Geoship installed its first bio-ceramic geodesic dome in a bid to create long-lasting, zero-carbon, fireproof and biologically resonant architecture for a new way of building homes. The company is relatively young, with just 400 paid deposits for homes, but they work by a co-op model and have over 2,000 investors.
“Homebuilding is a massive, multi-trillion dollar industry that is unsustainable,” the designers said in a press release. “The Geoship micro-factory and village building platform is a new model for the regenerative future.”
Related: Are these zero-carbon domes the future of sustainable housing?
The idea is to create more than a new home design, but a new way of creating communities to build homes. Morgan Bierschenk, co-founder and CEO of Geoship, said this all started with community.
“My brother and I started building a home for our family,” he said. “We did it on a shoestring budget, with reclaimed materials and lumber we milled on the land. Then we started questioning why — with all of our technology — are we still building with sticks and nails? How does nature build protective shells? Why does it feel so good to step outside the boxes we live in? We started engineering a new kind of home.”
To build a bio-ceramic dome, Geoship mixes a type of ceramic crystals and forms them into triangular molds. The pieces are then assembled into a geodesic dome like any other construction material. The carbon used to create the triangular components is far less than traditional sandstone, passive solar or highly efficient house building materials. Plus, the operational energy use is markedly lower as well.
The panels are installed on a network of struts that support the dome structure, almost like the interior structure of a mushroom cap. The end product is recyclable, mold-proof, fire-proof and flood-proof. The domes are also hurricane, earthquake and insect resistant. It even comes in cool colors.
The next round of funding will be used to build out Geoship’s pilot production, micro-factory and village design platforms. That’s because Geoship is really a materials science company. Bioceramics are a new kind of material designed to create multi-century structures.
The materials products used in the builds needs certification, and the pilot program still has to be built out. Their goal is to build “living environments that resonate with nature and catalyze the evolution of consciousness.”
Images via Geoship
