In 2011 I had a wonderful visit with my friend Hajjar Gibran. For years he has inspired me with his creative ideas. This time he was building domes at his retreat center in northeast Thailand. He and his wife offered me a spot on their mango farm to build my own dome.

With Hajjar’s guidance and design ideas, along with my own, and his son-in-law Tao’s masonry skills, I had my dome home up and painted in six weeks.

The cost for the basic structure was under $6000. It took a few more weeks to add the details, such as doors, screens, pond, upstairs structure, stonework and landscaping. All this, including furnishings and plumbing to the well, was under $3000. ..Bringing my total cost to about $9,000. Please keep in mind this is in cost-friendly Thailand.

Since then, my friend Hajjar has come up with a much improved way to build, using aircrete. Check it out at DomeGaia.com

You can find a video tour of my dome home here.