American Ingenuity Dome Building Plans

are available Three Ways: Stock, Modified or Custom

Save 33 1/3% on your Plans if you order prior to January 1, 2011

1. Stock Pre-Designed Plans
2. Modified Stock Plans Which Reflect Minor Changes To Ai’s Stock Plans
3. Custom Designed Plans Designed From Your Sketches

Besides manufacturing geodesic dome building kits, American Ingenuity provides the building plans that are used to obtain a building permit.  This file contains several pages of information, so please scroll down this page to view the info.

AMERICAN INGENUITY’S PHILOSOPHY:

One of the reasons American Ingenuity has been in business since 1976 and is very reputable, is that we try hard to treat all our customers the same. Our business philosophy and product is unique to the housing industry. Ai believes that each person should pay for only what they need. As a result, Ai's dome kit’s pricing is usually one-half less than other housing kits. Click on Pricing to learn more.

What causes American Ingenuity’s dome building kit to be so reasonable in price?

• Each client pays for their Building Plans instead of Ai increasing the price of the Building Kit.
• Ai does not make a profit on the Building Plans.
  
• None of Ai's staff is on commission.
• Unique panel contents allows for reduced manufacturing waste.
• Most of Ai's clients do not need engineer sealed building plans in order to obtain a building permit. As a result the engineer seal is a separate cost.
• Each person who wants to research American Ingenuity's building kit further can do so by purchasing the Planning Kit which includes a CD or a DVD.  If Ai gave out a Planning Kit and Video to 100 - 200 people a month, that cost would be paid by the Building Kit client also.

What is included in American Ingenuity’s Building Plans?

The building plans consist of three sets of blueprints that include the basic drawings for the dome that are needed when acquiring a building permit. The plans are composed using the AUTOCAD program on our computer aided drafting system as stock plans, or Ai can modify a stock plan or design a custom plan from your sketches for a reasonable fee.

Some of the pages in the Building Plans are a 3-D elevation and a 3-D perspective view. These plans include all the structural drawings, show the placement of the electrical outlets, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures; however, they do not have the electrical, plumbing, HVAC layouts. We have found if the layouts are included, then the inspectors require the subcontractors to follow the diagrams when usually the subs like to do their own layouts. There are pages of info in this file.  To view all of them scroll down.  Click on Plans to learn more.

How do I view American Ingenuity’s stock floor plans? There are three ways:

DXF Floor Plan Design Files

Now Available

Would you like to design your own Dome Floor Plan?  If you know how to use a Computer Aided Drafting Program (CAD) and if you do not see a stock plan in American Ingenuity’s Dome Stock Floor Plan Booklet that fits your needs, you can now order CDs of American Ingenuity’s Stock Floor Plans in DXF format and design your own floor plan.  By purchasing the CD, you can modify an A.I. stock plan or produce sketches that American Ingenuity can use to design your custom Building Plans.

When you purchase a CD of DXF files we include a bonus item…..a DXF file of a six inch in diameter Mini-Dome.  Not only will this model be fun to put together, but that it will also serve as a reliable reference for building a life-size dome.  Once the Mini-Dome is assembled, you can see the dome geometry consisting of Hexagon, Pentagon and Riser panels. 

American Ingenuity designs the DXF files using the AUTOCAD program.  In order to manipulate or edit the DXF files you need the AUTOCAD program or a compatible drafting program.   If you do not have AUTOCAD, on the internet there is a free 30 day trial of Delta Cad which is compatible with AutoCAD. http://www.deltacad.com/.  Also you can read and edit the DXF files if you have a photo editor program like adobe or paint shop. And you can read the dxf files but not edit them using Microsoft word and power point. 

ORDER DXF FILES 

American Ingenuity’s Stock Floor Plans are now available on CDs in DXF format.  Each CD contains the DXF files for a particular dome diameter’s stock plans.  Each CD is $10 plus the mailing costs. 

To place your order, please call our office Monday – Friday 9 to 5 eastern time at 321-639-8777.  Let us know which CDs you want, along with your shipping info and your credit card info. 

The following CDs by Dome Diameter(s) are available.  The floor plans are for Residential Dome Home floor plans or basement plans or garage floor plans:

1. 27’ stock floor plans
2. 30’ stock floor plans
3. 36’ stock floor plans
4. 40’ stock floor plans
5. 45’ stock floor plans
6. 48’ stock floor plans
7.  22’, 27’, 30’, 34’ garage stock floor plans
8. 60’ Floor Planner and Furniture.  (No Sock Floor Plans are available; all 60’ plans are a Custom Design starting at $3,500.  Once our Plans Coordinator sees your 60’ sketches, he will quote you a  price for us to design your 60’ Custom Plans.) 

Each CD of DXF files for American Ingenuity’s 22’ through 48’ diameter domes  includes:

1.     First floor and second floor room arrangements with the second floor having headroom height lines.

2.     Optional stock basement plans, if available for that particular stock plan.

3.     An elevation view showing a cross sectional view of the dome revealing the center heights of each floor and a Pictorial/Elevation view which details many of the building options available for that diameter dome.

4.     A Blank Floor Planner.

5.     A furniture DXF file that you can use to cut and paste the furniture into the stock plan.

6.     A bonus Mini-Dome DXF file.

Origins and terminology of CAD

 per Wikipedia “The Free Encyclopedia”

CAD  originally meant Computer Aided Drafting because in the early days CAD was really a replacement for the traditional drafting board. Now, CAD usually means Computer Aided Design to reflect the fact that modern CAD tools do much more than just drafting.

CAD is sometimes translated as "computer-assisted", "computer-aided drafting, or a similar phrase. Related acronyms are CADD, which stands for "computer-aided design and drafting", CAID for Computer-aided Industrial Design and CADD for "computer-aided architectural design". All these terms are essentially synonymous, but there are a few subtle differences in meaning and application. CAM  (Computer aided manufacturing) is often used in a similar way, or as a combination (CAD/CAM).

What do Ai’s Building Plans cost? Just to clarify, because most of Ai's clients do not need an engineer seal or energy calculations to obtain a building permit, our Plans pricing does not include the cost for an engineer seal or the cost for energy calculations. Click on Plans FAQ to learn more.  To view Plans Pricing, click on Stock Plans.

Prior to purchasing Building Plans you need to assure you have answers to the following questions:

1. Does your land’s deed have any restrictions on domes?
2. Inquire whether there is a Home Owners’ Association governing your land, if there is you will need to check with them and make sure you can build a dome.
3. You can ask your building department, “What are the requirements for a residential building permit? Are there any additional requirements to build a geodesic dome? Is an Architect’s or Engineer’s seal required on the plans?”
4. Is your financing secured?

Can Ai modify any of the stock plans in the Stock Floor Plan Booklet?

Yes. Modifying a stock plan that is close to your dream dome allows you to adapt one of our stock plans to meet your needs. While it does incur a charge, it is much less than the expenditure of custom design work. Any of the Stock Plans may be modified to provide for such structural changes as:

1. Building a Mirror image.
2. Rearranging rooms, moving walls, or adding closets.
3. Combining the first floor from one plan with the second floor of another.
4. Adding or subtracting entryways, door and window dormers, or balconies.
5. Adding bathrooms.
6. Adding a full or partial basement.
7. Fortifying a floor structure to accommodate special furnishings such as a waterbed, hot tub, or weight room.

What is the easiest way to determine room dimensions based on square footage?

In the Stock Floor Plan Booklet that is included in the Planning Kit, Ai puts the square footage of each room. Look in the back of the booklet for the to-scale ruler (on tan paper). Cut this ruler out and use it to measure the length and width of the rooms. Compare the dome room sizes to the room sizes in your current home. You know whether you want the rooms larger or smaller than the current home you are in now. The room sizes will determine what size dome will fit your needs. The scale is 1/10" equals one foot. To learn more click on Square Footages.

Can American Ingenuity provide custom design building plans based on my sketches?

Yes. What Ai has found works best is for you to sketch out your ideas on a stock plan or on the blue floor planner pages in the Stock Floor Plan Booklet and email them to us by clicking on Contact Us or fax them to us at 321-639-8778.  If you fax, please call our office at 321-639-8777 to assure that Ai received all your pages and that they were legible.  Please include your name, address, telephone number and best time(s) to contact you.

One of our office staff will:

• review your sketch
• possibly call you with questions
• email your plans price quote to you

Once we receive payment in full for the Building Plans and receive the price quote signed, we schedule the plans for production.

How long does it take to receive the stock plans?

It can take about two weeks depending on the time of the year. Ai does not keep the stock plans printed out for a couple of reasons:

1. Ai is constantly making improvements to the building plans. So before we print out a stock plan, we review the plan and make all the improvements.
2. Blueprints change color over time…Ai wants your prints to be fresh and bright.

How long does it take to receive modified or custom designed plans?

Stock plans are delivered in 2 weeks.  Allow at least 5 weeks for modified plans and 8 weeks for custom plans.  Once we start the design of your plans, Ai will fax or email you two rough drafts that you review and make changes on and fax or email them back to us. After you approve the final draft, Ai designs your structural blue prints and complete your plans....usually most of the time is taken up between when Ai sends you the draft and when you return it to us. 

How do I send my drawings or sketches to American Ingenuity?

You can fax (321-639-8778) the drawings to us or you can email them if they are in the following format:

• pdf
• or if you are using AutoCAD we can accept the documents in dxf format or dwg format.

What do I consider when putting sketches together for a custom dome floor plan?

You might use American Ingenuity's stock designs as a springboard for your own ideas and fashion a special floor plan to accommodate how you and your family live.

In the back of the Stock Floor Plan Booklet is a to-scale ruler and to-scale furniture. You can use the ruler to help you in analyzing the size of each of the floor plan's rooms (length and width) versus conventional house room arrangements and sizes.

Working from your rough sketches or wish list, Ai's design team can cost effectively prepare custom blueprints to suit your individual tastes, location, site, needs and budget. If you can dream it, Ai can draw it. If you are seeking more than what is reflected in the Stock Floor Plan Booklet, then perhaps you will want to go a step further to a Custom Plan. It will encompass all your thoughts for your dream dome and will be drawn by our technician especially for you, yet at a reasonable cost.

Using our state-of-the-art computer aided drafting system, our CAD technicians will translate your concept into a set of blueprints.

1. Ai will work from any combination of ideas as you express them:

• You can take those planners and paste copies of rooms that you do like or sketch your room arrangements.
• Completed floor planner kit
• Rough sketches
• List of items to include
• Written descriptions

2. Design Factors: All plans may be built on your choice of foundation including: Concrete slab, raised, stem wall or pier foundation, full or partial basement.

3. When planning the location of entryways, door dormers, balconies and window dormers please note their specific locations on the floor planner located in the back of the Stock Floor Plan Booklet.

4. When planning room sizes for your second floor, remember that the headroom decreases as it approaches the knee wall. The floor planner will have the second floor perimeter heights noted.

Can the second floor of the American Ingenuity Dome be partially suspended? Yes. The second floor can be suspended from the dome shell so you can have as open a first floor as you desire. Keep in mind that it is more economical to occasionally use the first floor walls as supports. Long spans with floor joist will require more expensive materials to provide the strength or suspension rods that pass through the second floor. The suspension rods and plates are purchased from American Ingenuity.

If you should sketch in something that is either not practical or not cost effective we will let you know. Your floor plan determines which Building Kit Options are needed with your kit.

Does American Ingenuity make in-office appointments to design floor plans? No. Ai has found the most efficient way to complete floor plan designs is via email, phone and fax.

Tell me about the Floor Planner Kit that is included in the Stock Floor Plan Booklet. The Stock Floor Plan Booklet is in the Planning Kit. In the booklet is a Floor Planner Kit so you can experiment with different floor plans as you modify a Stock Plan or develop a Custom Plan. Sample elevations of each size dome enable you to visualize your home in three, not just two, dimensions.  To order the Planning Kit/Stock Floor Plan Booklet click on Visit Our Store.  Our shopping cart is secure.

Make copies of the floor planners for the size domes you wish to build and then you can make as many variations and design changes as you wish.

Scaled furniture symbols and ruler may be used with either the Floor Planner Kit or any of the Stock Plans, since everything is the same scale. You can use the ruler to measure the width and length of each room to compare the size to the size rooms you currently live in. Be sure when placing tall furniture on the second floor to note the ceiling height. Just to clarify the four foot tall riser panel that comes with the Building Kit makes furniture placement around the first floor perimeter walls easy.

VERSATILITY:

American Ingenuity's Stock Plans have been developed over many years and have proven themselves to be comfortable, economical and adaptable. Within this selection you will find plans that will accommodate almost any lifestyle, decorating taste, size of family, budget, and building site. You may find just the right floor plan for your new home in the stock plans. The building kits for Stock Plans are priced including the options as shown on the Stock Floor Plan Price List. Additional options will create a Modified Stock Plan.

SIZE and SCALE:

The first two number of the floor plan name reflect the diameter of the dome. For example, 45 Delta 21 is a 45' diameter dome. All the floor plans are drawn to the same scale, 1/10 inch = 1 foot. The furniture symbols and ruler contained in the Floor Planner Kit are also drawn to this scale and may be used with any of the Stock Plans. Compare these to the measurements of your own furniture and make symbols for those pieces not represented, like your antique hutch or your son's aquarium.

SQUARE FOOTAGE:

The square footage of living space shown with each floor plan indicates the total space inside the dome. The square footage of each room is included to help you visualize the size of the space, and does not include any closets or utility areas. The second floor square footage consists of all the usable floor space to the knee wall although part of this space will have reduced headroom, as shown by the ceiling height lines. To learn more click on Square Footages.

BUILDING CODES:

Our blueprints have been accepted by building departments which use many different Building Codes including the Universal Building Code, the Standard Building Code and the B.O.C.A. Code. Our personal service may include communication with your area building officials to assure the acceptance of your blueprints for issuance of a permit. If required in your area, blueprints can be certified by a registered engineering firm. Professional fees will vary state by state. Click on Engineer Seal to learn more.

MINOR CHANGES:

Most building departments will allow you to make simple non-structural changes to Stock Plans by noting them on the blueprints. This might include such minor changes as:

• 1. Adding, subtracting, or changing the location of skylights or a fireplace
  2. Substituting a high profile entryway for a standard entryway
  3. Shifting the location of interior doors
  4. Altering the size of the windows or doors located in the entryways
  5. Substituting a door for a window in an entryway
  6. Substituting a wall for an open rail
  7. Switching the placement of the kitchen sink and major appliances
  8. Linking additional domes (i.e.: garage dome, screen dome, extra bedroom dome) to the main dome
  9. Adding a cupola and loft
  10. Changing the location or type of the main staircase
  11. Substituting a staircase for a loft ladder

MODIFIED STOCK PLANS:

Modifying a Stock Plan that is close to your dream dome allows you to adapt a plan to your needs. While it does incur a charge, it is much less than the expenditure of custom design work. Any of the Stock Plans may be modified to provide for such structural changes as:

• 1. Building a Mirror image
  2. Rearranging rooms, moving walls, or adding closets
  3. Combining the first floor from one plan with the second floor of another
  4. Adding or subtracting entryways, door and window dormers, or balconies
  5. Adding bathrooms
  6. Adding a full or partial basement
  7. Fortifying a floor structure to accommodate special furnishings such as a waterbed, hot tub, or weight room.

We will be happy to quote a price for blueprints and a building kit for your Modified Stock Plan once we review your sketches or Floor Planner

CUSTOM PLANS:

If you are seeking more than what is reflected in the Stock Floor Plan Booklet, then perhaps you will want to go a step further to a Custom Plan. It will encompass all your thoughts for your dream dome and will be drawn by our technician especially for you, yet at a reasonable cost. Using our state-of-the-art computer aided drafting system, our CAD technician will translate your concept into a set of blueprints.

1. Design Factors: All plans may be built on your choice of foundation including: Concrete slab, raised, stem wall or pier foundation, full or partial basement. Just to clarify, we can design for a concrete stem wall with a wood floor, but we cannot provide you a design that uses wood as a foundation material.
2. When planning the location of entryways, door dormers, balconies and window dormers please note their specific locations.
3. When planning room sizes for your second floor, remember that the headroom decreases as it approaches the knee wall.

For example Ai's 48' dome has an interior radius of 24'. That radius is from the center of the sphere to all of the geodesic corners measured on the inside. Ai does not know what your chord length or measurements are referring to. Ai uses the most standard geodesic dome geometry of a three frequency icosahedrons for Ai’s 30’ through 48’ domes.

For laying out the floor plan designs, you only need to work in two dimensional form and the pages in our floor plan booklet will give you everything you need, including ceiling heights on the second floor. Ai can provide you AutoCAD format for the floor plans, but it will not contain any three dimensional drawings.

Tell me about the 60' dome and I don't see any 60' stock plans, are they custom?

Our largest size dome is 60’ in diameter with an interior height of 26’. It has 2,552 sq.ft. on the first floor, if you max out the second floor, the second floor can have 1,910. If you purchase the cupola and install a third floor loft there can be a loft area of 620 sq.ft. for a total of 5,180 sq.ft. If you need a larger dome than this, contact Monolithic Dome in Italy Texas.

Ai does not have any 60' stock plans. All the plans for the 60' are custom. Once we see your sketch or ideas, Ai can quote you a price to design your custom set of Building Plans. To learn more click on 60'.

Do you offer stock basement plans in addition to the ones in the plan book? And do you have or can you develop plans for different types of basement?

Ai does not at this time although custom or modified basement plans have a reasonable cost. It is better to use the dimensions that we provide to lay out the basement walls, than to use angles which would be more difficult and less accurate. Ai can provide plans for most types of basement wall systems utilizing concrete or block including insulated concrete forms. Basement walls are usually 8" thick when made of poured concrete but will likely increase depending on the height of the basement wall and the height of the backfill. Click on Basements to learn more.

Do you have separate garage dome kits available?

Yes. Ai has developed two new garage dome sizes, 22' and 27'. These garage domes consists of the two frequency icosahedron geometry. This geometry differs from Ai’s other domes in that it utilizes fewer but larger panels. By having larger panels American Ingenuity can create a wider opening that is needed for a garage door. Click on Garages to learn more.

• You can install a 9' wide garage door in the 22' and have loft storage space of 148 sq.ft.
• The 27' garage dome can have a 16' garage door and have a second floor of 398 sq.ft. The 22' dome provides an economical one car garage using 3 1/2" E.P.S. insulation (R-14). The insulation in the 22’ dome can be upgraded to a 7” thickness.
• Previously a 34' dome was needed to pull two cars in side by side. Now you can have a two car garage in a 27' dome which is more cost effective. The 34' garage dome is utilized when you want more first floor perimeter room around the vehicles or when you want a second floor above the garage for an apartment or study, etc.
• Any of the garage domes can be connected to another dome or built independently from the house.

You can find the stock plans for the garage domes in the back of the stock floor plan booklet. The pricing for the garage kits is on the bottom of the Stock Floor Plan Price List in the Stock Floor Plan Booklet. Or click on Stock Plan Pricing.