BEING BUILT NEAR
ASHEVILLE NORTH CAROLINA

- NORTH CAROLINA HOUSING COMMUNITY

8 Residential Lots

The proposed development where conventional houses and domes can be built is four miles west off the Blue Ridge parkway, along Highway 80 in North Carolina, just East of Mt. Mitchell.  The property is located between the small towns of Burnsville and Marion.

At last, a planned community where property taxes are low and those who choose to build domes will no longer live in fear of high utility bills.  Here homeowners will live in harmony with each other, the land, deer, wild turkeys, chipmunks, birds, and many other forest animals nestled in nature.

The community is nestled over 100 acres of pristine, forested mountains full of oaks, hemlocks, rhododendrons, and mountain laurels with seasonal streams. All this located within one hour of Asheville, where farmers’ markets and outdoor cafes abound.

Climate:

From early April to mid November our climate is just about ideal. Normal summertime morning temperatures range between 55 and 60 degrees. Daytime temperatures hover around 80. This mild climate produces blooming wild flowers from March to November. It has been said that this is where springtime spends the summer.

Shopping:
Serious shoppers will be delighted by the wide variety of shopping opportunities within an hours drive. Local craftsmen produce some of the finest woven goods, wood products and pottery in the country.

About two miles from the community entrance is an 18 hole course (rated four and one half stars {out of five} by Golf Digest Magazine). Also fisherman will be delighted with the South Toe River that runs along Highway 80.  It is brimming with trophy native brown and rainbow trout. To purchase a fishing permit, call B&B Grocery at 1-828-675-4949.  Trail hiking, tennis, gemstone mining and excellent summer stock theatre offers a variety of "things to do."  Click on Golf Course to learn more.  Click on Fishing to learn about the Carolina Hemlock Recreational area.

The development was slow getting started. However, we now have some of the roads installed. The entrance road travels along a spring fed creek up to the residential area. The first row of lots faces the South West and has a great view of the Mt. Mitchell area.

Common recreation areas within the community will be designed to include nature trails, picnic tables, and spring fed creeks within the majestic trees. A short distance away is trout fishing on the South Toe River within the Carolina Hemlock National Park and a camp ground. Hiking trails and water falls along the Blue Ridge parkway are only five miles from the community.

The community will be restricted to preserve the natural environment. Lot sizes are a minimum of 1.5 acres to a maximum of 5 acres. Environmental protections within the community will protect the natural flora and fauna. There are eight lots at this time, ranging from 1.5 to 2 acres. Please call 321-639-8777 for current pricing.

The following is a letter that American Ingenuity received from Irene Purser in reference to the dome community:

Dear Glenda,

Your property is beautiful. I grew up in Asheville, NC and I can say with certainty that your property is located in one of the most picturesque areas in the mountains of North Carolina. I divided my time between exploring some of the old logging roads, enjoying the vistas and marveling at the abundant slate, quartzite and mica. (A geologist could spend weeks there!)

Real estate in the mountains is in great demand and you were blessed to find this treasure.

Your vision of a dome community on this property will not only provide the prototype for other communities, it will also be an inspiration.

Please allow me to share my brief involvement with geodesic domes and why I am excited about your vision of a dome community.

 I have long been a student of Buckminster Fuller, excited about the possibilities for geodesic domes and committed to working for a sustainable future. In the early ‘80’s, I attended a symposium created by Buckminster Fuller, John Denver and Tom Crum in Windstar, Colorado. Windstar was a non-profit research and educational center founded by John Denver and Tom Crum in 1976 that was committed to creating a sustainable future. The symposium focused on Bucky’s philosophy of “doing more with less” and featured Windstar’s Biodome Project. The purpose of the “Biodome Project” was to design and construct integrated fish and vegetable producing micro climate systems, in a range of sizes, that could be transferable to a variety of climates and utilized in rural or urban settings. The essence of the Biodome Project was to demonstrate practical, local, organic methods of producing food through stand alone, self-sustaining, affordable systems that conserved water, land and energy. The Biodome concept was a much needed model for an agricultural system that embraced sensible food production from the small backyard plot to large scale farming. With the death of Buckminster Fuller and later John Denver, Phases III and IV of the Biodome Project were not completed and the Biodome Kits were not patented, manufactured or marketed.

While exploring “green technologies” on the internet, I came across a site that mentioned an award given to AI Domes for energy efficiency. That is how I discovered your website and your remarkable domes. I am excited about your dome community because it will provide a prototype - or vision - of a better way to live that will contribute to a sustainable future.

The following article on geodesic domes ran in

the New York Times January 11, 2007.

The Dome Gains Weight and Settles Down

Mr. Nelkin decided in the 10th grade that he would someday live in a geodesic dome, after seeing a picture of one in a science book. “It looked like something out of ‘Star Wars,’ ” Mr. Nelkin said. “I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen, and I said to myself, ‘When I grow up I’m going to build one of those.' ”

The pale gray hemispheres stand out like twin spaceships on a tree-lined street where all the other houses have pitched roofs. But inside, the house looks unexpectedly terrestrial, with overstuffed couches, hardwood floors and rustic fireplaces much like those of its neighbors.

The Nelkins are among a growing group of Americans who are building dream homes in the shape of geodesic domes, once a symbol of youthful rebellion but now one of aspiration for aging baby boomers.

Hemispheres are sprouting up among the mock Tudors and colonials of upscale neighborhoods across the country, from Veneta, Ore., where a company called Oregon Dome is building a development of 2,000-square-foot spec domes on suburban lots for around $200,000 each, to Asheville, N.C., where American Ingenuity, a Florida company, is starting to put up an all-dome community. Like tofu and yoga, the dome has evolved from countercultural funkiness to middle-class respectability.

First popularized in the 1950s by the designer and inventor Buckminster Fuller, who died in 1983, geodesic domes have long been appreciated by environmentalists for their energy efficiency and the way they provide the maximum amount of space with a minimum of material. In the 1960s and ’70s, hippies built them in the wilderness, painting them in psychedelic patchworks; their rounded contours were seen as a retort to all things square or right-angled in Western society.

The domes of the Flower Power era were rarely more than a standard 24 feet in diameter and cost less than $1,000 to build, according to Jay Baldwin, an early dome builder and dweller. But many new domes are sprawling mansions of more than 10,000 square feet, built on budgets of a million dollars or more.

1. The dome, or partial sphere, is a geometric form that encloses the greatest amount of volume with the least amount of surface area. Historically, massive domes constructed of stones, brick or concrete were common in ancient Greece and Rome. In modern times, Buckminster Fuller was the first to formulate geodesic principles for constructing a spherical surface by triangular subdivision.

2. During the past decade the home buying public has experienced a substantial increase in the cost of construction, the cost of energy and the cost of borrowing. As a result, there has been increased interest in the use of technology to help address these concerns. In the last decade many people have discovered that the dome home design offers a viable solution.

3. As a residential building concept, geodesic dome home construction translates into a highly comfortable and livable home that has a maximum of floor area enclosed by a minimum of materials. These features combine superior strength and cost-effectiveness in a single structure. In short, the dome home building concept expands the range of simple and economic housing options.

4. Manufactured dome homes are constructed using a triangular network to form a spherical shape. This method provides for a free-span, self-supporting structure requiring no internal supports such as roof load bearing partition walls. This allows for maximum flexibility of floor plan design and utilization of interior space.

5. As an architectural form, the dome is one of the strongest structural forms devised and built by man. Domes that were built centuries ago enclose many of the great cathedrals of Europe. Domes are structurally superior to rectilinear enclosures. The partial sphere is an aerodynamic shape that is very stable in high winds and can withstand heavy snow loads. For these reasons, residential domes greatly exceed the structural requirements of the major building codes in the United States.