Well, this project is remarkable. Hopefully some help will come to assist with your lighting decisions. How great to have such original challenges.

Oh wow. That's fantastic. It depends on what your own taste is, but... (eta, post edited as I looked back at the photos and realised the wiring wouldn't accommodate my first suggestion)... I love wall sconces at human height but I can see that might not be feasible due to the wiring. One thing I would definitely consider though is some sort of subtle soft uplighting that is designed to show off the dome. I look forward to seeing what the experts suggest.

I would love to see ore of you home, particularly when completed. Looks amazing

Painting the outside. Well cleaning before painting.

Using the space even when it's unfinished is pretty lovely. Great light, serene, 26° inside when it's 43° in the Adelaide shade outside. The windscoop and operable skylights and thermal mass of the walls all work well.

Entrance

Personal favourite

It's a small half x 1/4 acre block with a 1900 hovel of a worker's cottage in coastal suburban Adelaide. The dig for the foundations was a bit archaeological. The garden is grapes, almond, plum, mandarin, pomegranate, greens with a chicken coop and beehive to come. The style is whatever we want it to be ... I'm stumped on lighting. It'll emerge

The style is awesome... I do really love it. I wish more people were so experimental / original on suburban blocks.

Hi Susan, we have a few solutions to your lighting issue.

Suggested options depending on your taste are as follows:

Being circular in shape have you considered a large circular diffused LED pendant? Please see attached proposed extrusion titled circular and circular 2. This luminaire can be built to have a radius of up to 3 meters.

Noting that you have cabled already we would suggest a wall mounted adjustable wider beam LED downlight to illuminate the walls creating a comforting feel to the rooms. Please refer to attachment - Wall Mount.

Fixtures proposed would be dimmable to give you control throughout the space.

Colour temperature of luminaires would be around the 3000 degree k (warm white)

For luminaire colours we would suggest a custom colour to suit walls or white.

We hope this helps...

Light Studio Australia
www.lightstudio.net.au

Thanks Light Studio Australia. We'll put that in the mix.

Thanks for the additional photos, great home. The temp differential between inside and outside pretty amazing. You have made you own cave but a lot more stylish. I didn't quite understand what the house is made from the bagged bit. Is it bags filled with mud/clay. Very interesting

I'll put up some more pics to try to explain. But it's best to Google 'superadobe' 'Cal Earth Institute'. The originator of this architecture was an Iranian who migrated to the U.S, He developed a system which is very strong and earthquake resistant. We bought in a base plan from Cal-Earth and had it translated into Australian building specs. Earth. In bags. With barb wire between the courses to stop lateral sheer.

Thank you so much Suzanne, it is so interesting. What a great project. Thanks again for sharing. They are a little like an English cob home.

Superadobe and earthbag is being used all over the world. Community projects, refugee camps, private housing. There are builders in Australia just getting on.

One photo here is of a 40-dome orphanage 8 miles out of Kathmandu. It's standing today!! The next photo is from Haiti where the architecture has been taught to a community so that they can rebuild strong housing in their vernacular. Earth. Bags. Barbed wire. The materials of war to rebuild peace was the original architects vision. The next photo is from a Cal Earth build I believe. The last one is of a builder stone mason from Tenessee working at our place.

So glad orphanage still standing, sadly it will more than likely be over flowing today. What a brilliant project for places like Haiti and other natural disaster prone areas. Also please accept my apology spelling your name incorrectly ..Susanne

What an incredible project! I'd love to see pictures once you're finished.

No worries. I'll get my hundreds of photos sorted and compile a chronological ideas book. It's about time I did!

Pinterest is another fruitful place to search for superadobe and earthbag examples. With the stories coming out of Nepal right now, interest will peak, no doubt.

https://www.facebook.com/earthdomes

is the dome finished off with a sky light? this would provide day and moonlight as well

Love it! So great to see someone else do something different. Re lighting, something to highlight the gorgeous curves above is a must. Love the curvy (top left) suggestion from Light Studio above, but imagine something a bit more "organic" in your space. Love the Moroccan wall sconce suggested also. Pic below is mine (dimmed), which gives up and down light. Probably not much good at 3 metres, but maybe.

Hi suancol, both domes have operable skylights. They look circular from directly below. (See photo) but have an angled square skylight sitting on an angled plinth above. These skylights provide shifting daylight and moonlight, acting like evocative internal sundials. They are part of the cooling system too. On stinking hot days, the windscoop funnels any prevailing wind from the outside, down into the main dome, through a small interior window. (To the right of the door in the photo below) This cools the dome as the same air is then drawn up and out through the skylight.

We also have three double glazed windows in both domes - as many as we could have before the structural integrity and strength of the lancet arches would have been lessened. The geometries are why the 40 domes in one Nepalese orphanage withstood the quake this week. These windows provide plenty of daylight. Sometimes these domes can be very cave like. We wanted to push the limit. Today, we hung the windows! A big day.

We're working with a local young designer to commission the door and work bench. I wouldn't mind the door having a cut away hatch opening, to further enhance light and ventilation. A bit of a quirky gothic touch.

Bristow Architecture, we are toying with the sconce-type you suggest for an outside light in the entrance vault. My love of earthen architectures came from solo backpacking in Morrocco. My favourite place in all the world is Imlil, in the High Atlas Mountains. So we're also toying with a lamps from chained pulleys for the main dome - Moroccan? or would that be too much and detract from the cathedral lift of the space. We have one extra light outlet above the door. We'll reserve that one for one upwards directional light to highlight the lift.

Jdublya, I like your suggestion. It might suit for the smaller, second half-dome. The whole sweep will have a work bench. Morning light through those windows is petalled and sweet. But we do different lighting again. Something like this could work.

Thanks all. This is such fun. So much to play with.

An interesting build. Very suitable for the heat of South Australia. I wonder what you think of my choice of lighting. The website is : http://www.addicted2decorating.com/vintage-ball-jar-wall-mount-lighting-the-blue-cabinet.html

Hi Susanne, I'd be interested to hear what difficulties, if any, did you have with the local council to have your build approved?

An oldie but a goodie

aacoffey hello. This is a long answer. Sorry.

Things that smoothed the way.
1) We bought plans from Cal-Earth, the California based organisation started by the original architect. These were a major outlay. We added, subtracted and revamped the features to suit our small, suburban backyard. Cal Earth have gone through the process. It helps.

2) this is a modest residential build; a bedroom study, not a full house. The idea was always to establish a first Australian precedent.

3) our first architect is trained at Cal-Earth, well versed in the strengths of the geometries and worked with people from Adelaide Sustainable Building Network to translate specifications into Australian codes. It's good to get such people behind you. (Adelaide also has the first council approved Earthship build)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adelaide-Sustainable-Building-Network/219452251408780

4) Our council (Port Adelaide) does
some interesting gutsy stuff anyway. That helped.

Overall, as far as the council is concerned, the process was smooth; with the ground work done it was then no more protracted, expensive not difficult than any other back yard build.

Things that made it harder:-
The engineer who signed off insisted on a concrete slab. These domes are often not on slabs. Many earthbaggers who rather gnaw their hind leg off than use concrete. He theninsisted on us doubling the rebar in the slab after initially okaying a certain amount. With the concrete truck booked we had to sew in double the steel. Eco creds dashed again but perhaps given the shifting 100% sand/silt he was right. He also insisted on a higher percentage of cement in the mix than we had originally signed off on. These structures are built with no cement. We thought we could get away with 3%. He insisted on 30%!! There go the eco creds again. But we were committed at that stage, with a hole, a slab and a first course laid.

All of that went on between the engineer and original architect rather than the council.

archimondo, indeed. You've named a key influence. I have spent hours in The Pantheon watching the pool of light shift gracefully and the rain float in. I'm probably too old to travel much again but I look to that oculus, along with vaulted hostel rooms in Perugia, the earthen architectures of the Kasbah of Amerhidl and visions of Jbel Toubkal through the simple windows in Imlil.