1/2 Cylinder

I've been giving this some thought here lately too. In the Midwest we have an awful lot of farm outbuildings made of steel arch sections that look a lot like the old army barracks structures. You know, half of a cylinder laid on its side. If you mounded dirt up around the end of these things in a rounded hemisphere to block the wind from the vertical flat ends the overall result is almost a dome. The same structural properties of a dome would still apply - wonderful wind resistance and general stability in terms of quake.

I suspect you could get by with even a dirt floor using 4x4 posts driven into the ground for anchorage points and so use absolutely no concrete. Since these things come in kit form storage of the sections for later use would be quite easy. I guess this is really just a modified form of the culvert shelter everyone is talking about, but culvert pipe doesn't come in a kit.

Offered by Ron.