The UN planned to test the structures in Gujarat, India, after the earthquake. However, the royalties demanded by the State of California, where Khalili's technology is registered, were prohibitively high and the Indian government lost interest, said Jimenez de Luis.
Khalili insists that any problems with royalties or other bureaucratic hassles could be avoided by setting up a satellite dish and transmitting essentially do-it-yourself dome-building seminars to India, Afghanistan, or anywhere else.
Another plan to build these structures on the Iranian-Afghan border was aborted after the border was closed to refugees. But it is not too late to build these dwellings in Pakistan, where there are sprawling refugee camps, said Khalili.
The inspiration for Khalili's creations came from his travels through Iran. In the mid-1970s Khalili closed his architectural firm in Los Angeles and Tehran, which specialized in corporate high-rises, and rode his motorcycle around the Persian countryside for five years.
Observing the use of natural materials to construct homes and moved by the poems of the 13th century Persian mystic poet, Jalaluddin Rumi, who exalted the elements—earth, fire, water and air—he sought to develop more organic housing that was in tune with the environment.
Safety Standards
Although the emergency shelter domes have been approved for use at disaster sites, Khalili thinks the style could meet modern needs in industrialized countries. The Superadobe technology took about six years to pass building code requirements because special tests had to be developed to test the architecture.
Hesperia, which is about 80 miles east of Los Angeles, requires particularly rigorous building codes, as it lies in California's seismic zone four—the most severe earthquake zone.
Although there are many examples of domed structures in architecture, one of the most obvious being the U.S. Capitol, dirt domes have never been addressed in building codes, said John Regner, senior plans examiner for the City of Hesperia's Building and Safety Division.
The first tests applied stress asymmetrically to the dome, and then a couple of years later a system using steel cables was used to apply thousands of pounds of pressure to the structure. "The testing equipment failed and the buildings didn't," said Regner.
"I don't see these domes becoming widespread, and I don't know whether I want to live in one, but there is no question that this is now an approved building technology," said Regner.
In Hesperia, at least, Khalili's team is now in a position to build houses and museums using Superadobe.
One of the great advantages of the technology is that it's two-foot walls insulate the structure, keeping it warm in winter and cool in summer. The domes can also be finished to suit more upscale tastes. Currently a three-bedroom Superadobe home is under construction at Cal-Earth.
This week, the Associated Press reported that migrant farm workers in Northern San Diego County are experimenting with the domes as an alternative to illegal plywood, plastic, and tin shanties that violate all health and safety codes.
This story airs April 3, 2002, on National Geographic Today.
National Geographic Today, at 7 pm. ET/PT in the United States, is a daily news magazine available only on the National Geographic Channel. Click here to request it.
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