There's no doubt that Michael Goodwin's new home is the most unusual one in Lion's Head, Ont. On a quiet, bungalow-lined street in the small Bruce Peninsula town, his house stands out because it's capped by a bulbous concrete dome.
On its own, the dome would stick out like a sore thumb, but the conventional wings on either side help it blend in - somewhat - with the surrounding bungalows.
The house is entered through one wing, which also contains the bathroom. An artist specializing in driftwood sculpture, Mr. Goodwin has set up his workshop in the other wing.
The central dome is a combined bedroom, living room and kitchen.
But why live in a concrete dome?
Mr. Goodwin laughs, whips out his harmonica and begins to play. The sound reverberates, bouncing off the curved concrete walls and ceiling, and the effect is undeniably impressive.
"It was always in the back of my mind to build an adobe brick house," he says, relaxing in the dome, surrounded by his sculptures.
Prior to building the dome, he'd been living in an 1860s-era house in Southampton, Ont., on Lake Huron. One day he got to talking with a local café owner, Sunny Cushnie, who had recently returned from a dome-building workshop and was getting ready to build one of his own.
A modern method of building domes cast in one piece, or monolithic domes, was developed in the 1970s by David South and his brothers, who are builders in Italy, Tex. Mr. South was inspired by the geodesic domes promoted by the visionary Buckminster Fuller, and started investigating new dome-building techniques.
Monolithic domes begin with a concrete slab platform that defines the shape of the base.
Then, a custom-made inflatable nylon shell, made by Mr. South's company in Texas, is blown up. Polyurethane foam is sprayed on the interior and a rebar frame is put up. Then a specially mixed concrete called shotcrete is sprayed on in layers, tapering from about six inches thick at the base to about 2¾ inches thick at the top.
The exposed surface of the dome is the nylon shell, which can be covered with paint or other surfaces such as stucco or metal cladding.
Mr. Cushnie and his friend and business partner, Collin MacLeod, had travelled to Texas to learn about domes and have since started Great Lakes Dome Co. and erected seven of the concrete structures.
Environmental concerns are a big part of the attraction of monolithic domes.
Mr. MacLeod, a carpenter from Hamilton, says erecting a concrete dome produces little waste, compared with conventional house building.
Once built, the foam creates a tight seal, preventing air leaks and making the heating system energy efficient. The concrete also has great thermal mass, he adds. It absorbs heat and holds onto that heat very well.
Mr. Goodwin's dome in Lion's Head, which is bright and dry, even on a particularly dismal, rainy spring day, took about seven months to build, including a six-week break and delays as builders and local tradespeople took on other work.
In total, the project cost about $180,000. That includes $25,000 for the 100- by 180-foot lot, and about $10,000 for the septic system. The two solar hot-water units on the roof, which feed into the in-floor heating system, also are included in that figure.
The cost of building a dome home is comparable with the price of custom-built homes of a similar size, though maintenance and energy use are usually cheaper, dome builders say.
Mr. Goodwin chose his Lion's Head location because land in Southampton does not come cheaply. He also wanted to be near downtown, where he can walk to his morning coffee and shopping.
