We Have the Dome Home Now Ready to Go!

Yes, we FINALLY have a dome home kit that can be built in a 42 foot diameter for under $20,000. That includes all the struts and hub which are color coded, the plywood triangles, and a great environmentally friendly product called HydroStop.

Recently I went and built my first dodecahydron dome superstructure that was an absolute BLAST and FUN to boot!

If you visit our new site you will see a video of the superstructure and also a completed 32 footer that costs only $42,000 to build complete which includes 800 square feet on the first floor with another 200 plus square feet in the balcony bedroom. Kevin's utility bill for last year was under $400!

Also we are going to be able to offer a new platform structure for domes that face floods and water overflows like the recent ones on the Mississippi River. This platform is built to rise 12 feet in the air when a wave of water approaches. No electronics are needed as physics handles the operation.

So if you are ready for to help build for the homeless in the USA first and then around the world contact me at hugh009@7thaven.com Subject: Dome Building Team.

Hugh Simpson

The Countdown Will Begin Soon!

Yes, we are almost ready to begin the countdown for what is being considered the most massive home building project on Planet Earth - 7,000,000 or more cost effective and energy efficient homes in 7 years or less around the world!

If you have not visited our site at 7th Haven go there! We have had over 1,000 people view the cardboard dome model we built at Western Carolina University. Now we will be moving to build most likely the dome you see at the top of the 7th Haven home page. We believe we can build the 24 footer for under $7500 and a 32 footer for under $20,000 and those may be too high!

We will begin building first for the over 500,000 homeless USA war vets and also on several Native American reservations. If you know of how to contact a vet organization please let me know at hugh009@hotmail.com with Subject: "War Vet Contact".

We are going to need teams of ten to do the building of the domes and hopefully we are going to get one of those 10 sleeper RVs donated for our use so that we can say: "Move that bus!" If you have interest in learning how to build please also contact me at hugh009@hotmail.com with Subject: "Want to learn to build".

Stay tuned as now the FUN is just beginning!

Hugh Simpson
Dr. Tim Robinson

We Have Found A Winner!

Remember me telling you in the last post about Rob Lassiter who is also mentioned at the bottom of our 7th Haven site? Well Rob has blown me away!

He is planning on bringing to Macon County a 32 foot diameter dome frame that fits nicely in the back of a pick up truck. That is over 800 square feet of space for the first floor and allows for another 400 square feet for a loft since the height of the dome is just shy of 20 feet.

This is where it is mind blowing to me!

Can you imagine being able to build, cover, insulate, set on a concrete slab, put in five windows and two doors, add electricity and water utlities, a kitchen and a bathroom for...?

$30,000? Not even close! $25,000? Still too high? $20,000? Getting warmer!

How about without labor - under $15,000!

He told me last night that even if you decked this dome out for a shoot for Architectural Digest you would probably not go over $50,000! Of course, that would not include gold plated bathroom fixtures.

Are you as excited as me? NOW we are talking!!

Well if every thing goes as planned we will build this baby before the end of November 2007! The entire structure will go up completely in about 3 days.

We plan to video every step of the construction of the dome that will be available as a DVD before the end of the year.

Rob is more passionate than I am about domes! This man eats, breathes and sleeps domes!

Stay tuned!

Hugh Simpson

We have our land in North Carolina!

Yes, I just worked out an agreement with a new friend who also loves the 7th Haven concept. Bill Crawford is passionate about sustainable living and works very diligently to protect our environment here in the mountains.

I have been visiting here in North Carolina with one of the people who helped build the dome that you see in the video. Kathy Ratcliffe has been a friend for over 20 years and she introduced me to Bill. I knew Bill's daughter, Rebecca, who was our city planner in Franklin for a while. Bill even built a fabulous solar home in the early 80s that I toured today. It is AWESOME! 2900 feet of true passive solar with several solar panels too.

Well Bill got interested in 7th Haven after talking to first Kathy and then me. I told him that someone in Macon County had talked about getting us some land to experiment with different sustainable shelters. He said why not use a piece of land that he had. I went there today and it was perfect. About 2 acres that can be accessed directly off of a main highway. You go about 2 miles and you are there! Furthermore Bill will be able to live in the dome and show it to visitors which works out perfectly. This will become the Center for Social & Sustainable Entrepreneurship.

I am going to Atlanta this Friday to meet with a real estate developer whom I met while working with a client there. He wants me to build a 36 foot cardboard dome home on some property he has, which is part of a land trust and he will also put up the funds for the materials. We could have a new video of this dome in less than a month.

Further more I was contacted today by a person in Greenville, North Carolina, Rob Lassiter, who has built four domes using a very simple procedure that could be easier than our cardboard one. He wants to come to Macon County and build one of his domes.

So if you believe in the Law of Attraction, I will say that recently the Law has been on OVER DRIVE for me!

It is going to get REAL exciting over the next few months so stay tuned!

Hugh Simpson

Now It Is Put Up or Shutup

Yes, now it has come down to putting my reputation on the line!

A well known Atlanta developer that I was introduced to recently by a client also is fascinated by domes. We had a long discussion and today he told my client that he would put up the land in Atlanta and the money to build a 36 foot diameter geodesic cardboard dome!

I am going to put together a team in the next few weeks to begin to build the dome which WHEN successful will get a HUGE amount of media attention. He has even stated that if successful he would want to pursue the idea of building a dome community in the mountains.

WOW! I have waited for this opportunity and believe me I KNOW we will pull it off!

So you will start to see more entries about this project along with those related to building community and co-housing.

I'm pumped!

Stay tune!

Hugh Simpson

Myers-Briggs & Co-housing

No Myers- Briggs is not an example of a co-housing project.

Myers-Briggs is a well known personality test that Chris Hanson recommends and so do I. I can't remember what category I fell into when I took it because it was years ago. You might want to learn more by looking for the book Who Am I by Robert Frager. It will give you a very good overview of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Now that you have considered this personality test, you could begin to look into creating the PURPOSE you want for your community. Here are some of the questions that Chris recommends:

*Have we defined our purpose?

*Have we documented why we want to dedicate a portion of our lives to producing dwellings and relationships?

*Have we considered what the world would lose if our group ceased to exist?

*Is there an "exit" strategy in place if we decide to shut the doors and sell off the land?

*Is the underlying purpose sufficiently enduring to guide the establishment of new visions and goals once the current ones are achieved?

Definitely questions that should make you think!

For instance, what is your purpose? You may think that because you are a group that has come together to live together based on a particular philosophy or principles that you are currently following you have your purpose already set. Think again!

Let me suggest something that I taught in my book in 1999. Cover the room with butcher block paper and assign each potential member of the community a space to begin to either write out or artistically express what he/she thinks is the purpose of the group. You will be very surprised at the diversity of ideas that might show up!

After you have spent some time doing this (say 15 minutes) then have the facilitator look at the different spaces and begin to find the commonalities of the group. For instance if one area is governing by consensus then take a blue marker and circle every person's representation of governing by consensus. Then go through with each area representing each with a different color marker. At the end of this process you will then see what number of people in your group agree on the different areas represented. Again might surprise you with the results!

I will assure you that you will have areas on those spaces that have no consensus and these are the areas you should consider first to make sure that you want to even consider moving ahead to creating community or co-housing.

Next entry we will consider the Vision Statement for the group.

Remember you can contact me at hugh009@hotmail.com with Subject: Co-housing.

Hugh Simpson

Setting Up A Co-housing Meeting

As promised, we are going to be sharing how you go about setting up a co-housing project for your group. As mentioned before, we are NOT in the business of setting up co-housing for people who just decide they want to get together. We are looking for groups that already have a relationship with their members and would like to consider moving to western North Carolina.

First, you should go out and purchase Chris Hanson's The Cohousing Book. This is one of the best step-by-step handbooks out there. I will be referring to this book all through out these blog entries.

You will want to call your group together after they have ALL read The Cohousing Book. You will want to establish a meeting time on a weekly basis where everyone can agree to attend these very important meetings. These will be the meetings where you will be sharing the vision for your community and creating a vision statement. You will be discussing the type of legal structure you will have for the community. We at 7th Haven Development will be glad to set up a meeting with our friend Linda Light in Macon County who has a sterling track record for helping people with their real estate needs. Linda also knows what community living is like as I was member of her household along with several others when she lived in Atlanta.

Chris talks about establishing a ritual for opening all the meetings. He suggest that you set up a chair or table in the middle of the meeting room. You will then take all the material and records and possibly even the checkbook if your group has progressed that far and put it either on top of the chair or table. He says that when they did this ritual it made it seem that the chair or table was a member of the group and he even suggests naming it like Fred, Sally, Tom or name of the community. Then people in your group can gather in a circle around the chair or table and say some positive upbeat words before and also after the meeting.

Next we will discuss how you need to consider having each member of the group take a personality test that Chris has found very helpful.

If you need to contact me please don't hesitate to email me at hugh009@gmail.com with Subject Heading: Co-housing Project.

Hugh Simpson