Thirteen Years of Texas-Size Growth

The Monolithic Dome Institute Headquarters 1990-2003

September 22, 2003

by Kris Garrison

1990- Construction of first office, four storage units and one model home begin.

Jump to 1997- Now Bruco, the Texas Italian Caterpillar, more storages and shops, the Byrne residence (not shown), a visitor's center and Charca Casa have been added.

2003- The Orion and Calisto residences (both not shown), Monolithic Studios, Catalytic Software Ecoshell model, a new office complex and many more domes appear.

Monolithic officially opened its doors in Italy, Texas on January 23, 1991. Business actually started as early as August, 1990 when a few employees moved to Texas from California to get things rolling. Shortly thereafter, the Airform manufacturing division was moved from Des Moines, Iowa to Texas.

In its 13 years of business along Interstate 35, the company has grown from a 4-dome office building and 32-foot Monolithic Dome model home to over 50 domes on approximately 26 acres with its main attraction being "Bruco, The Texas-Italian Caterpillar," home of Monolithic Airform Manufacturing.

David B. South, President of Monolithic said he is excited about the progress, "we've come a long way toward our goals of educating the public about Monolithic Domes and teaching builders how to properly construct them. Up until the late 90's there were only a handful of people who had ever built a Monolithic Dome. Today, there are dome construction companies all over the United States and overseas. Most of these builders were taught-- and continue to be trained-- here in Italy, Texas. I used to be able to recall details on almost every dome in the world, now it would be impossible."

Developments at the Monolithic Dome Institute since 1990:

• Patented the Crenosphere construction process
• Construction of Monolithic Studio Rentals
• Airform augmentation design development
• Implemented and expanded National Training Center for Monolithic Dome Workshops
• Publication of the The Roundup: Journal of the Monolithic Dome Institute (32-page, full color magazine)
• Developed an informative and educational website which (as of September 2003):
  • receives 500,000 page views per month
  • has 70,000 visits per month
  • gets over 4 million hits per month
  • transfers 30 GB of data per month
  • contains over 1,700 html pages
• Developed support group for builders including the Bulletin Board system
  Built a 1/10 scale model of a Crenosphere at headquarters in Italy, Texas
• Initiated Monolithic Dome Conferences
• Started the Annual Nationwide Dome Tour
• Invented and produced small line of specialized equipment for builders
• Sponsored the Monolithic Dome Builders Association
• Developed the Research Park at Monolithic Headquarters
• Integrated stemwall construction techniques (Orion)
• Publication of Dome Living: A Creative Guide for Planning Your Monolithic Dream Home
• In-house production of CDs, Videos and DVDs

More Dome News

Related Articles:

• Who We Are
• Think Round
• The Birth of The Monolithic Dome
• The Monolithic Dome-- Not a Square Idea
• Dr. Arnold Wilson and Domes-- Past, Present and Future
• Self Guided Tour-- (PDF) of the Monolithic Dome Institute's Headquarters in Italy, TX

177 Dome Park Place - Italy, TX 76651
Tel (972)483-7423 - Fax (972)483-6662
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