Tips for Planning the Layout of the Dome
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009
Once you have decided which piece of land to buy, you have to start thinking about your monolithic dome layout. Which way are you going to position your house and how are you going to lay out the rooms inside your dome? There are many things to consider. Here are the 3 main ones:
1) View
2) Solar Exposure
3) Cold
To me, solar exposure is the most important thing to take into consideration, since the sun provides both light and passive heat. It can also lift your spirits during dark winter months if you can get it to come in through the right windows at the right time of day.
I have seen houses that were built with the living room picture windows facing the mountains, but because the mountains were on the east side, they only got the morning sun, and the rest of the day, the house was dark and gloomy. A better solution would have been to have the bedroom face the mountains. Then you get the morning sun, and you can enjoy the view when you get up.
Another great solution would have been to face the kitchen towards the east. Then you can watch both the mountains and the sunrise while you are having breakfast. If your view is not towards the east, and you have to choose between view and sun exposure, sun exposure is much more important than view. Without heat and light, you won’t enjoy the room with the view very much anyway, so sun exposure must be the first priority, and view is secondary.
I also remember a house that had a dining room facing south. This was a big mistake, because by the time the family gathered to have dinner together, the sun had already passed this window, and the room was dark and dingy. At noon, this room was absolutely lovely, but nobody was ever there to enjoy it at that time. It should have been turned more towards the west.
If your view is facing west, put your living room windows towards the west. If you go to work every day, you’ll probably spend time in your living room only in the afternoon or evening. So if you face the windows in your living room towards the west, you get to enjoy the sunset and the last rays of the sun every day.
If your view is facing south, you might want to put your living room windows facing south, but remember to put in a few windows on the west side, too, so you can enjoy the sunset when you get home from work.
If you view is facing North, put your entrance door towards the north so you can see the view when you leave your house. Don’t even think about putting picture windows that way. That would be a big mistake because the heat loss in the winter would be terrible. Because the north side is the coldest part of the house, it is also important to put less windows on that side, or at least smaller windows, to cut down on heat loss in the winter. If you have an entrance door on the north side, it would also be good to have an enclosed boot room on that side, or at least a storm door on the outside to protect your exterior door.
So, basically, think about which rooms you plan to be in at what time of day, and try to create a layout that not only maximizes your sun exposure, but that also brings sun into each room when you are most likely to spend time in it.
If you are making a monolithic dome, you might also consider a sky light or a solar tube. Solar tubes can light up dark rooms, and sky lights light up the whole room in the daytime, and at night you can watch the stars through them. In the dome that we are going to make, we are going to have a 4′ octagonal opening sky light at the very top which will light up our west facing living room.
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Tags: building tips, Dome, Monolithic Dome, monolithic dome layout, passive solar house plans, solar exposure
