Dive Brief:

• There is a group of people who will tell you that erecting a home in the shape of a dome is both an excellent safety decision and a cool home design.
• A Texas-based company, Monolithic Dome, says the cost of building a dome home is not a lot more than a conventional home, and the structure is vastly more energy efficient.
• The Monolithic Dome Institute, which advocates for the design, is focusing on U.S. communities that have been hit hard by storms, thinking the audience there may be more receptive that in other communities when it comes to accepting the unconventional.

Dive Insight:

The safety angle is not in doubt. The Federal Emergency Management Agency built dome-shaped shelters in Texas towns where tornadoes had done a lot of damage. It just isn't a shape, however, that most people can see themselves living in.