Dr. Stephen J. Ramos of the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design has published a journal article discussing Dome Technology projects and how domes might be the ideal construction method for port cities generally.

“Wood pellets, a type of biomass, present warehousing challenges due to combustion danger. The industrial response to this risk has generated new storage forms for port regions,” Ramos writes in the study published in Urban Planning. “Dome structures can help ports plan for the complex challenges of cargo material behaviors and increasing extreme weather events.”

But Ramos promotes the dome concept beyond safe biomass storage. Ports have long been centers of activity, and that hasn’t changed even as stored bulk-storage quantities have increased. Identified as “seam spaces,” these areas comprise a combination of industry and social activity. Domes could be an ideal choice for these locations by providing safe bulk storage plus architectural applications like civic centers, emergency shelters, churches, and more.

“The dome construction resilience helps to envision how it might be deployed in the design of dome districts, within port seam spaces, that could include programs of bulk warehousing, community shelters for extreme weather events, and even more quotidian uses such as museums and gymnasiums,” Ramos writes.

Read Ramos’s full article here.