After having played with the different shapes offered by the calculators you can go further and either learn how to design it through a 3d design software like Autocad 3d, Archicad, or Sketchup or also talk early with a professional like an architect to start giving him or hear your ideas about the project.
I mean you always need professionals helping to overcome easier the bureaucracy and legal boundaries in every city. But you make use of them the less in order to save some money and also take advantage of the learning process.
So, at this point I can show what I did when I learned to design my first domes:
Firstly, I went to the internet and googled it, yes it’s obvious but you won’t believe how many people just don’t think about it immediately.
I found some interesting websites like:
Daniel Larrauri who is an Uruguayan guy and one of the pioneer’s builders of domes in South America:

Secondly, I found out in 2010 that so few people actually had knowledge about domes in Chile so I went through the internet and once again found on Youtube the next list of videos to see directly on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdZYc55JrmA

With the above list, you can learn from scratch how to design your dome without any maths but using a 3d software like Sketchup.

Here you can find a SKETCHUP FREE VERSION

Here is my own version of an icosahedron:

And here are 2 examples of what I have done after my first failure for our company Oikiadomos. As you can see I was improving a lot through the years.

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About the author: Paola Landaeta

Innovation, managing, coordinating, and educating are my passions. I am available to support innovative and sustainable projects.