Dome life: is the arched architecture of domes construction’s hidden treasure?

Houses and buildings are one of the first subjects children learn to draw. The simple arrangement of squares and rectangles with a triangle on top is easy and efficient, and quickly identifiable. Once we graduate from drawing to building, however, perhaps there is a better way. These five examples of domed buildings, pavilions and installations support the thinking that there is an easier way to do it, when you think outside the square.

A geodesic dome like the one designed by Kristoffer Tejlgaard for the Roskilde Festival, ‘is a construction that optimises the use of resources,’ claims the architect. By imitating the mathematics of chemistry in nature, the molecular structure of the Fullerene allotrope – named after the architect and designer R. Buckminster Fuller – is recreated to provide the ‘strength and stability to construct large spaces using a minimum of building materials,’ explains Tejlgaard.

With Buckminster Fuller’s focus on using resources with environmental efficiency now shared worldwide, and the method’s ability to build a hardwearing structure from plywood that will stand up to the demands of an eight-day music festival, the geodesic Roskilde Dome is a perfect example for other briefs for semi-permanent structures to follow.

If the Roskilde Dome is said to use nature to ensure strength in its dome construction, then the Son La Ceremony Dome in Son La, Vietnam, goes one step further. Inspired by the structure of traditional bamboo baskets, the up-to-15.6-metre-tall supersized domes feature a double-layered bamboo structure underneath thatched roofs, giving them the look of a row of neatly formed coconuts.

With bamboo a familiar local material, the five domes – designed and built as community spaces such as a large ceremonial hall, entrance foyer and restaurant – harmonise with their natural environment, ‘The skyline created by the different heights of the domes was inspired by the surrounding mountain line,’ explain VTN Architects.

Domes don’t always need to take on a building’s full structural requirements to have a big impact. The Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne, Australia, was able to open its visitors’ views up to the blue heavens by installing a parametric gridshell domed roof along its spine.

‘A seamless celebration of engineering and architecture,’ announce the shopping mall’s architects, The Buchan Group, the project features ‘a dramatic gridshell glass roof’ as its centrepiece, soaring over the ‘largest and most popular enclosed shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere.’ The lattice framework and double curvature of the 31m-high, 7,000 sqm roof uses 3D parametric modelling to derive the strength and structural capacity required for such a project.

With 900,000 sqkm of dense forest, South Quebec offers a wide range of tourist-friendly locations and activities for travellers looking for adventure, whatever the season. The area also suffers, however, from its isolation. With campsites and trails only accessible via thin, dirt roads, construction is difficult.

Dômes Charlevoix is a collection of three eco-luxury accommodations built into the trees, a short walk from the road. The lightness of the domes’ geodesic steel frames allowed the required construction materials to easily be transported onto site, before a grey canvas was draped over the top, creating cosy atmospheric capitonné-effect surfaces. ‘Each one is located on the mountainside,’ explain the architects, ‘set on a wooden patio and houses a spa overlooking the natural setting.’

If speed and ease of construction are a hindrance to a project, and only a temporary structure is required, there are even easier and speedier ways to do it. Looking for ways to create ultra-flexible ‘pop-up’ temporary pavilion spaces, Second Home tasked architecture practice DOSIS with the challenge, and the result was more ‘blow-up’ than ‘pop-up’: a 400 sqm network of inflated bubbles that spread across London Fields like a fallen drop of water.

Used as a home for free community events for local families, the ‘reconfigurable space can transform within minutes,’ explains DOSIS, ‘automatically responding to wind and pressure,’ the network of domes need extremely low amounts of energy for their fabrication and assembly.

© Architonic

Head to the Architonic Magazine for more insights on the latest products, trends and practices in architecture and design, or find inspiration in a whole world of projects from around the globe through ArchDaily’s architecture catalogue.