Sunrise dome - Cal-earth [avi]

Sunrise Dome
Building and Firing a Ceramic Dome

“Every man and woman is a doctor and a builder
to heal and shelter themselves.”
-Rumi

The works and words of architect Nader Khalili

This 33 minute video documents the building and firing of a ceramic dome in the U.S. The Ceramic Houses technology, called “Geltaftan” from the Persian words “Gel” meaning “Earth” and “Taftan” meaning “Firing/Baking/or Weaving”, is the innovation of architect Nader Khalili. Traditional adobe buildings (built with sun-dried clay-brick) are fired like a kiln to fuse the clay-earth into ceramics. This adds the fourth element of fire to the other three of earth, water, and air, to strengthen the adobe structures making them resistant to rain, wind storms, fire, and earthquakes.

The Sunrise Dome design of a single brick shell demonstrates Khalili’s “Rumi Dome” design. Conventional fired brick Rumi Dome models, engineered by P.J.Vittore Ltd. have been constructed and tested for the City of Hesperia, California, Building and Safety Department, in consultation with I.C.B.O. (International Conference of Building Officials) between 1993 and 1996, and successfully passed California required codes.