Omni-Spheres run $8,000 to $12,000. Photo by Craig Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Omni-Spheres run $8,000 to $12,000. Photo by Craig Kojima, Star-Bulletin
It's an experiment to see how the concept flies in Hawaii, says entrepreneur Herb Silva. Manufactured of 15 Fiberglas-Lexan composite material panels, the 314-square-foot structure is pinned together like a jigsaw puzzle, and comes completely packed in a 4- by 4- by 8-foot container.
With a couple of friends, and missing the instruction book, Silva put this one together in five hours. It's water-proof, hurricane-proof, fire-resistant and warrantied for 30 years, and costs $8,000. An insulated version costs $12,000. And if you decide to move, disassemble it and take it with you.
Omni-Spheres are widely used on the mainland, particularly in California, as temporary homeless structures. "In Hawaii, the problem isn't so much homelessness as houselessness," Silva said.
So why don't we see these everywhere? They could be used for everything from single-family dwellings to storage sheds to an inexpensive domed roof. Portable classrooms, anyone?
Oahu building codes aren't set up for new technologies such as this, Silva said. He's working on it. In the meantime, people who want to use the Omni-Sphere are limited to shed-storage - if your neighborhood architecture squad allows it - and it's OK on the neighbor islands.