A Frisbee-Shaped Home From France

SAN JOSE, Calif.—It can withstand typhoons. It is more earthquake proof than most homes. And it looks like something Cornelius and Zera might have lived in during the original “Planet of the Apes.”

It’s possibly the coolest home ever.

It’s the Domespace home from Solaleya. Patrick Marsilli came up with the idea in the late ‘80s. Some have been built in Europe and Asia and now the company is coming to America, David Fanchon, project director at Solaleya told me during a meeting at West Coast Green, a green building show taking place in San Jose. One home has already been built in New Paltz, New York.

The secret sauce of the home lay in its unusual swoopy design. That makes it more aerodynamic. Domespace homes in Taiwan do well in the country’s notorious bad weather because of the aerodynamics, he said. The Domespace is also supported by a curved central support that gives it the strength to withstand a 8.0 quake on the Richter Scale.

The home is also capable of rotating with the sun to cut down on energy consumption. Sizes vary from 829 square feet to 7,158 square feet.

They also aren’t as costly as you might think, he added. The homes cost about $130 to $160 a square foot to build, not including land. For a modular home, that’s fairly cheap.

And, unlike a geodesic dome, it isn’t one big room. It can be subdivided into rooms. A doll buried in the basement that says “Mama” is optional.