Choose Simple Shapes
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Curves, triangles, trapezoids, and other complex shapes are difficult and expensive to build by your local contractor. Choose square or rectangular floor plans. Avoid cathedral ceilings and complicated roof-lines. The possible exception?
You could forget the box and opt for a dome home, like Solaleya’s Domespace model shown here. “Our designs are guided by nature’s spontaneous proportions (the Golden Number: 1.618) to enhance structural strength and promote a sense of well being,” claims the Solaleya website.
“Think of a soap bubble,” explains Timberline Manufacturing Inc., another maker of geodesic dome kits. “A sphere represents the smallest amount of material surface area needed to enclose a given volume of space…The lower the total outside surface area (walls and ceilings) the greater the efficiency in energy use for heating and cooling. A dome has approximately one-third less surface area to the outside than a box-style structure.”
Geodesic domes and other space-frame structures are often sold as kits, with prefabricated panels and pre-cut and pre-drilled numbered and color-coded parts. As they say, assembly is required.
Source: The Spruce
