How to build a Bamboo Star Dome (now in Engrish!)

Stardome.jp offers plans to build beautiful bamboo domes.

They even offer some minimal instructions in a mix of English, Engrish and Japanese characters with illustrations.

If you can decipher the instructions they assure you that you can build an 18 foot circumference bamboo dome in 3 hours with a crew of 10. That includes the time to split the bamboo. (A six way large bamboo splitter is needed along with a "magical" technique eKimoto takeuraf whatever that may be.)

Other supplies needed include braided rope and short pieces of rope for tying the split bamboo together. You'll also need a drill, work gloves, a saw, tape measure and a wood plane. Of course don't forget the large bamboo poles that you will split into slats.

It takes only 30 minutes to assemble the split and tied bamboo into a dome though experts can do it in just 10 minutes.

Anyhow it looks like a fun project if you can figure it out.

BIG in JAPAN! International Dome House Ltd offers polystyrene plaster-coated modular dome homes and communities.

Some people want a house that looks like everyone else's. Some people don't.

Japan's International Dome House's modular polystyrene homes definitely don't look like everybody else's except when they are clustered in communities of them.

The houses are made from thick polystyrene and finished with plaster. They are assembled from off the shelf parts that make arched entrances, arched halls and hemispheric rooms.

They are heated and cooled with Japanese style mini-split systems and of course are very energy efficient and earthquake resistance. They feature an anti-oxidant solution that is said to foster good health.

In Japan they are considered a low cost alternative. Otaku International indicated that a basic dome has 475 sq feet and costs start at $30,000 without transport, assembly, wiring, plumbing, interior work or exterior and interior plaster. That means $63 a sq ft for an incomplete unassembled shell. They are not for sale in the USA.