Good Karma Domes - Horeb Baptist Church Dome

Wow! We get calls on some really bold ideas. Full spheres underground, super large metal frames deployed on the ocean floor to provide an artificial marine reef where aquatic life can take up residence and tourists can scuba (a great idea) are just a few.

In December of 2005, I was contacted by California Architect Katrina Johnson (707-349-3039) about the feasibility of building a large dome for the Horeb Baptist church of New Orleans, Louisiana. At the time a 60 foot diameter four frequency dome was the biggest we had built. While the project started out about that size,in concept, Pastor David Rodriguez and builder Bill Thomason had grander plans. They forced me to exercise my expertise and contemplate a 93 foot diameter six frequency dome (along with two 40 foot diameter 'daughter domes'). I enlisted the intellect of our company guru, Travis Swaim, and we developed the math and prefabricated our first true six frequency model, a 36 footer. Structural engineers were Norton/Schmidt in Kansas City. Katrina Johnson architect designed the church and prepared the drawingss and then submitted to code officials of New Orleans.

The number, size and weight of the triangles (2x6 with 3/4” decking approximately 10ft each side and weighing 160 pounds each of the 360 triangles) caused some worry and apprehension about stress on nuts and bolts during assembly. We elected to prefabricate a pair of triangles and run our own tests. We cantilevered two triangles using six bolts and added double the weight required. It passed our test fine.

We charged Pastor David and the Church for all of our homework before we agreed to the build. Even after our due diligence, I was hesitant. I put my faith in the Lord that He would work with us (as He always does) and cover the loose ends. It is now a glorious dome home. We are very proud. We are waiting on more pictures. The Horeb Baptist church will be featured in our next DVD video (hopefully in time for Christmas). We want to thank everyone that had a hand with this dome. God bless you all.

93 foot diameter, six frequency, built with 2x6 framing, 3/4” decking, no delivery, no erecting, no roofing, $125,000. Contacted in December 2005, completed Spring 2009.