In 1994 a looming divorce encouraged Carole to purchase land for a new home across the Rio Grande from Taos. With her youngest daughter, Iris, still in diapers, Carole began making models for a simple dome. She began construction within the year, hosting a dome workshop that raised the ceiling about 3 courses of adobe block, the rest was up to her. Over the years, what started as a simple concept has expanded into a full house including kitchen, storage, sleeping areas, and outdoor living spaces. As it expands The Dome is massaged by the hands of many contributors. The structure has served as a foundation for testing new ideas and a classroom for educating aspiring builders.

I visited Carole's dome in August of 2006 with the participants of an earthen finishes workshop. The photographs above are all from our non-professional snapshots. Any beauty you find in the pictures is the sole responsibility of the stucture. During our short visit, we all became enamored and quickly absorbed details for our future homes. It just felt so good, so livable. I was particularily impressed by the ongoing process, 14yrs and counting! and Carole is still going strong. In my observation, the key to the success of an extended contruction process is to be able to cook and sleep out of construction zone and make sure the place is enjoyable and showing signs of beauty at every phase.