Engineering:South Royalton dome house
A vacant dome house stands in a forested area of South Royalton, Vermont. The now-abandoned residence was designed and constructed in the 2000s by Jamie Mantzel, a reclusive inventor and social media personality.[1] He constructed a three-story house and several outbuildings there, living with his family off-the-grid for years.
Attributes
The house and its outbuildings were constructed in the wilderness, on a 21.25-acre (8.60 ha) parcel about a mile from Pluck Hill Road in Royalton. The three-story house was built on a rock ledge, with ropes strung to allow access to the entrance.[2] It was built inaccessible to cars, necessitating passing a field, pond, deep forest, and a concrete tunnel.[1]
The house was designed in a dome shape due to the shape's strength, and built using metal pipes encased in translucent white plastic.[2] Its materials were primarily salvaged, donated, or purchased from Craigslist.[3] The first floor had a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and a mud room with storage. The floor is made of concrete, which stays cool. The second floor, made from hand-hewed boards and accessible via a ladder, was a craft area decorated with Mantzel's artwork. The third floor was entirely a trampoline, made up of chain-link fencing, and strong enough to support ten people at a time. The room was used to watch DVDs, using a projector and screen.[2]
The residence was designed to be completely off the grid. It utilized passive solar heating along with a wood stove constructed from a 55-gallon metal drum, which is also used for cooking (the family would cook all their own meals). Electricity was generated from a modified bicycle as well as several solar panels,[2] and was used for a Mac laptop, a 3-D printer, and a few 5-watt lightbulbs.[1]
Other buildings on the property have included a springhouse, also constructed in a dome, and what Mantzel called "the Banana Building", a Quonset hut-style building used for storage and as a workshop. Mantzel also built a lumber mill building a short distance up the hill from his house.[2]
History
Mantzel, originally from Hamilton, Ontario, first visited the U.S. when recruited to run track and field events at a college in the country.[2] He attended Brown University as an engineering student, and switched his major to art after one semester.[3] He graduated in 1999 and soon afterward moved to the Vermont woods, where he spent the last 10 years, as of 2012.[1]
The house was built in about six months' time, while the foundation took an additional month to construct. Mantzel spent his first full winter in the house in 2008-2009,[2] and lived at the house with his partner and their two young children.[1] He would make a modest living of about $5,000 per year at the time through YouTube ads and soliciting donations from YouTube viewers and readers on his website; his YouTube channel has included hundreds of videos featuring his inventions and house.[3][1]
While living at the house, Mantzel designed toys; Wired called him "probably the internet's most popular toymaker".[1] His most significant project was a spider-like robot made of aluminum and steel, 12 feet tall and 18 feet wide.[2] The robot was a prototype for a smaller toy, the "Attacknid", picked up for development by a British company called "Wow! Stuff".[3] The effort, what he called the "Giant Robot Project", went viral, attracting 2 million views in three days.[1]
See also
- Cape Romano Dome House
- R. Buckminster Fuller and Anne Hewlett Dome Home
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Dayal, Geeta. "Deep in the Woods, This Reclusive Toymaker Builds His Robot Army". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. https://www.wired.com/2012/10/worlds-most-wired-toymaker/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Slater, Martha (July 23, 2009). "Living 'Off the Grid' In South Royalton". https://www.ourherald.com/articles/living-off-the-grid-in-south-royalton/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Staples, Daniel. "The Inventor: South Royalton innovator designs giant robot". https://www.timesargus.com/news/the-inventor-south-royalton-innovator-designs-giant-robot/article_25f1a27d-e569-5131-ae4a-9e549c9e39d8.html.
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