D.I.Y Geodesic Greenhouse Book Review

So you have built a few models, maybe even a full size geodome in your back yard as a tool shed or play house for the kids and now you are finally ready to grow some serious food! Well luckily my good friend Kacper has solved the biggest challenge already! How to actually build a 40′ geodesic dome greenhouse using using everyday materials you can buy at any lumber yard.

A $500 Geodesic Greenhouse Frame?

First a little about Kacper. He is the grandson of a master tomato gardener, has a lovely wife and an amazing little daughter who loves veggies! I guess gardening runs in Kacper’s blood because the moment he saw the potential of geodesic greenhouses he started building one.

That is one thing I admire so much about Kacper, he doesn’t wait around, he just goes and starts building! So after he created a small “test dome” he started pouring concrete for the foundation of a giant 40′ dome.

Kacper and His Daughter

While he was doing this so many people started bugging him about dome construction both online and off he finally wrote down (he can type at 80 words per minute too!) the exact methods he used to save over $16,000.00 on building his dome, how he cut the struts, how he planned his dome using free tools, in fact he did a complete brain dump of all his mistakes, challenges and ultimately exactly how to build your own geodesic greenhouse biodome.

Kacper’s book is called: Biodome Revolution and in it you will find not only very detailed instructions on how to actually build your own biodome but exact pictures of each step! Here are some more things he talks about in this amazing book:

  • The amazingly low cost involved. In fact you can build your own dome for pennies compared to the cost of normal green-houses using regular 2x4s from your local lumber yard.
  • How simple and inexpensive they are to heat. With proper design and covering you can have tropical temperatures, even in the dead of winter.
  • The amazing strength of the geodesic form. It is one of the strongest structures (being based on a sphere) in the world. Geodesic domes have withstood earthquakes, pretty much any amount of snow and hurricane force winds.
  • Geodomes are scalable. You can build to any size no matter what space you have to work with there is a dome that will work for you.
  • You can grow an incredible amount of fresh organic food inside your bio-dome, year round. (Here on the farm my dad picks fresh lemons every couple of days in the dead of winter!)
  • For the amount of growing space you get domes are incredibly light & transportable, because of this you can easily move them if needed. Depending on the size and where you live you probably don’t even need a permit to build a temporary structure, so can have your own whether you own land or are just renting!

Geodesic Greenhouse eBook

But don’t take my word for it. Go check it out yourself at: www.BiodomeRevolution.com, just as a heads up, this is a book you will need to buy and if you do end up buying it I will get a small percentage for sending you. BUT… before you click away in disgust, remember the book is 100% guaranteed by ClickBank and if you don’t like it for ANY REASON, you can return it for a full refund any time within 60 days. Even AFTER READING IT! How good is that?

I read the book. It was clear, concise and gave me more than enough information to build my own geodesic greenhouse dome (which I will be doing this year and blogging about here).


Click here to check out Kacper’s site now.

Survival Seed Bank: Is it Worth the Money?

Posted on May 14, 2012 by admin

Survival Seed Bank. Is it Worth the Money?

survival_seed_farm

Amy Planting on the Greenhouse Seed Farm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My parents run one of the largest non-hybrid, heritage, open pollinated seed farms in B.C. We are in the top three producers for www.SaltspringSeeds.com who sell all over the world but due to bureaucratic restrictions aren’t able to sell to the United States.

When I heard that, I was chuffed. Why you might ask? Well in the because of this website I get a ton of feedback from geodesic greenhouse and biodome enthusiasts from all over the world but mostly from the good ol’ USA! And lots of questions are about seeds! So when I realized that we couldn’t ship our seeds to the states because of red tape and politicians I had to do something about it.

After some searching around I found a company out of Thompson Illinois called Solutions from Science, they carry a whole range of survival, off grid, energy independence, post disaster, prepper type stuff including an amazingly compact seed storage system called the Survival Seed Bank.

The best thing about seeds is how small they are! In fact in about the same space as a 2 liter pop bottle you have enough seeds to grow an acre of nourishing, nutrient dense, organic food. Most seeds, including my parents I am sad to say, come in cardboard or paper wrappers. There is nothing wrong with this approach, as long as you are planting in a year or two but when you are planning to invest in seeds for a “rainy day” or other long term reason vacuum sealed in foil like the astronauts do is the way.

So, if you are are looking to improve your survival odds after your stored food (we aren’t die-hard preppers here on the farm, but we have on average a years food stockpiled not counting what’s growing!) then you owe it to yourself and your family to check out the Survival Seed Bank Website. Don’t let the “doom and gloom” end of the world stuff get you down!

Focus on the seeds! Buy the seeds! You only have to do it once! In this case when you order the survival seed bank you actually get a book on how to save your own seed so that you never need to buy seeds again! My parents are living proof of this. We eat non-stop amazing, veggies, fruit, lemons (from the biodome greenhouse), save seeds for next year and still sell over $20,000.00 worth of seeds each year! Nature is amazing that way. So if you work with nature/family/community, keep your soil healthy, keep your biodome greenhouse warm and have a survival seed bank hidden away in case it all goes wrong you are about as safe as you can be in these troubled economic times. Get your seeds now and keep growing!

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DIY Wooden Geodesic BioDome

Posted on April 21, 2012 by admin

DIY Wooden Geodesic Biodome Construction

DIY wooden Geodesic Biodome construction
Here we see my good friend Kacper’s 40ft 3v biodome taking shape. The struts are made of plain old 2×4′s from Home Depot. There are no fancy clips, joints, bolt together widgets etc. holding the triangles together. They are simply screwed together with deck screws. And the cool thing about using “generic” materials is you can find them everywhere and they are cheap! The 40′ dome shown under construction here cost about $500 to complete.

The main part that is challenging is making sure the corners of the 3V frequency triangles meet at the proper angle to be screwed together evenly and make a strong joint. If one was concerned about extreme weather, one could use galvanized steel strapping across all the joints but unless you are subject to hurricanes or tornadoes, its not needed. Why not; you might be asking. Well wind tunnel tests have shown that the geodesic dome shape is incredibly durable. That’s why they use them for protecting equipment in Antarctica where winds have been known to blow up to 198mph! Yikes!

Anyway if you are going to build your own geodesic greenhouse or geodome of any kind you really should check out using wood as a base material. Besides being easy to get in most places. It is forgiving to work with, reasonably lightweight and its is very easy to attach things to it after the dome is built. I agree that metal or plastic can be more durable under some conditions but there are significant challenges creating weathertight openings and coverings for tube frame domes as its just darned hard to fasten to a hard round pipe! Unless of course you bolt some wood to it… And by that time you might as well have just made your whole dome out of wood in the first place.

So what are the drawbacks to wood? Well it is flammable, bugs will eat it in certain conditions, it might rot, and it is heavier than PVC pipe. The best thing to do is treat your lumber with any wood preservative that contains borax. First because it is very safe compared to zinc-napthenate or copper-napthanate preservatives and second because it actually helps make the wood fire resistant.

Another way of making your DIY dome better able to resist fire is to put your main electrical infrastructure well away from the wall and have the feed come in underground. This practically eliminates risk of fire caused by faulty wiring and if you use a properly designed rocket mass heater as I wrote about before, you should be very safe from fire even if you are burning wood for heat in your biodome greenhouse.

So there you have it. A few reasons to consider using wood for your DIY geodome project whether it is for a gazebo, play house or hot house, it is hard to go wrong using wood when doing your own dome building project.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me by email or here on the biodome blog and I will do my best to dig up the answer for you.

Sasha

 

 

Posted in Build a Greenhouse Cheap | 2 Comments

Make $50,000.00 an Acre With Your Geodesic Greenhouse

Posted on April 7, 2012 by admin

good food revolution bookMake $50,000 an Acre With Your Geodesic Greenhouse

First the disclaimer: I haven’t done this! But based on the amazing work of Will Allen “The Urban Farmer” who has done better than that I know it is possible!

So who is this “Urban Farmer”? Well he is an ex-pro basketball player for one thing, he is also an activist, reformer, pioneer and author.

He is passionate about local food production, helping kids and growing and eating organically produced food. In other words a visionary and leader for the world to come.

Here are just a few of the things that are happening at his Milwaukee headquarters:

  •     six traditional greenhouses growing over 15,000 pots of herbs, salad mix, beet greens, arugula, mustards, seedlings, sunflower and radish sprouts.  These greenhouses also host production of six hydroponic systems growing Tilapia, Perch, and a variety of herb and salad greens, and over 50 bins of red wriggler worms;
  •     two aquaponics hoop houses with two independent fish runs and growing beds for additional salad mix and seedlings;
  •     seven hoop houses growing a mixture of salad greens and mushrooms;
  •     a worm depository hoop house;
  •     an apiary with 14 beehives;
  •     three poultry hoop houses with laying hens and ducks;
  •     outdoor pens for livestock including goats and turkeys;
  •     a large plot of land on which the first stage of the organization’s sophisticated composting operation is located including 30 pallet compost systems;
  •     an anerobic digester to produce energy from the farm’s food waste;
  •     a rain water catchment system; and
  •     a retail store to sell produce, meat, worm castings, and compost to the community.

The importance of growing high value “spring mix” type greens cannot be underestimated, as anyone who follows prices on veggies knows the difference for young lettuce vs. a whole head of lettuce is amazing. I have seen organic spring mix go for upwards of $30.00 lb!

So can you really make $50,000.00 year on only one acre? Yes you can! In fact Anne Edey of Solviva fame says you can grow up to $500,000 worth of greens on one acre in Martha’s Vinyard in the winter!

Here is a direct quote from:

Research Report No. 5

THE POTENTIAL FOR COMMERCIAL FOOD-PRODUCING GREENHOUSES IN THE NORTHEAST:

A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

By Norman L. Marshall
March 1987

“Five to six dollars per square foot of greenhouse per year is a realistic goal for revenues.”

So do the math. If you have 5 x 2,000 square foot geodesic greenhouses or poly tunnel style greenhouses then there is no reason you should not be able to bring in $50,000.00 or more per year! And because you would be using aquaculture to get the best yields you would actually be producing protein as well as veggies in the form of vegetarian fish!

S,o while the claims made in Will Allen’s YouTube video may be shocking to some. There are numerous case studies where people have made the kind of income that I refer to in this article and they get the added benefit of striking a blow for food freedom, saving the climate and eating better too!

So what are you waiting for? Start growing food!!

But wait… You don’t have a geodesic biodome greenhouse of your own yet? Click here to solve that problem!

 

 

Posted in Biodome Aquaculture, Biodome Greenhouse News | Leave a comment

Geodesic Chicken Coop Anyone?

Posted on March 30, 2012 by admin

Geodesic Chicken Coop Anyone?

geodesic_chicken_coop-tractor

 

 

 

 

 

My sister is a big fan of the “chicken tractor”; a little a-frame coop on wheels that has an open bottom so the chickens can weed between garden beds. So when I started getting questions about geodesic chicken coops the two things collided in my head and out came the geodesic chicken tractor! And as you can see from the above picture someone has already built one!

The only thing missing on the mobile chicken coop pictured above is a nest box and roosting area. Which brings me back to the geodesic chicken coop on wheels. Use the geodesic dome calculator at www.desertdomes.com or save yourself a bunch of head scratching and frustration and pick up the eBook that puts all your DIY dome building information together in one place at: Eden Biodome Revolution eBook. Anyway once you have your geodesic greenhouse building basics figured out then your next task is to modify your design to fit the needs of chickens.

Think small light and secure here. As the picture above shows keep it low to the ground to prevent the wind lifting it and rolling it away. Make sure the edges come within an inch or two of the ground so that your smaller chickens cant slip under the edge of the mobile coop. Also having the chicken tractor low to the ground helps prevent predators from getting under the edge though if a weasel or mink wants your chickens there is almost nothing you can do to stop it.

Once you have the basic shape figured out make at least one quarter covered and having at least two nest boxes that are accessible from the coop and from the outside. Put a curtain over the nest box from the inside to give the layers “privacy” while they provide your omelet materials!

The last things you must have are roosting bars about midway between the ground and the roof (under the covered area) so that the chickens have a place to sleep out of the rain and off the ground. Yes chickens sleep. And they prefer to do it while perching on a bar or branch or dowel. Make sure its wood so they can grip it and don’t be afraid to get creative with oak or hickory branches. The chickens will enjoy wrestling for the best roosting spots and you will save money at Home Depot.

Lastly your geodesic chicken tractor needs to have wheels so you can move it around by yourself. Because chickens are so thorough when it comes to tilling ground you have to move them every couple of days or they will remove every scrap of living thing and leave you with a dome shaped moonscape! That being said, if you do move the house more often you can even use the chicken tractor to keep your lawn healthy and pest free if your neighbors will put up with a rooster next door. Oh yeah, you need a rooster. Chickens will lay without one but are much happier with and if one of the “ladies” decides she wants to sit on eggs in the spring then you can replenish your flock for free!

So there you go, another thing to build. A two wheeled, self laying, geodesic chicken coop garden tractor! Good luck and if you do build one send me a picture and I will add it to this post.

Posted in Geodesic Dome Construction | Leave a comment

School Children Create Amazing Geodesic Biodome Greenhouse

Posted on March 24, 2012 by admin

School Children Create Amazing Geodesic Biodome Greenhouse

pikes_peak_geodesic_biodome_greenhouse

 

 

 

 

 

By Norma Engelberg | Originally from The Pikes Peak Courier View Reprinted with Permission

Three years in the making, the Cripple Creek-Victor School District greenhouse at Cresson Elementary School is ready for planting.

On the theory that kids are more likely to eat vegetables they’ve grown themselves, the geodesic dome greenhouse is the result of a student wellness grant from the Colorado Department of Education and a grant administered through the Community Partnership Family Resource Center in Divide.

Cripple Creek School District wellness coordinator Bill Trethewey said that at 9,494 feet in elevation, the dome is the highest school-based greenhouse in Colorado and perhaps in the country.

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My Thoughts: The biodome was professionally installed after the children and teachers came up with the design parameters. Now fully functional the geodesic greenhouse is the pride of the school and produces amazing greens and veggies for the school cafeteria.

The interesting thing is that when the students are involved with the design of the biodome hothouse, the running of the greenhouse systems, as well as the choice of what to plant; they actually eat the green produce that comes out of the geodesic greenhouse! Go figure. This geodome is now officially a success and produces produce at over 9,000 ft of elevation!

So, what are YOU waiting for? Contact me with your top questions about DIY geodesic greenhouses and I will either answer or find the answer because I have a mission: Get everyone eating good organic food while reducing their dependence on the fossil fuel funded agribiz we call “produce”.

Which inevitably leads me to thoughts of fossil fuels, global climate change and food security, which after home security is top of my mind as important to any well prepared citizen. So, if you haven’t watched my friend Kacper’s web presentation about how building a biodome can not only save your family tons of money each year but can actually save your butt if things get gnarly out there.

And don’t think it can’t happen. Here in Vancouver BC Canada we have approximately 2 days worth of food on hand, so if the I5 freeway up from California and the ports started shutting down we would see hoarding and looting in very short order. Makes me shudder I can tell you.

Anyway sorry to go out on a bit of a sour note but the realities of this world sometimes get to me and I feel like I have to do something even if its just a blog post. If there is one more dome greenhouse grower out there then as the immortal Dylan said, “…I would not feel so all alone.” (The rest of the song doesn’t apply though!)

 

 

Posted in Biodome Greenhouse News | 2 Comments

Amazing Aquaculture Biodome Treehouse

Posted on March 2, 2012 by admin

Aquaculture Biodome Greenhouse Spotted 60ft up a Tree…

OK, so I am exaggerating a bit, but these amazing biodome treehouses are so cool I had to do a quick post on the subject. You could grow plants up in your geodesic treehouse but it would have to be aeroponic or aquaponic because dirt is heavy!

geodesic greenhouse treehouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaf House By 02 Design was the first geodesic treehouse they produced. Weight was kept to a mere 1,200lbs by using aluminum struts and plastic flooring, panels and lift basket.

Completed in September 2005 near Pewaukee, Wisconsin this amazing biodome treehouse is 13 foot diameter and uses an external aluminum frame,  recycled plastic for the  flooring, and high density polyethylene for the rain shedding biodome canopy.

The creators of this wild experimental dome wanted to show off the sculptural shape of the geodesic dome while not sacrificing, functional design and environmental sensibility. The decision to build in a tree makes the Leaf House stand out and gives people a way to consider, “how we can co-exist with nature in aesthetically unique yet sustainable ways.”

Which brings us to the concept of biodomes and sustainability on a more “grounded” level. Being in a position to grow even some of your own food is becoming more and more important. There is a growing number of people in the world and we are facing ever increasing food prices as well as natural and man made disasters that influence food supply. By having your own biodome greenhouse “food factory” in your back yard you can quickly start supplementing your diet with amazing home grown greens, veggies and fruit.

But if you are serious about sustainability, hate weeding, love tinkering and want to seriously “turbo charge” your biodome greenhouse then you need to check out this site. www.Aquaponics4You.com Note: Because it is a commercial page you need to “drill down” a bit to get to the sections that are interesting.

You could go on the forums and get similar information but in this case John (a certified organic aquaponic farmer) has taken all the guesswork out of it and if you follow his guaranteed, step-by-step instructions you will soon be harvesting dirt free, organic, produce from your own aquaculture powered geodesic greenhouse.

Aquaponics 4 You

Anyway don’t take my word for it. Check into it yourself and when you do you will find that one of the fastest ways to improve your yield in your biodome greenhouse is to include aquaponics in your design. Plus its nice and techie for those of us who secretly would like to be a scientist instead of a blogger!

Good luck and post your results back here so the rest of us can benefit from your experience!

P.S. If you haven’t watched the Food Collapse and Biodome Creation Presentation don’t delay! This is powerful, timely information and if you aren’t at least aware of the potential food crisis, you may be putting yourself and your family at risk.

Posted in Biodome Aquaculture | 1 Comment

Do You Have to Build A Biodome Greenhouse to Grow All Year Long?

Posted on February 18, 2012 by admin

Do You Have to Have A Biodome Greenhouse to Grow Amazing Veggies and Flowers?

Well, when it comes to growing your own vegetables and flowers and you don’t have room for a biodome greenhouse there are other options!

Now of course, in a perfect world you would watch the free biodome construction and food collapse preparation training video, have the space, time and knowledge on how to build a biodome greenhouse for yourself. Then you wouldn’t need any of the other technologies that I will be talking about today. But… because many of you may live in urban areas and not have the space to build a geodesic greenhouse, no matter how much you might like to, there is another option.

diy window farm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I heard about it for the first time on www.TED.com and it blew me away! So simple, so elegant and so community minded! What is this amazing urban greenhouse food growing system you might ask? Is it expensive? Do I need a lot of room? Well, read on and I will “spill the beans” on Window Farming.

Back in 2009 artist and technology designer Britta Riley started the first functioning window farm in a low-light Brooklyn apartment window after reading Michael Pollan’s New York Times’ Magazine article titled, “Why Bother?” in which Pollan suggests growing some of your own food to help heal “the split between what you think and what you do.”

After she had come up with a prototype and was harvesting fresh herbs and small veggies, even in winter, she set up a KickStarter pledge drive, raised $28,000 and went open source with the whole project. Now there is a vibrant community of window farmers in NY as well as many other urban centers around the world. With the projected urban population growing to 60% by 2030 the timing couldn’t have been better for the window farming project which turns the average urban window into a cheap, DIY urban greenhouse.

window farm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, what can you do? Well, because Britta is a true humanitarian she has given all the research out for free! So all one has to do is go to www.WindowFarms.org and there you will find everything you need to start your own window farm and begin growing at least some of your own food.

Of course most people who end up here are similar to Amy and I and would really rather build a biodome greenhouse and have amazing fresh food all year round, but for those who want the food but don’t have the space check out Window Farming and you will be surprised at what you can grow right in your own windows! Even if you live in such a northern place as Oslo where they are successfully window farming with the addition of LED grow lights. So, even though you may really want to build a biodome greenhouse this is a way to get the results in much less time and space.

P.S. Don’t forget community gardening! Even in the city there are often places for a small geodesic greenhouse to be built, so don’t give up on the dream! You just might have to be a bit more creative, that’s all!

Posted in Build a Greenhouse Cheap | Leave a comment

Greenhouse Domes Don’t Have to Be Geodesic

Posted on February 10, 2012 by admin

Greenhouse BioDomes Aren’t Always Geodesic

I know I have been talking almost exclusively about geodesic greenhouses but the fact is there are many other ways to make amazing dome structures that are very similar but significantly different than the geodesic style.

The Famed Botanical Gardens in Zürich Switzerland are a good example of the bubble type greenhouse dome. The ribs give it vertical support while the cross members keep it from twisting. Amazing to see these domes in the snow as well. Originally built as a private garden the domes and the rest of the garden have now been taken on by the university.

zurich-botanical-gardens-greenhouse-domes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charter Sphere Domes

Originally designed and engineered by Thomas (TC) Howard of Synergetics, Inc and sold by Charter Industries as dome shelters, dome greenhouses and temporary domes. The Charter Sphere domes were based on the lesser circle and because of this they were significantly easier to construct even though on first glance they still look like the geodesic shape even though they are built on a totally different set of math equations. Ironically the majority of the iconic domes from around the United States that were built in the early 1950′s were actually Synergetics domes. Fuller patented a dome design using a great circle and through media attention took the lions share of the credit for these early domes, even those not built by him!

charter_sphere_dome

 

Domes Made of Circles

The repeating shape of this type of dome is a circle rather than a triangle. Much harder to build for the amateur but they sure are nice to look at! These shapes are all based on the most efficient use of space. In this regard nature is way ahead of us. In fact these diatoms have dome building down to an art. Complete with nano-tech, self assembly and the ability to last for millions of years. I could only dream of this kind of tech for building a greenhouse dome in the back yard.

diatom_domecircle_dome

 

So I hope this has helped you understand that even though the geodesic dome is the most widely known other types of domes are out there and maybe one of them might work for your project. I try and get better information about the Charter Circle dome because if there is a way to build a geodesic greenhouse dome that is easier I want to know about it and share it with you.

Posted in Other Dome Types | Leave a comment

Biodome Veggies are Big!

Posted on February 9, 2012 by admin

Build a Biodome, Harvest Huge Veggies!

I know you don’t have a green thumb, you can’t keep a simple house plant alive.

The beauty of a biodome greenhouse is that plants love them! The humidity, the warmth and the protection from pests and weather equal near perfect growing conditions for garden veggies.

Take a look at this amazing Cauliflower grown in a geodesic greenhouse out in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The giant you see here (a five pounder that was one of the 15 grown) was grown by the agricultural students of Roaring Fork High School.

giant biodome cauliflower

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is not unusual to see giant veggies because when they are in optimum conditions they tend to get a bit wild and grow rather larger than you might expect. Plants start bearing earlier, fruit longer and sometimes keep bearing year round. In fact the problem some people have is using up the produce that their eden biodome is producing! Even in the dead of winter!

Tomatoes are another prime candidate for your backyard dome greenhouse. Check out this tomato book for some amazing Polish tomato growing secrets. Even if you are a complete novice, having an enclosed hothouse to grow your tomatoes in will give you a huge leg up when it comes to growing, ripening and harvesting pounds and pounds of your favorite variety.

giant beefsteak tomato

 

 

 

 

 

 

And don’t get me started on zucchini! They are grow too big almost anywhere but put them in an eden biodome and you have a truly scary vegetable situation on your hands! In fact squash up to 50 lbs are not that uncommon, though most people harvest the zukes when they are small and tender. Let one grown to the truly colossal size to save seeds (as long as you don’t have any other kind of squash growing in your greenhouse as you don’ t want any cross pollination) but remember to open the doors and let the pollinators in!

giant geodesic greenhouse zucchini

 

 

 

 

 

And if you think building a greenhouse dome is too hard watch this quick video then when you have seen how easy it is grab the book and get growing!

 

Posted in Geodesic Greenhouse Growing | Leave a comment

Climatron – Worlds Coolest Giant Geodesic Hothouse?

Posted on February 8, 2012 by admin

Climatron – The World’s “Coolest” Giant Geodesic Hothouse

The amazing Climatron geodesic biodome greenhouse is part of the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis. Two of the things that make this biodome’s main unique are that it was originally the first fully climate controlled geodesic greenhouse at a botanical garden and the worlds first geo-dome to be built using Plexiglass instead of glass. This was cutting edge tech at the time, however over the years problems  developed with the original Perspex panels and so they were replaced during a two year renovation that saw the whole dome redone with  2,500 panes of low E, tempered, insulating glass.

climatron_exteriorTwenty ten was the year the Climatron celebrated its 50th anniversary. The original  dome was finished in 1960, and showed off a huge range of biodiversity normally found in a lowland rain forest. The garden’s information shows that there are over 400 kinds of plants ranging from those found on volcanoes in Hawaii, through the Brazilian flood plains to as far away as India.

Another ingenious way the designers have made the hothouse more natural is by having banks of high powered lights that come on and off by timers to simulate different light conditions from high noon to a full moon. This not only keeps the plants happy but makes the Climatron an amazing place to visit for us humans!

Another technical achievement of the original geodome designer’s was the lack of interior partitions (one of the reasons I am so keen on 3v dome construction).  This means that the honeycomb shaped quarter-sphere dome is entirely free standing! So when you look at it from the outside and see this massive 175 feet wide structure soaring almost 80ft into the St. Louis sky it certainly gets your attention!  And being inside… well it takes your breath away!climatron interior

The external support structure is made of aluminum tubes and rods. These structural elements either are “pushed together” or “pulled apart” to keep the frame from collapsing even in the most wild and crazy storms mother nature can throw at it. This is one of the most amazing things about the goedesic dome shape. Also apparently back in the disco years of the late 70′s this amazing biodome was widely considered to be high in the ranks of the most significant achievements in US architectural history.  When you tour the gardens next time you are there I am sure you will agree, though not quite as ambitious as the Eden Biodome complex in the UK, the Climatron is still wowing visitors 50 years after it was built.

Posted in Geodesic Greenhouses Worldwide | 2 Comments