse: hot on one side, cold on the other. It is the roofing that protects the building, not the framing.

CONCERN: The circular floor plan lacks the simple modularity provided by rectangles. Furniture manufacturers usually design with flat walls in mind, so placing a standard sofa, for example, results in the waste of a half-moon behind the sofa.

RESPONSE: Custom furniture is a complex solution to a non-problem. Our ground floor typically has 10 flat walls. There are no circles inside the dome. When I design a kitchen, I make it with right angles so you can hang cabinets. In a

CONCERN: The most effective waterproofing method with a wood dome is shingling, but even this can be a problem at the top of the dome, where the slope is less than that required by most roofing materials. One solution is to add a peaked cap to the top of the dome or to modify the dome shape.