From nick@vu-vlsi.ee.vill.eduFri Mar 10 09:52:11 1995 Date: 8 Mar 1995 04:49:57 -0500 From: Nick Pine To: london@sunsite.unc.edu Subject: Re: Nick's lecture DAN JOHNSON wrote: >I ... would appreciate any info you can forward [re Monolithic domes.] The company is called Monolithic Constructors, Inc., of Italy, Texas, which is about an hour from Dallas, I'm told. They make concrete/foam domes, up to 400' in diameter and 200' tall, by blowing up a vinyl balloon ("airform"), spraying an inch or so of polyurethane foam inside that from the inside of the bubble, placing small metal plates ("skyhooks") with wires attached to them on the foam, spraying some more foam on top of that, wiring up reinforcing rods to the skyhooks, and then spraying 2-3" of concrete onto the rebar, all from the inside of the bubble. They have plans for domes up to 800' in diameter. Monolithic's phone number is (214) 483-7423. They are having the First Annual Monolithic Domebuilder's Convention in Dallas, TX from this Friday morning, 3/10, till Saturday afternoon, 3/11. There should be at least 100 people there, including most of the Monolithic staff and customers, along with some exhibitors, architects and engineers. The convention costs $45, including a banquet and a bus ticket for a field trip to Italy (TX :-) Saturday afternoon. Most of the conference will be at the Dallas Holiday Inn Airport North ($65/night--(214) 929-8181.) Monolithic is an exciting new little company with lots of spirit and a willingness to try new things, from what I can tell. They also sell T-shirts, slides, videos, jackets, "Nature's Perfect Shape" ball caps, and a $6/year bi-monthly newsprint periodical called "Roundup." The number for ordering this stuff is (800) 608-0001. Nick