Why Our Ancestors Built Round Houses - and Why it Still Makes Sense to Build Round Structures Today | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

The oldest forms of indigenous shelter were often round in shape. (Think the Southwest USA Hogan, Mongolian Yurt, North American Teepee and the Greek Tenemos, among others.) Why did our ancestors choose to build round? Because the ovid shape -- eggs, earth, tree trunks, and stones -- is what they saw reflected in the surrounding natural environment. And, as usual, Mother Nature knows best. There is some nifty natural science that makes round buildings more comfortable, more energy-efficient and safer -- especially if you combine the ancient shape with modern materials!

Wind and tsunami waves move naturally around a round building rather than getting caught at (and potentially ripping off) corners. A rounded roof avoids ‘air-planing’- a situation where a strong wind lifts the roof structure up and off of the building.

There are dozens of interconnected points in a round home. These are sites where builders can connect parts of the building together. In the olden days, the connecting materials were rope, vine and hides. Modern materials are engineered components- like a center radial steel ring, steel brackets, Seismic and hurricane ties, bolts and steel cables. These connect the structural pieces and give the building a unique combination of flexibility and strength- qualities which causes them to be significantly safer in severe weather conditions like earth quakes, extreme winds and heavy snowfall.

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4 Comments

BobWet May 1, 2013 at 10:07 am

Here is a 2008 Round House in Ireland:
http://www.winkens.ie/strawbale.htm
rachel ross August 15, 2012 at 9:48 pm

Hi bthinker- Your project sounds really interesting! I agree that adding submerged floors increases the functionality of the space combined with the hexagonal shape- check out our website at http://www.mandalahomes.com for other examples. Thanks for your comments!~Rachel
robdude August 14, 2012 at 5:31 pm

Just when we think we no it all, only to find out our ancestors had it pegged a thousand years back. Why am I not surprised!
bthinker August 10, 2012 at 6:07 pm

A very advanced Shelter I’ve been working on for years put this compression effect and centerpiece cooling to use. I’m making a downward spiraling biodome of sorts. I agree though, I see anything that’s not round/oval as a primitive box. I believe a house also needs to have submerged floors though to complete the funcionality of the dome shape efficiency, a hexagon works best for the sub floors with the correct support system as a round basement would easily cave but a hexagon done right can bounce impact to the adjacent walls.