For spherical, radius houses
The domed glass house is a modern architectural solution. Many architectural experts call it the building of the future. And for such a house to be as durable, reliable and convenient as possible, it is important to competently prepare a project and take into account all the nuances in the process of construction work.
Our specialists can manufacture curved glass and double-glazed windows for spherical buildings in Russia. At the moment, many projects have been implemented: a shopping and office center on B. Gruzinskaya, the Russian Railways building on Kalanchevskaya, the Negotsiant hotel and many others.
Pros of domed buildings
Dome structures have been built around the world for thousands of years, such as temples or spherical theaters.
Such designs are found in the architecture of different nations and have long proven their effectiveness. Recent research by scientists confirms that spherical houses outperform traditional rectangular models in many ways. The main advantages of radius houses include the following points.
- Since the area of \u200b\u200bthe sphere is the smallest of all geometric shapes, much less building materials are required to erect a domed residential building or another building. The costs for this item are reduced by about 30% compared to the construction of a rectangular structure.
- Heat loss in a spherical building is about a third lower, even if it is a glass building.
- Spherical houses are highly seismic resistant. As a rule, even with strong earthquakes, they remain intact, as evidenced by statistics. Scientists explain this by the fact that the structural element of the domed building is a triangle: unlike a quadrangle, it practically does not deform during an earthquake.
- A round house with a glass dome provides more room planning than a building with straight walls. This allows you to create a unique design, come up with a completely unusual design. Windows and walls can be placed wherever you like.
- The aesthetics of domed buildings attracts many people. They blend harmoniously into the surrounding landscape, as if merging with it. This creates a feeling of closeness to nature, a connection with it, which is so often lacking in modern people.
- Inside such a house, according to many people, it is very comfortable. Smooth lines create a feeling of freedom, stimulate the development of creative imagination. Some psychologists believe that smooth outlines are more natural for human perception, because it is precisely such configurations that occur in nature much more often than strict geometric shapes.
Features of dome construction
In the first half of the twentieth century, the inventor of the modern technology of the domed house, the American architect Buckminster Fuller, proposed to build buildings whose structural elements resemble parts of the macromolecular lattice of living organisms - triangles. His domed frame houses consisted of many triangular, rigidly connected to each other. The filling of triangles can be made of different materials - wood, glass polycarbonate and others. In 1951, the technology was patented, and today buildings similar to a stratodesic domed house are found in different parts of the world.
Increasingly, in radial houses, a glass dome made of bent (curved) glass is used. Modern technologies have made it possible to make domed glazing affordable and functional. Round glass houses are in no way inferior to buildings built from other materials.
Areas of use for the glass domed house
These spherical designs can be seen everywhere in a wide variety of designs.
- Dome-type residential buildings attract with their unusual appearance, as well as the ability to implement a variety of exterior and interior design ideas. Large domed houses can be composed of several spheres interconnected.
- A small domed country house on one floor becomes an economical and convenient solution. Such a round eco-house will not take long to build.
- Dome greenhouses create an optimal microclimate for the plants growing inside. There is a lot of sun in them, and the air warms up quickly due to the fact that the rays penetrate inside over the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe roof and walls. In addition, less money is needed to heat a spherical greenhouse than, for example, a cylindrical one. Glass domed greenhouses look very beautiful. Even the concept of a “domed vegetarian house” has appeared: plants grow in it all year round.
- The Dome Planetarium is undoubtedly the best option for creating optimal conditions for observing the starry sky.
- Spherical cinema halls can be a worthy alternative to traditional rectangular halls: it is easier to create the effect of presence in a dome cinema. Spherical cinemas create a special mood.
- The domed bath is especially suitable for the construction of a hamam - a Turkish bath. In it, you can create a suitable microclimate and create a special atmosphere.
- Dome hotels attract more guests with their unusual appearance. In a domed hotel on the seashore or in the middle of a forest in the mountains, a person can feel even closer to nature, and the smooth lines of the structure will help to relax and unwind even better.
- Domed camping houses also help increase its popularity with travelers.
- The domed glass restaurant gives you the opportunity to enjoy not only delicious food and pleasant communication, but also to admire the surrounding landscape, which significantly increases the value of the institution. It is pleasant to sit in the domed cafe on the shore of a reservoir or on the roof of a city skyscraper.
- The domed garage will be an interesting decoration of the area near the house.
- A spherical gazebo in a park on the territory of the hotel or in a personal plot will attract many who want to spend time in the lap of nature. The glass domed gazebo can be used for picnics even in winter.
How to build a glass dome?
When building a home-sphere, designers take into account many factors.
- The power of the foundation is selected depending on the material from which the building will be built. It plays a role which profile will be used - aluminum, steel, wood or wood-aluminum. When building a one-story domed house, a lightweight strip foundation is usually sufficient. If you plan to build a two-story domed house, a pile foundation may be required.
- Appropriate thermal insulation materials are selected for the domed house. Since the efficiency of such a building is significantly higher than that of a rectangular building, the thermal insulation layer can be relatively small. If a glass house is being built, protection from the cold is provided by installing sealed glass units.
- It is important to consider the possibility of creating an additional heating system for the frames. This will prevent them from freezing in severe frosts, and will also become an additional source of heating the room.
According to experts, building a curved glass house requires specialized knowledge. It is difficult to cope with such a task on your own.
Order curved glass for an eco house or a glass dome
Our company accepts orders for the production of curved glass and double-glazed windows for domed cottages, domed pavilions, and other spherical buildings. To glaze the house in a semicircle, contact the company's employees by phone 8 800 350 25 83 .
Benjamin and Ingrid Hjertefölger settled 3 years ago on Sandornoja Island in northern Norway, 1000 km from Oslo. It is almost always windy and cold here. However, the harsh climate does not scare a married couple with four children - they literally live in greenhouse conditions. The fact is that their house is hidden from the cold under a glass hemisphere, and when frosts crackle outside, their "greenhouse" is quite comfortable.
The construction of the house, dubbed Naturhuset ("Natural House"), began in 2011. At the base of the slope, a cellar concrete basement was built with a monolithic overlap.
The following year, a geo-dome was erected - an aluminum frame with glass panels (360 in total) covers an area of \u200b\u200babout 180 sq.m. The diameter of the dome is 15 m, the height is 7.5 m. Single glass is used, 6 mm thick. The geocupol was built by the Norwegian company Solardome.
Photo of the site naturhuset.blogg.no 
Photo of the site naturhuset.blogg.no Further construction inside the dome was carried out in greenhouse conditions. The house was built from straw and clay by the efforts of a married couple and their friends, there were no problems with building materials, they are literally underfoot. The family celebrated the housewarming in December 2013.
Photo of the site naturhuset.blogg.no 
Now the house is a two-storey adobe building with a flat roof on three levels. It has five bedrooms, a spacious living-dining room, two bathrooms, utility rooms.
Photo of the site naturhuset.blogg.no 
Photo of the site naturhuset.blogg.no Outside the walls of the house there is a garden and a vegetable garden. In the conditions of a short northern summer, the most thermophilic vegetables and fruits - apricots, grapes, kiwi, plums, tomatoes, cucumbers - mature here. Under the dome, the growing season lasts five months longer than outside. It is impossible to grow anything in winter - here, beyond the Arctic Circle, there is no sun for 3 months.
Photo of the site nhabitat.com 
There is a vegetable garden near the dome. Photo of the site naturhuset.blogg.no Under the dome, on the flat roof of the house, there is a terrace where you can enjoy the sunsets and stars, the northern lights, sunbathe, do yoga, lie in a hammock or ride a swing. From here, a stunning panoramic view opens up.
Photo of the site naturhuset.blogg.no 
Northern lights behind glass. Photo of the site naturhuset.blogg.no Ventilation pipes, dug into the ground, stretch from the house down to the sea. Due to the fact that the temperature of the earth is constant, the air entering through them from the outside warms up in winter and cools in summer. Solar collectors provide the house with hot water. Hoods at the base of the house, windows in the middle level and skylights ensure constant air circulation inside the dome.
Photo of the site naturhuset.blogg.no
Thanks to him, the clay house has a long service life - there is no rain or snow under the dome, there is almost always the same level of humidity. The owners claim that a home can "stand forever if you keep it dry." In addition, according to them, there is no need to paint or even maintain the walls of the building.
Photo site boredpanda.com 
We will not see something like this in Belarus soon - none of the domestic companies are even familiar with geo-domes. In any case, it will be an individual order, which, as we were promised in one company, “has not yet been counted, but it will not work cheaply”. Therefore, if you want to see the glass geo-dome live, go to Norway, to Sandornoya Island - the house is open for visits for a nominal fee.
Or you can watch a video on Youtube.
By the way, there are also budget options for greenhouse houses. But - also not in Belarus.
Greenhouse houses are popular in Sweden as well. Architect Bengt Varn first realized his idea of \u200b\u200binsulating a house with a greenhouse back in 1974. The advantages of such a solution are especially noticeable in the cold season: when it is -3 ° C outside, plus 15-20 ° C behind the glass. Unlike the Norwegian dome, the Swedish version has the shape of an ordinary greenhouse.
Our manufacturers can already cope with its production and the cost will be comparable to the construction of a winter garden.
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The married couple Benjamin and Ingrid Hjertefolger live with their children in the northern part Norway on the island of Sandhornaya. Despite the fact that the area is located in the Arctic Circle, the owners grow vegetables and even tropical fruits in front of the house. Their dwelling is covered with a dome, due to which the temperature inside the structure is much higher than outside, even in the most severe frosts.
A family of six lives in an eco-friendly home Naturhus... The three-story building itself, with an area of \u200b\u200b180 square meters, is made of clay and straw. Outside, the house is covered with a geodesic dome. This solution significantly increased the temperature under the glass. In addition, there are several garden beds near the house.
The head of the family, Benjamin Hjertefølger, notes that due to the polar winter (three months a year it is dark) it is impossible to do gardening all year round. However, even under such conditions, they can grow crops that are completely unusual for this type of climate: cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, grapes, greens, and more.
The Hjertefolger take great care to minimize their negative impact on the environment. The family uses biodegradable products in everyday life, and water from the house is reused for watering the beds.
Some of the most popular elements of modern architecture.
As soon as people learned how to build beautiful and magnificent buildings, they began to be decorated with domes. In the beginning it was just a good engineering solution: only a vaulted ceiling could cover a large room without additional supports.
But the domed buildings were so impressive that the shape of the roof quickly became fashionable. Domes were adorned with majestic palaces and temples, small chapels, gazebos, and mansions of wealthy citizens.
With the advent of the era of modern building materials, the domes received a new life. Glass and metal were used in their manufacture, which made it possible to create incredibly "light" transparent structures. Glass and metal are the most popular materials in modern construction. And transparent walls and roofs are loved by almost all architects.
Glass domes began their triumphant march from the greenhouses and conservatory. Today, in the largest cities of the world, you can find domes of a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They decorate museums, theaters, municipal buildings, office and shopping centers.
Residential buildings were no exception. Domes on the roof of multi-apartment skyscrapers are successfully used for winter gardens or gyms. In a private house under it you can place whatever your heart desires, but usually a recreation area with a winter garden is arranged there.
Thanks to the reduction in cost and improvement of building technologies, it is quite affordable to install a dome on a cottage today.
What are the domes?
When choosing a dome for our home or office, we first of all think about its shape.
Builders divide domes into 3 types:
- Simple: the surface of the hemisphere is divided into many pieces - windows, each of which has the shape of a trapezoid. To build such a structure is the easiest, and therefore cheaper. The disadvantage of a simple dome, architects say, is low expressiveness at a small size. But on a large scale, such elements are used very often.
- With curved glass. In this case, the supporting metal structures and glass are bent in the bottom plane. A dome like this looks attractive at any scale. In addition, this solution is convenient from a practical point of view.
- Fuller's hemisphere or geodesic dome. He is both practical and handsome. The supporting structure in such a dome has the highest rigidity.
But in the modern market, glass domes also include pyramids, arches and other similar structures. But in glass and metal it is possible to embody a completely unusual idea, although the cost of the work will depend on the complexity of the project.
The dome can have opening windows, which are provided with a mneumatic or electric drive or simply opened manually.
The secrets of the popularity of glass domes
The most obvious reason for humankind's love for air domes from glass is their aesthetics. Such a detail can make even the most ordinary building unusual and interesting. And the panoramic view from the inside cannot be compared with what we see from a regular window.
But glass domes have many other advantages:
- Translucency;
- Tightness and strength;
- Reliability and safety;
- Comfortable temperature all year round;
- Soundproofing;
- Possibility to provide ventilation through windows.
The light penetrating the glass saves on energy bills and lamp replacement for artificial lighting. Therefore, architects usually calculate the size, shape and location of the dome so that it lets in the sun's rays throughout the day. If energy-efficient glass is used, then heating costs in winter and cooling in summer will be modest. In addition, sunlight has a positive effect on the psychological and physical health of people.
In most cases, structural glazing is used on the dome, in which the joints of the glass units are connected with thin seams of sealant. They completely exclude moisture and wind from entering the dome and allow you to admire the panorama in any weather. And if double-glazed windows are also energy efficient, then a comfortable temperature will be maintained under the dome all year round.
The standard canopy is designed to withstand significant gusts of wind and heavy snow cover with ease. If necessary, the safety and reliability characteristics can be improved by choosing materials with special properties for glazing.
What are glass domes made of?
The bases for the glass structure are usually made of aluminum, which allows the dome to be lightweight yet strong. However, if the area of \u200b\u200bthe structure is large, it is reinforced with an additional steel frame.
The choice of double-glazed windows is much wider. Tempered glass is often used on the outside - a material that is not afraid of overheating and strong impacts.
And from the inside, triplex glass is installed, which in the event of an impact does not crumble and does not form fragments: a special film continues to hold together even shards of heavily damaged glass. In terms of strength, it is somewhat inferior to the hardened one, but it costs less and has a low weight. Therefore, it is ideal for the interior of a canopy where the chance of strong impacts is minimal.
The reliability of different types of glass can be compared in the table:
Glass type | Triplex | Tempered | Armored |
|
Reliability | Unreliable | Good impact resistance, breaks without splinters | Very shockproof | The most reliable |
Frequency of use in the construction of domes | It is extremely rarely used from the inside | Often used from the inside, rarely from the outside. | Often on the outside, very rarely on the inside | Very rarely from the outside |
Lowest | VIP - class |
Glasses can also be painted, tinted, solar control, electrically heated and curved. The latter look the most impressive, but their production is very laborious, and therefore the price is high.
For domes, glass roofs and panoramic windows, smart glass is often used. This material is called smart glass for its ability to clean itself. It is enough for the rain to pass through and the glass shines again with purity. This saves time and money for the maintenance of double-glazed windows.
As a rule, with high-quality glazing, double-glazed windows combine various functions. For example, hardened can be painted or tinted. Such glasses are called multifunctional.
Double-glazed windows for the dome will have to choose a single-chamber one to avoid excessive load on the supports.
With or without slats?
The glass dome can have strips passing at the joints of the glass units. But you can use double-glazed windows, where the outer glass is larger than the inner one. They are attached to a special profile with frost-resistant glue - sealant.
With such a fastening, external clamping strips are not needed: the design is even more airy and light. From the outside, it may seem that the dome is made of solid glass.
Where can you post?
It is possible to install a glass hemisphere or pyramid not only during the construction process, but also after its completion. In Europe, glass apartment modules have even been developed, which can be lowered onto the roof and connected to engineering systems. In our country, glass lanterns can even be installed on old apartment buildings or private houses.
The dome can also be mounted on a sloped roof. But the angle of his own slope should not be less than 23%, 30% is considered ideal.
The most famous glass domes in the world:
For holding various exhibitions, the place where such an event is held is of great importance. Since exhibitions are held with the aim of presenting any product or products of creativity, therefore, the object of this event should interact well with the viewer or potential buyers.
The use of geo-dome structures is an excellent solution for organizing a venue for any events. They have the following advantages:
Mobility. The ease of installation and the type of assembly makes it easy to transport the components of the structure, as well as to dismantle the dome and change its location - to erect the structure in another required place.
Fast installation. Our specialists will erect such a structure in just a few hours.
No need to erect a capital expensive foundation.
Wide range of mounting locations.
Durability and safety.
The aesthetics of the sphere.
The dome has a huge variety of options and various design solutions for its decoration. And the form attracts visitors with its beautiful appearance. The time spent in such a place will be well remembered by everyone.
Glass dome as greenhouse and vegetarian
Such a dome is perfect for arranging a greenhouse. It should be noted that it is rather difficult to produce geo-domes from glass. Alternatively, use monolithic polycarbonate, which is completely transparent so that it is the best in the sun.
The geodesic glass dome has the shape of a hemisphere, which consists of sections - triangles. The frame of the geodesic structure has excellent load-bearing properties, it is very strong, due to the fact that the weight of the structure is evenly distributed over the entire surface of the outer walls.
A distinctive feature of the glass geo-dome is that it does not depend on the influence of the environment. Since the structure consists of triangles, firmly connected to each other by special connectors, it has high seismic resistance. And thanks to the streamlined shape, the glass sphere is not afraid of even strong gusts of wind, as the air currents glide smoothly over its surface.
In a geo-dome greenhouse, additional heating is not required. Due to its shape, such a greenhouse itself is able to provide the required temperature. The sun's rays penetrate the glass covering of the outer walls and heat the soil inside the sphere. And the soil, in turn, generates heat on the surface and warms up the air in the greenhouse.
The frame and the objects inside are also heated. The spherical shape has excellent aerodynamic properties for a greenhouse - air circulates vertically throughout the geo-dome without stagnation. A healthy microclimate for plants is always maintained in the dome.
In addition to the functional features of the design, it is worth noting that the glass geosphere is beautiful. Such a greenhouse or greenhouse will harmoniously fit into any exterior.
Why is the glass biosphere worth buying from us?
When buying a glass geo-dome from our company, you can be sure that only the highest quality materials will be used. We carry out a full production cycle of domes and over the years have proven our professionalism, responsibility and honesty. We have a team of professionals in our staff who will erect perfectly precisely the dome structure in the shortest possible time. Our geo dome will serve you for many years.