Throughout recorded history man has experimented using different designs and materials with the goal of doing more with less. World famous architect, Mies Van Der Rohe said "Less is More", when applying design functionality to a building. No man in recent history has done more to advance this goal than R.Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller.

Bucky Fuller; philosopher, mathematician, engineer, historian, poet and inventor of the geodesic dome, introduced modern architects to a whole new world of comparisons for evaluating our conventional construction technologies. I would not want to put myself in the same league with the aforementioned great ones, but now there is reason to examine a tough newcomer to the stage of comparisons: the pyramid structure. This is a short treatise on the three basic building blocks used in our world of form in architecture.

Virtually all of our present day built environment is in some form of "Post and Beam" construction. The popularity of pre-manufactured trusses gave us the most common feature in today's new homes, a box with a gabled roof and no attic space. This method of building homes produced a simple building with a truss roof structure spanning vertical 2x4 or 2x6 wood stud framed walls. Less is more, you say. But wait, there is a big world of geometry from which to choose when we want to enclose space and call it home.

Although the world took little notice in 1951 when Mr. Fuller first applied for patents on geodesic domes and claimed the throne of "most efficient structure". Up until now, geodesic domes were widely recognized as the most material efficient building system known to man. The only problem since then has been adapting to the "different looking design". The dome home was radically different to what most people wanted in a "traditional looking" and to what might be called a "resalable" home. People are fearful, and rightly so, of investing all their money into something they might have a tough time reselling later on if they need to move somewhere else in our mobile (throw-away) society. A dome was an improvement over the box in many areas of comparison but its unusual appearance has dissuaded a generation of "nostalgic" home buyers away from mass acceptance. Now there enters a truly superior home in the pyramid. With a lot of the traditional "square plan" shapes of the old box shaped homes with their gabled roofs and the advantages of a simple and classic form that is self supporting (like the dome) but with triangular walls that form the roof as well. There is no simpler geometric form to construct than a pyramid.

Adapting the arbelos pyramid shape to the single family  dwelling unit was only a matter of building the framework and applying SIP panels to form the roof. Familiar rafter and hip beam framing technology was the rule until recently with the adaptation of another relatively new SIPs (structural insulated panel) technology.

Pyramid homes require no load bearing interior walls to support the roof. Interior variations for floor plans within the pyramid are almost limitless. Interior partitions can be framed directly into the pyramid shell or may be free standing nonstructural space divisions. Sound and visual privacy, floor plan efficiency and human scale can all be maintained and, in most cases, enhanced in a pyramid home. Unique interior advantages of the pyramid home include: greater freedom of floor plan design; cathedral ceilings without custom design; and unparalleled evenness of light, heat and sound distribution.

In addition to the pyramid home's vast interior variations, the pyramid shell also offers many exciting exterior possibilities. Because of the unique distribution stresses in the pyramid shell, up to 50% of the wall area can be removed. These non-load bearing openings can then be replaced by "A" frame connectors to other pyramids and walls with conventional doors and windows or by extensions such as dormers, greenhouses, garages, carports, sun porches or other conventional structures. Adaptations are again almost limitless to provide a truly customized approach to the basic structural form of the pyramid. Simpler is better.

Unique exterior advantages of the pyramid include: greater integration of the pyramid to many natural environments without custom design, greater structural strength and minimum violation of ground and air space. By using natural colors in roofing, a pyramid home nearly blends away into the surrounding trees of the mature landscaped site.

A pyramid is more than a collection of triangles. The underlying pyramidal symmetry, strength and spaciousness combine to create a feeling of wholeness that is not predicted by assembling the individual triangles that go together to make up an arbelos pyramid. This structure is a very demonstrable example of a 'gestalt happening'. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts", is a clear way of stating the meaning of gestalt and the pyramid home is all that and more.

Although innumerable descriptions of the advantages of living in a pyramid home have been written by pyramid home owners, the subjective, intangible advantages have, in most cases, been mentioned most often. The one outstanding feature inherent to all home-sized pyramid shells is the good feeling you get as you open the door and walk inside. The spacious well lit interior seems much larger than the outer "curbside" appearance. Velux™ Roof Windows bring well controlled light and ventilation to the interior with 37% more efficiency than vertical placed glass of the same area in a traditional home. This adds up to an "effect" of living with the sky as your roof when you want to increase the day lighting effect.

A pyramid represents the least amount of material surface area possible to enclose a given volume of space when building with flat surfaces. The dome is made of many small triangles and literally is a massive amount of edges and changes in direction or angle. Overall it appears to be efficient in form but in the real world of building materials it is a very complex collection of polygonal shapes. The box is much simpler with four vertical walls and a flat roof (five sides in its simplest expression). The pyramid has only four sides built in triangular form and is the most efficient of all. The arbelos pyramid form is an adaptation of this theme.

The number one factor affecting the efficient use of materials and energy in any structure is its SHAPE. Many of today's contemporary homes, with vaulted ceilings are the least efficient homes technically possible. By contrast, a typical 1553+ sq. ft. pyramid home, with two floors within a 20' 4" apex height actually uses almost 40% less material overall, than a typical 1500+ sq.ft. tract home with a 8 ft. ceiling height.

Pyramid home energy savings

The #1 factor effecting heat loss or gain in any structure is its shape,

Not:

• Thickness of insulation or R-Value (which is a poor measure of efficiency)
• Double glazing
• Types of doors
• Type of heating system

Forty percent (40%) of all heat loss or heat gain is attributable to infiltration and exfiltration (the leakage of air through the envelope of the structure). Tighter is better, as long as you have a good management of fresh air coming in and going out of your home for healthy living. A dome home has all those edge connections to deal with in stopping the unwanted leakage of air. Spray foam insulation would solve that problem but for the fact that this type of foam out gases over time, loses its insulation value and creates an even more serious problem for our environment. EPS foam, as is used in SIPs panels, does not out gas but comes in large flat rectangular shapes and is not efficient to cut up and place in the dome's multifaceted forms (material and labor wasting). The SIPs pyramid is the best of both worlds, with no drawbacks.

The lower the total outside surface area, the greater the heating and cooling savings. Some comparisons between a pyramid, a dome, and a box show the efficiency rating as a percentage of exterior surface square footage to the amount of interior floor space. A one to one ratio would be 100%, a 2:1 ratio would be 50% efficient (a higher percent of efficiency is therefore better in this comparison). Take a look at the numbers comparing three approximately same sized geometric forms that have approximately similar footprints on the ground.

35 ft. diameter dome (footprint of 962 sq. ft.)

1661.5 sq. ft total floor area (two floors)

1990 sq. ft. total outside surface area

The ratio of floor area to surface area = 1661.5/1990 = 83.4% efficient

23 ft. x 50 ft. box (footprint of 1161.5 sq. ft.)

1150 sq. ft. total floor area

2337.5 sq. ft. total outside surface area (14.8% more area than a dome)

The ratio of floor area to surface area = 1150/2337.5 = 49.2% efficient

32 ft. x 32 ft. pyramid (footprint of 1024 sq. ft.)

1553 sq. ft. total floor area (first floor & second floor)

1663.3 sq. ft. total outside surface area

The ratio of floor area to surface area = 1553/1663.3 = 93.4% efficient

The conclusion is that a pyramid is almost twice as efficient as a box or a dome when comparing exterior surface area to interior living space. Isn't this the important consideration?

The percentage advantages here, along with the pyramid's perfect heat-flow shape, can save you 75% of your monthly heating and cooling costs. This, in my opinion, is what really matters most in the fast cost escalating world of energy that we live in today.

Because pyramids enclose more space with less material and have high sloped ceilings in all principal areas of the floor plan, they display superior light and sound characteristics. Sloped shapes tend to amplify light while vertical shapes tend to absorb light (Substitute a box shaped lamp shade for a pyramidal shade and note the intensity difference.) Light is beamed up and away from the pyramid shaped lamp shade to spread the light to all corners of the space.

In many cases it is actually brighter inside a pyramid without lights turned on than it is in a box home with the lights on. Acoustical advantages include more even sound distribution, lower volume requirement, and approximately 70% less outside noise infiltration, all due to the pyramid's lower surface area and unique reflective characteristics of the shape.

Ideally, every home is placed on its property for maximum wind and rain protection, natural drainage, optimum sun exposure, and best use of existing land contours. In most cases, however, the relationship between the shape and size of the lot, dominant views, foundations, driveways, retainer walls, walkways, entries, main access roads and utility access limit the maximum use of the natural environment. In addition, local zoning laws, easements and covenants may further restrict use of the lot.

The unique twelve-sidedness and omnidirectional character of the arbelos pyramid make it especially versatile for lot placement. Because arbelos pyramids have four exterior long walls, the main floor will orient four, rather than the traditional two directions (front and rear of a rectangular box shaped home). The upper portion of the pyramid shell, is equally oriented in all directions. The omnidirectional characteristics of the pyramid facilitates ideal placements for solar and view advantage. Simply orient the pyramid with the magnetic compass to face North, South, East, West and put the solar array on the south facing side. Windows are placed to capture the views and prevailing breezes.

With no formal front, back or sides, the pyramid allows environmental stress such as earth movement (earthquakes) and wind (hurricanes) and snow loading to be evenly distributed throughout the structure. This increases the options for pyramid placements on rugged, steep terrains and on lots subject to severe weather conditions. The large flat sloping surfaces, for example will deflect high speed winds and tend to force the pyramid down on the ground, rather than lifting and overturning it as in box shaped structures.

Unique and to the Arbelos Designs pyramid concept is that the foundation is built of ICF systems. Thanks to the development of the ICF (Insulated Concrete Form system), a truly superior foundation is available for residential and light commercial use. It is fully guaranteed by Arbelos Designs for the life of the home. The SIPs-ICF construction as designed for the pyramid home is a state of art blending of very successful engineering that works perfectly with the SIPs pyramid shell.

Another project on our drawing boards, er...screens now, is an inflatable structure that is erected in a day to form the skeleton of the home and is sprayed with light weight concrete to complete the shell. One version is nearly fireproof.

The addition of a loft within the pyramid shell is an attractive and economical way to add more interior space without adding more roof area. Depending on the size of the main floor, the usable area in the loft will differ. The K3-32 series (32' base dimension) may have an optional loft area above the Master Bedroom Suite on the second floor that makes a wonderful observatory, meditation space and reading nook or music space. It is an exclusive and private space accessible only through the Master BR and becomes a secluded sanctuary to the home owners.

Additional space can be added to the pyramid's main floors and/or basements by extending outward from the long wall sections. Solariums, dining coves, rec-rooms, swimming pools, airlock entries and garages and carports have all been successfully extended from pyramid shells.