The idea of the therapy dome was hatched one winter's evening in 2016 whilst chatting after dinner with Chrissy and friends at the farm. How to make a permanent wooden walled dome which would withstand large winter rainfall as well as sizzlingly hot summer sun ? From Chrissy's experience as a boat builder came the idea of Plywood and Epoxy resin..... it was a risk as it hadn't been done before (well as far we could make out, as googling images of domes did not offer any images of this idea).
We had the metal frame constructed by Trevor and his son Isaac from tubular steel, beaten flat at the ends and a hole drilled at the flat ends to allow a large nut and bolt to secure the pentagonal and hexagonal star links.
We had to level and prepare the site which was dug and flattened by myself and Trev.
I preferred the idea of no machinery to interfere with the peaceful energy of the area that I had zoned for the healing area on the farm
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Digging and levelling the ground.
(My dogs Bugsy and Raja, who are now both deceased last year looking on). |
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| Trev doing the flattening the earth dance. |
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| We use our own timber to support the newly levelled earth |
Trevor, Chrissy and myself then set about constructing the dome frame, which was a little more complicated then first preempted, due to our assembling system. Of course we learnt from the mistakes.
Then it was time for Chrissy to get to work.....the beginning of quite a long journey. We estimated a few months to construct ! Ok it's taken a tiny bit longer.
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The joists for the start of the wooden insulated floor
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| OSB board used between the joists as the base for the insulation |
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| The rock wall insulation has been added and the pine tongue and grove floor boards are assembled |
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| The pine floor is complete and ready for sanding. |
The next stage was preparing the plywood triangles that would be placed in the metal frame. We had to travel many kilometres north of Porto to source large sheets of plywood that would fit the triangles.
A note of acknowledgement to Chrissy who has lots of time methodically and meticulously developing systems to make this job easier. Often many hours of creative thinking went into the preparation stage, in this case creating a workshop space in our old barn (which is now demolished). I have really appreciated Chrissy's ability to be resourceful in less than perfect conditions.
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| The makeshift workshop, with handmade work bench to accomodate the 3 metre boards |
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| The first few coats of Epoxy resin are added, this was a tricky and sticky process. We used a roller. |
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| The start of assembling the panels |
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| Chrissy had to clamber around the dome... monkey like, to fit the panels with precision. |
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| At this stage the panels are looking really good reflected in the sun |
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The land around has really become overgrown. We are much more meticulous now with clearing the land in lieu of the wildfires
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| A slight curve over the door to allow the rain to run off, and the newly created spaces for the windows - three lower rectangle window and a north facing triangular window. These will be opening to allow for a breeze to ventilate the space. |
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| Our lovely Spanish volunteers sanding and oiling the floor |
One winter goes by and the dome project goes into hibernation. During this time mould starts to inhabit the inner panels, and everything feels a bit demoralising as there are many leaks to deal with.
But Chrissy has the idea of taping the outer seams and then adding more epoxy resin, so eventually we are leak free :) and we can concentrate on starting the interior insulation and panelling.
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| Chrissy and Chrystina, who was very enthusiastic and helpful volunteer are putting the ready made tongue and groove panels into place (another one of Chrissy's ingenious systems). |
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| We used this reflective air bubble insulation which was easy to fit. |
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| LED downlights installed. |
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| With the trim added, it starts to look amazingly good. |
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| The installation of the hand crafted opening chestnut framed window, skilfully made by Chrissy. |
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The rectangular opening chestnut windows are installed, as well as the light switches.
The installation of the newly constructed chestnut door. We sourced the seasoned chestnut from an ancient old woodyard owned by an old man with an interesting selection of dust covered seasoned wood that had the appearance of being there forever.
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Here we have the dome so far. I'm very pleased with the interior, it looks and feels amazing, the acoustics are incredible.... this is all hard to capture with a camera. I'm very excited to be able to use this space for my private therapies, as well as for group meditation, yoga. music and sound healing.
Watch this space for the finishing interior decor.
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I feel very lucky to have had Chrissy's skills and commitment to this project.
To find out more about Chrissy:
Facebook: Christine Alleyn
If you're interested in finding out more about me and the therapies I offer:
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