How We Built this Dome Home (For Under $11,000!)

I'm hajar Gibran and the creative director  of the Gibran Center while I was building   the Gibran Center in Thailand I developed an  innovative way of building low-cost dome homes   maybe you've seen pictures on our website or the  articles of YouTube by my buddy Steve Irene who   stone home we built at the Gibran Center this  is it right here actually with Steve's artistic   genius and our two skilled Thai Masons Dow and  dome we were able to build this unique dome home   for less than nine thousand dollars we've been  swamped with requests from people all over the   world so I'm making this video to share some of  our methods with you after we develop a floor plan   and elevation drawings on paper or on computer  then we drive a steel pipe in the ground we set   up a pole the length of the domes radius that  pivots around the center of the dome we use it   to lay out the foundation and later to accurately  place the bricks blocks or whatever you choose to   use you could like Mike Reynolds reuse cans  or turn old bottles into jewels then we build   forms to support the arches windows and doorways  once they are in place we use the pole to lay the   bricks to stop the bricks from falling as they  lean in we use counterweight suspended over the   outside of the dome our first domes were made  with clay bricks and cinder blocks which offer   poor insulation or ecological value and my search  for better materials and easier methods explored   the use Adobe cob compressed Earth's earthbag  camp and even recycled polystyrene I was at a   loss until I discovered a material I've never even  heard of before yet many environmental architects   consider it to be the building material of the  future air Crete is a lightweight masonry product   that is infused with tiny air bubbles which  expands its volume many times it provides good   thermal and acoustic insulation it's fireproof  waterproof and impervious to insects including   termites made of completely recyclable non toxic  non corrosive materials it will not rot warp or   mold unlike concrete which is hard being cold  and difficult to work with air Crete is easy   to work with it dries overnight to a density  similar to wood it can be cut carved drilled   and shaped with woodworking tools it accepts  nails screws and is easily repaired and because   its primary ingredient is air it's eco-friendly  and inexpensive to produce air Crete is simply a   mixture of water ordinary cement which is made  of powdered limestone and a water-based lather   that looks like shaving cream you need a foaming  agent and a foam generator to produce the thick   lather the special mixer to fold the lather into  the next year commercial equipment is heavy and   costly thus air Crete has been mostly limited to  industrial use with the help of my genius son Joel   was the CEO of his company infinite automations  we developed an inexpensive do-it-yourself foam   generator that works famously with ordinary dish  detergent as the foaming agent then we invented a   compact lightweight continuous mixer powered by  an electric drill this little machine replaces   the heavy equipment that cost tens of thousands  of dollars and where conventional equipment only   produces one batch at a time our little machine  is amazing it will produce over 10 gallons per   minute all day long with ease we also created a  special tubing vendor for making forms our forms   are made of inexpensive and easily accessible  materials that can be reused over and over again   you simply pour in the liquid air creat and let  it harden overnight the material cost for an arch   like the one pictured is about $75 the material  for a bare air creat dome home like Steve's is   less than two thousand dollars that includes the  foundation and the subfloor arches transform the   awkward curvature of a dome into flat vertical  surfaces that are more practical for windows   doors closets furniture etc they also make it easy  to connect different sizes of domes and countless   configurations flat rectangular blocks require  a lot of extra labor and materials to smooth   over so we developed a way of casting larger  air creat blocks that already have the curved   shape of the donor this of course saves time and  money and we plan to make it even more efficient   we're developing reusable forms to cast an entire  dome we'll cover a bent steel skeleton with thin   wood slats woven like a giant hat covered with  a waterproof bring it will imprint a beautiful   design on the interior of the dome ceiling the  days of building with old-growth timber are sadly   80% of global forest ecosystems evolving and yet  we have a growing need for ecology we've developed   a truly revolutionary system fast easy and  elegant air creat structures answer the need for a   high-quality low-cost housing everywhere with our  equipment and basic training you too can have a   solid eco-friendly insulated waterproof fireproof  insect with non-toxic beautiful permanent home   that makes your heart smile this project is  a collaboration between many of my friends   family and all of us at the Gibran Center if you  like it then click the like button spread the   word to your community share it on Facebook and  please sign up for one of our perks [Music] you

Channel: Domegaia

Views: 740,476

Keywords: Aircrete, Domes, Natural building, Monolithic, off grid, affordablehousing, dome home, Aircrete Dome, Tiny Home, Tiny House

Id: 4VcdwDRNPzA

Length: 6min 43sec (403 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 22 2018