The Monolithic™ Dome is the most disaster resistant building that can be built at a reasonable price without going underground or into a mountain.

A wind of 70 miles per hour blowing against a 30 foot tall flat walled building in open flat terrain will exert a pressure of 22 pounds per square foot (see sidebars). If the wind speed is increased to 300 miles per hour the pressure is increased to 404 pounds per square foot (psf). Wind speed of 300 MPH is considered maximum for a tornado. It is far greater than that of a hurricane.

Cars can be parked on 100 psf. The side pressure on the building could equal the weight of cars piled 4 high. No normal building can withstand that much pressure. Many Monolithic Domes are buried up to 30 feet deep. They must withstand pressures up to 1 ton per square foot (2000 psf)].

Against tornado pressure a Monolithic™ Dome 100 feet in diameter, 35 feet tall would still have a safety margin of nearly 1½ times its minimum design strength. In other words, the stress created by the 300 mile per hour wind would increase the compressive pressure in the concrete shell to 1,098 psi. The shell is allowed 2,394 psi using design strengths of 4,000 psi.

The fact is the Monolithic™ Dome is not flat and therefore never could the maximum air pressure against it of 404 pounds per square foot be realized. Neither is the concrete only 4,000 psi. It is always much greater. The margin of safety is probably more like three or four.

Flooding is a disaster with often enormous ramifications. But a Monolithic Dome offers some protection against common problems associated with flooding.

Such waters carry bacteria, debris, feces, silt and organic material. Hollow walls that fill with water carrying these materials provide an ideal environment for the growth and propagation of mold. If those hollow walls cannot be cleaned or dried, they can harbor pathogens for months or years.

Fortunately, the concrete shell that becomes the outer wall of a Monolithic Dome is not hollow. When flood waters recede it can be surface cleaned and become good as new.

As for the interior walls, they are generally steel stud covered with sheetrock. Usually, sheetrock can be replaced at a reasonable cost. Consequently, a Monolithic Dome can usually be put back in use soon after the flood subsides.

Depending on the depth and rate of flow, flood waters can shift or move a structure.

Because of the Monolithic Dome's large mass (weight), it would take a substantial amount of pressure to shift it -- far more than the pressure that could move most conventional structures. A dome's rounded surface also helps split the water around the building, mitigating the total pressure.

So, can a flood actually move a Monolithic Dome?

A dome is shaped like a bowl. If the dome is attached to the ground and the water cannot get under the bowl, the dome will stay in place -- assuming that it stays watertight.

Once water begins seeping under the dome, the pressure will start to equalize, and it will lift the floor of the dome. This is especially true if the water gets more than a couple of feet deep.

If the flood water moves horizontally with force, the dome's weight will make a big difference as to whether it slews or slides.

In general, as water continues to rise over the outside of a dome, it breaches doors and windows and fills the structure. If the dome has a top without windows or air leaks, it will act the same as a plastic kitchen bowl half full of water: it will start to lift.

If the water inside the dome rises significantly above the tops of the windows and doors, trapping a significant amount of air inside the dome, the dome will tend to pick up.

August 11, 2002: The Bryant Fire

What should have been a quiet, ordinary, Sunday-in-August afternoon for Al and Ruth Braswell, wasn't. In fact, it was anything but that -- all because of one troubled 16-year-old boy who allegedly started a brush fire in an olive grove at the end of Bryant Street in Calamesa, California.

That olive grove sits only about a mile from the Braswells' home: three Monolithic Domes in an aerodynamic design, perched on a 1500-foot ridge. Heat rose up to and above the 100-degree mark that hot, dry afternoon, so the fire spread rapidly. Within a short time, the Bryant Fire reached the surrounding wall and outlying buildings at the Braswell estate.

Al's Story

Ruth and I were not home when the fire started. We were up in the mountains that weekend, raking dry leaves away from our cabin -- ironically -- to keep it safe from fire.

On our drive back, about a mile from home, we spotted the smoke. Then we saw all the fire equipment, including a fire engine in our driveway. I went over and said, "You guys are a welcome sight with that blaze down there." A fire captain walked over to me and asked, "Are you the owner?"

I answered affirmatively and he said, "You have two minutes to get what you want out of this house and get out of our way." He was brusque -- all business -- but we understood, of course.

We ran in, got a little file of current paperwork and some pictures and got out.

Ruth's Story

A fire captain from a neighboring county came over and asked, "What's this thing (the dome) made of?" We told him, and he said, "Well, you do know that if this structure had been made of normal construction that you would have a pile of ashes now."

He then told us that at one point the firefighters thought they would have to abandon fighting and give up on saving our house. Then they saw that it could withstand the fire, so they decided that if any of their crew got in trouble, they were going to break the doors down and put the guys in the dome so they would be safe.

I said, "You would not have to break the doors down. I unlocked them all for you." And they stuck it out. They had to move their trucks three times, but they did it.

Engulfing Flames

At the Braswells, the Bryant Fire first attacked a free-form, faux rock wall, about 30 feet long, built to conceal their swimming pool and protect pool equipment. The wall extended from the edge of their ridge to the garage.

Al said, "We had not yet stuccoed this wall. It was rebar in raw foam that was painted to preserve the foam, but not really covered. The wall burned completely -- left a tangled looking mass of rebar -- and it was what conducted the fire to the garage and then our home.

"We had added about an eight-foot foam extension onto the garage, so the garage door would be outside, rather than inside, the garage dome," Al continued. "That extension was also raw foam, so it burned right up to the stucco of the dome proper.

"The fire went right over the top of our house, down the hill, and caught on the other side," Al said. "We had vines covering most of the dome. The fire came from the west so the vines burned completely on the dome's west side and were badly damaged on the east side.

"I had an old, oak snag (dead tree) with branches sticking up through the patio roof to give it a rustic look. The fire came over the dome and devoured that tree."

Dome Survives

"That was a wild, wild fire," Al concluded. "But it didn't get our home."

The Bryant Fire did, however, destroy the electrical box on the outside of the dome and cause smoke damage on the inside. Consequently, the Braswells could not live in their dome home for more than six weeks after the fire, while the electrical system was repaired, painting completed and carpeting replaced.

Additional losses for the Braswells included three antique vehicles, a foam machine, a compressor, a utility trailer and miscellaneous equipment, for an estimated total of about $300,000.

The Total Picture

According to the Riverside County Fire Department, the Bryant Fire destroyed 550 acres of hillside, threatened about 250 dwellings and 15 outbuildings, and prompted 150 residents to voluntarily abandon their homes.

It took 675 firefighters, 21 supervisors, 87 engines, 26 hand crews, 2 bulldozers, 6 water helicopters, 11 airplanes dropping fire retardant, more than 24 hours of intense fire fighting and an additional 2 days cooling hot spots to finally extinguish the Bryant Fire. In the process, several firefighters required treatment for heat sickness, knee and ankle injuries. Estimated cost of damages: $2.5 million.

A Monolithic Dome, by its very nature, can and will withstand hurricane winds. The strongest hurricanes push with 150-mile-per-hour (mph) winds or 100 pounds per square foot. That force means absolutely nothing to a Monolithic Dome. Debris those winds might carry could break a window or cause some surface scratches. The dome itself, however, would remain standing.

Many conventional structures cannot withstand the internal pressure from a hurricane. For example, if a garage door pops open or a window pops out, air pressure coming into the structure can explode it. That will not happen with a Monolithic Dome -- even if all the doors and windows are left open or taken down. Obviously, it's easier on the occupant if windows stay in place. Consequently, Monolithic suggests using hurricane-rated windows and/or shutters that pull down over the windows to protect them.

Sometimes tornadoes come embedded in hurricanes. Tornado winds can be three times as powerful as hurricane winds, but a Monolithic Dome can withstand them. Nevertheless, windows and doors should be protected. The dome can easily survive air pressure that might get in, but unprotected windows might result in flying glass. To avoid injury, people sheltering in a Monolithic Dome during a hurricane or tornado should stay behind the concrete portion of the dome -- never in front of glass.

Hurricanes bring water as well as winds. If the location of the dome is such that water can wash up against it, great care must be taken in its design and construction. While water surge will not hurt the dome, it can loosen its foundation by washing away the ground under the dome.

In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan hit Dome of a Home in Pensacola Beach, Florida and caused enormous beach erosion. Water surge wiped out all of the protective dunes between the dome and the shoreline. Had Dome of a Home not been set on pilings, the onslaught of water would have moved it. In a large area, the water actually excavated the ground out from under the dome. But because Dome of a Home was set on a series of pilings that were driven 17 feet into the earth, it held its position.

Besides ground erosion, moving water that gets inside a structure can destroy interior walls, particularly if they are hollow. Water can knock the walls down or fill them with foul debris. Fortunately, Monolithic Dome walls are not hollow.

Obviously, Monolithic Domes can be designed and built to withstand the wind surge of a tornado or hurricane, as well as the water surge of a hurricane or tsunami. But when gross amounts of water are involved, protection from that water must be carefully considered and implemented.

Here's an easy demonstration of what can occur to a Monolithic Dome in a flood: fill a sink with water; place a plastic, kitchen bowl upside-down into the water.

Monolithic Domes can be easily built with large openings in the lower level to allow flood water to pass through the structure. The upper floors can then be designed to be above the flood stage. The Monolithic Dome is strong enough to support the upper floors from the shell. Thus flood waters do not have any internal supports to sweep away. This design is especially useful in areas where flooding is expected.

Tornadoes destroy! They destroy families, homes, neighborhoods, schools and communities. So many people are hurt, and some are killed. The destruction makes me sick-particularly because I know that much of that destruction can be avoided.

Some people say that there are no solutions - a Force 5 tornado cannot be dealt with.

They are wrong. There is at least one, simple solution - the Monolithic Dome.

It may not be the only solution, but it is a viable, reasonable and affordable one.

In many ways, tornadoes destroy more dramatically and drastically than other natural disasters. They are the most difficult to defend against. A Force 5 tornado pushes with approximately 400 pounds per square foot. We can park cars on 100 pounds per square foot. Consequently, to withstand a Force 5 tornado, a building must be able to withstand pressure equal to that of a highway bridge. Most buildings cannot withstand this kind of pressure.

Another way to determine a structure's strength is to ask: can the building withstand the pressure of being buried?

Monolithic Domes have been buried; they can withstand that pressure. Monolithic Domes can tolerate the force of a tornado, and they can be constructed at a cost less than or comparable to that of conventional structures. Moreover, Monolithic Domes last infinitely longer, require less on-going maintenance, and use less energy for heating and cooling. Over time, the savings in energy costs alone can pay for the dome.

Just after the May 3, 1999 tornadoes in Oklahoma and Kansas and the May 4 twister in Texas, the media presented experts, some of whom claimed that there is no way to construct so as to withstand tornado forces. These experts say we can only build a safe room or run to a shelter.

That simply is not true. We could make a significant start with schools. Every school campus should have a disaster shelter-for many obvious reasons-but especially for tornadoes. This disaster shelter does not have to be a special building used only for disasters!

On a daily basis, the disaster shelter can be a gymnasium or a classroom pod. Such a dual-purpose Monolithic Dome could withstand a Force 5 tornado, would not burn, and would not be leveled by an earthquake.

Usually, schools are conveniently located within a community so they can be utilized as a disaster shelter. The Pattonsburg, Missouri school gymnasium is open to the public as a disaster shelter. When Pattonsburg rebuilt after a devastating flood, they chose Monolithic Domes primarily because of their ability to withstand disastrous forces.