Geohedrons expanding into utility buildings

In addition to our residential building kits, Geohedrons is expanding its product line to include low-cost, elegant, easily erected kits designed for utility structures such as carports, gazebos, greenhouses, and agricultural buildings such as shade structures and workshops.

We continue to believe that wood is often the best material for sustainable, earth-friendly and resource-efficient residential buildings including twenty-first century dome-influenced residences and auxiliary dwelling units (ADUs). It is particularly well-suited to homes that require building and occupancy permits for two main reasons.

• The structural properties of wood are so well-known and extensively documented that municipal planning departments are more likely to accept and approve site and building plans if the necessary structural and energy calculations are provided by licensed engineers. This can still be a somewhat formidable process for dome-based structures, where uncertainty still exists in some localities. This is why in highly regulated states such as California, many kit-based or manufactured dome buildings are so far unable to be permitted for permanent occupancy or to be placed on permanent “house” foundations. The team of Geohedrons experts is currently working with a California county in the late stages of approving and building a prototype off-grid residence that will pave the way for widespread adoption of our ADU and residential kits.

• Builders, carpenters and owner-builders usually have wide experience in working with wood in conventional home renovations, additions, and new construction. Our twenty-first century dome kits are innovative in many ways, taking advantage of best-of-breed third-party technologies and techniques in climate control, sealing and insulating our kit structures. We have also implemented a number of labor-saving and easy-to-follow techniques we have not seen elsewhere, and include easy-to-understand state-of-the-art instructional methods that make it easy for builders to construct better, more attractive and more functional dome-based homes than previously possible.

We believe utility buildings have different requirements

• Building permits may not be necessary. If needed, they are much less stringent as long as structural integrity and safety are ensured.

• Metal is often preferable for weather resistance, light weight, and ease of assembly. Have you ever seen what happens to a wooden greenhouse?

• Low cost and easy assembly are always primary considerations.

• Portability can be a key consideration, including complete teardown and reassembly at a different site.

• There are many ways to make attractive, elegant homes, but most inexpensive utility buildings are unattractive variations of box-store sheds. We believe there is a crying need for an elegant, functional, low-cost, easy-to-erect alternative.

• Few utility structures have the inherent strength and resistance to environmental conditions such as earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and snow load that are inherent in spherical structures.

Coming soon

Geohedrons has developed prototypes of half-spherical metal utility structures and is iterating through the development of best-of-breed connectors, coverings, ventilation, waterproofing and insulating (where needed) solutions to complete the packages we will soon make available in kit form. Our initial offering is likely to target the widespread need for elegant carports, but will be equally suitable for shade structures and gazebos.

Our design is, we believe, unique and based on thorough technical research into geometries only discoverable through highly sophisticated computer-aided design combined with our years of high-end building and construction experience. And, no, it is not a product of artificial intelligence. Our intelligence is the old-fashioned kind.

This new design takes advantage of readily available materials, fashioned with our own fixtures, for the basis of our metal structure kits. It is so elegant that our first prototypes include jewelry and handheld spheres used as meditative creations.

We can’t say much more until our IP safeguards are in place, but stay tuned. You’ll soon see photographs of our working prototypes and have an opportunity to reserve one of the first kits as they become available.