From: Charles J Knight (c.knight_at_juno.com)
Date: 03/05/00
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 09:33:26 -0600 Subject: Re: Dome design Message-ID: <20000305.093429.-218989.2.c.knight@juno.com> From: Charles J Knight <c.knight_at_juno.com>
> My Florida dome will be surrounded by a couple hundred acres of
> pasture, and
> every time I visualize it, it looks pretty cool to me. Of course, my
> viewpoint is COMPLETELY unbiased :) :) :) The more I think about it,
> the
> more I like the idea of a giant white mushroom.
Mine, if it *ever* gets built, will resemble a gigantic still life
sculpture.
Think Trylon and Perisphere from the New York World's Fair... And
I have a lovely spot picked out...appx 9 acres on one of my family's
farms, overlooking 2 tree-lined lakes, surrounded by gently rolling
pasture. Perfect for a heliostat generator array. And the "tower"
shaped Trylon is perfect for the focus of the array. :-) Simple, and
potentially quite beautiful.
> I am perhaps more comfortable than most with domes though. As an
I'd say that we all are more comfortable with domes than the average
consumer. Think about it...we're all dome activists, and we're on a dome
topic listserv. Biased? Nah... :-)
> Translucent blueberry? Pretty, but a MAJOR solar design flaw under
> the sun
> of a Florida summer! And my wife would object strenuously to the
> "translucent" part.
I never said anything about translucent...I originally asked "Who wants
to live in a blueberry house?" I live in North Texas, which means >110F
summer temperatures. Cooling is *way* more important here than
heating, though we do get a few cold days too.
That's why, a while back, I was asking about Bucky's "chilling machines"
like the dome in Africa. Needless to say, air conditioning is a
necessity
here...if it can be designed as a passive element, into the structure
itself,
it would save a LOT on utility requirements.
-- Chuck Knight
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