Dome House / Soleri Mills
The Dome House, 1949, in Cave Creek Arizona, by Paolo Soleri and Mark Mills. Both were former apprentices under Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West. The house was commissioned by Lenora Woods, who would soon become Paolo's mother-in-law.
I've been near the house in the past. However, this time I wasn't just snooping. Docomomo hosted a tour, which was led by Director of Paolo Soleri Studios, Roger Tomalty.
Source: Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute
The ribs of the dome were constructed with war surplus materials.
Source: Paolo Soleri at Dome House
Source: Soleri: Architecture as Human Ecology by Antonietta Iolanda Lima
The initial design had an opaque section that was manually rotated for shade.At some point the rotating mechanism broke, so the top has been modified to shield the sun. The cooler was added and now doesn't function. It would be great to see it removed.
Source: Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute
This was worth the drive to Arizona.
The floor is intarsio, which is not paint, but colored cement poured into grooves that were carved out of the concrete slab floor.
Source: Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute
The shower. I had never heard of this before, but that's an early Dick Seeger panel.
This panel was added at least ten years after construction.
The Seegers visiting the Dome House in the late 1950s.
Source: Arizona Designer-Craftsmen: In the Beginning, by Dave Hampton