DOME CONCEPTS

As I like to say, back in the dark ages, this was my first ever dome.
It is constructed from a thin tablecloth plastic a meter wide, which required about 17 gores.
This dome served me for one year until I modified it.

Because the tablecloth plastic was so thin, I could easily project regular content onto the front of the dome
with a projector from outside the sphere.

Traveling to Indianapolis, A group of 4-H volunteers heleped me build this 8m dome for a presentation.

Unfortunately, the dome was too large and I had to use a 5m one instead.
ALWAYS bring a backup if you can.

Most domes are pitched at an angle of approximately 35 degrees. This allows for the horizion of the
production to yield to the natural horizion of the earth, while keeping the audience comfortable.
I dabbled with this concept by using risers and a cardboard ring to pull off 33 degrees.

A view of earth from outside my dome.

This was one of the last times I used frontal projection, which worked best with this tilt.

I wanted to get the show above people and let them be comfortable on the floor.
Thus was born the ring below my gores which gave a gap between people and show.

This was the precipice of my standard tablecloth plastic dome: a bottom ring and good geometry.

My latest dome model is created from 8 gore sections of a plastic material called Ag-Bag.
At 5 meters wide and useful in full sunlight, this dome is the most simple and elegant so far.