It’s been awhile since I’ve updated this site (which I blame on the coronavirus blues), but it’s time to kick off a series of updates! I started this site years ago and named it Convergence because I intended it to be an unholy attempt to mix together different strands of my work and life that I wanted to bring together, experimentally, in the hopes that new connections, directions, insights, and dreams might emerge at the intersections. In 2022 I feel particularly invigorated to further explore this project. Plus, I know that many of you are interested in updates! So here goes…

The Domes project has been most consistently presented on this site because it represents, for me, a deep convergence of a number of my loves, including ecology, scale, family, form, dwelling, energy, systems thinking, and creativity. Let’s start out, then, with a short video of drone footage taken in January by Jon Watts. This is a candid snapshot of progress on the site that I’ll describe below:

In the past couple of years the Domes project has entered an exciting final phase. We completed the interior in 2020 and I began to focus on getting all of its interconnected systems up and running, as well as applying all I’ve learned in the previous five years to re-design some of its infrastructure. This lead to the design of a third structure, an above-ground utility hub and garage. We decided to locate this behind the domes proper, where we could dig up and re-configure our primary electrical and hydronic runs to better integrate the various components of the project’s infrastructure. I wanted to eliminate lingering underground water pressure issues that caused water to find its way into the domes (which are, after all, under ground) during heavy rains. These were issues that no one predicted before the build, and it is in fact counter-intuitive that sealed conduits would become flowing water pipes during heavy rains. But that’s exactly what happened (and in fact always happens in all conduits). Above-ground buildings are rarely affected by this because there isn’t enough water pressure in the underground conduits to push water high enough to empty into the structures. Plus, urban infrastructure has shorter runs and thus less of an opportunity to build up hydrostatic pressure. In the domes, however, long underground conduits and high hydrostatic pressure after rains easily push water up through conduits.

The opportunity to build a utility hub as a separate building allowed me to de-couple the domes from these long utility runs, eliminating the problem and creating an access point for new utility tie-ins, such as firefighting equipment, rainwater cachement, and off-grid battery banks. When digging new utility trenches, I also installed a deep “sump well” in the hillside that allows us to actually see far underground (visually or via sensors) to gather data about conditions underground. Here our friend Neal is helping me install the well:

The new building has a radiant floor that will be connected to a “heat dump” loop of our primary solar thermal heating system. This will transform its foundation into a massive heat sink to automatically handle excess thermal energy generated by the system. It can also be used, however, to provide on-demand thermal energy to the new building if/when desired. The electronic and hydronic interconnections between the domes, this new hub, and our outdoor utilities kiosk are extensive, and go far beyond the usual connections between detached buildings. This is because I’ve designed the entire site to be a single cybernetic system embedded in its natural surroundings rather than the autonomous islands that standard buildings are designed to be. Rather than the standard model of delivering utilities to autonomous buildings, here information, water, heat, and power are all shared in a multi-directional network.

I designed the foundation of the new utility hub with the necessary infrastructure, including underground plumbing and a large hexagonal pad, for a 5,000 gallon water tank. The roof is designed to collect rainwater and store it in the tank, then draw on that water for firefighting and emergency water needs. This new addition to our hydronic system is also designed to accept the input of other sources of water, such as a potential second well, in the future.

Beyond its main functionality as a utility hub, the new building will also serve as a garage so that we’ll be able to permanently house a vehicle on-site. And finally we’ll have a place to store our ladders! When the center of your ceiling is 15 feet high, changing lightbulbs can be quite a challenge! The building will also serve as a mini workshop to help keep the domes themselves less cluttered.

We considered a number of different building materials, and ultimately decided on steel as the most viable choice. We immediately ruled out wood as entirely inappropriate for the land’s fire ecology. Cinderblock or other masonry was both expensive and too monolithic, aesthetically, for our purposes. Metal is fireproof and economical; we hope we will be happy with the choice!

The pandemic has caused massive global shortages of steel, and the fabrication of our building has been delayed. However, we decided to move ahead with our foundation and are incredibly happy with how it turned out! And now all of our underground water problems have been fixed!

After we switched on our initial solar thermal system in late 2020 we were amazed: whenever there was sun it generated nearly unlimited thermal energy and used only only 60 watts (the amount of an old incandescent light bulb) of electricity to power a small pump. Compare this to the enormous amount of electricity it takes to heat up water (which is our backup system for long period of no sun). Even though we harness a great deal of electricity from the sun via the solar PV array I built in 2017, our solar thermal array feels far more magical. We decided pretty quickly to upgrade it with a second array of thermal collectors. My sister, Jess, and mom, Ann, and our friend Yves dug the forms for the new array on top of the second dome last year, and we poured them with the foundation. I then assembled the array with our friend Michael. Unfortunately, a sensor failure prevented me from bringing the full solar thermal system back online. When I next visit the site and have time, I’ll get it all running again, and our solar thermal capacity should be double. That’s a big deal, as this thermal system supplies heat to the domes (via radiant flooring), generates all of our hot water, and will, as I mentioned, be able to pipe excess heat to the new building.

We’ve also worked quite a bit on the interior of the domes, doing finish electrical, furnishing, and begun staying there. Those details will be covered in a future post!

We’ve also begun to turn our attention to landscaping. Two years ago we began to put temporary cages around new oak tree sprouts to protect them from grazing deer. Many have survived, but growing into a large tree is a long process! Meanwhile, Jess has been collecting stones from the land and has been experimenting with some masonry to help transition the front of the domes smoothly into the natural grasses of the land (which we hope to mow/cut far less in the future). She has also worked laboriously to create a paving stone pathway from the front patio to the kiosk and new garage in the back:

Next steps include further landscaping, connecting the many sensors and actuators in the domes together into the master “brain” that will allow the buildings to sense and respond to their environment, and of course, building the utility garage. As always, we welcome anyone who wants to join us on the land, especially this coming summer!