Off the Grid and Outside the Box

Accessibility and sustainability co-exist in a novel New Mexico home.

By Rob Ingraham

Don and Patricia Miller stand at the entrance of their space-age home near Albuquerque, New Mexico.
(Photos by Margo Geist.)

United Spinal Board member Patricia Miller and her husband Don have combined their commitment to environmental awareness and energy efficiency with her need for wheelchair accessibility in one of the most unusual and livable houses in New Mexico, if not the country.

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in October 1997, Miller retired on a disability from her position as a vice president at the Talbot Agency, an Albuquerque insurance firm, in 2000. With her husband’s skills as a building contractor, they designed and built a 1,250 square foot “monolithic dome” house on their 30-acre property in Cerrillos—a community with no outside power lines, telephone poles, natural gas mains, or cable TV lines.

Inflating the House

A monolithic dome structure starts with a concrete ring foundation, reinforced with steel bars, or “rebar.” Once the foundation is set, an “airform,” is attached to the concrete base. Using fans, the airform is inflated- creating the balloon-like shape of the dome. The airform is both the form for construction of the dome and the outer roof membrane of the shell when it is finished. Polyurethane foam insulation is applied to the interior surface of the airform and rebar is attached to the foam using special embedded hooks. Shotcrete, a special spray mix of concrete, is sprayed onto the interior surface of the polyurethane foam, embedding the rebar, and after three inches of shotcrete is applied, the monolithic dome is a steel reinforced, concrete structure.

Proponents say monolithic domes can withstand the force of a tornado, hurricane or earthquake; they cannot burn, rot, or be eaten by bugs; and they typically save 50% on heating and cooling costs compared to a comparable conventional building.

“I had the good fortune of being able to design this home with my contractor husband and then have it built with no line-fed electricity or phone,” Miller said. “We produce all of our own electricity with solar collectors, wind generation, and deep cycle battery storage. Soon we will have wireless Internet available. Our phone service is cellular. We also grow much of our organic produce and freeze and dry some for later use. For water, we have a well and also use water catchments. We have lived in this home for almost two years and are able to keep it comfortably warm with passive solar and in-floor radiant heat. We have an evaporative cooler but rarely use it; we cool the house at night with outside air and keep the sun out during the day. Our elevation and the thermal mass of concrete walls allow us to do this. We use propane for cooking and clothes drying and as a back-up to the hot water heater.”

Accessibility Features

Miller said they began the project in July of 2003 and they moved in by December of that year. Regarding accessibility, Miller said that all interior and exterior doors are three feet wide and there are no thresholds at interior doors; all pathways around and between furnishings allow for wheelchair passage as well as room in bathrooms and closets to get in and turn around. The concrete floors make wheeling easier and the master bathroom has a double, roll-in shower with handrails and a hand-held shower and shower stool that can be removed if wheelchair showering is preferred. The tub in the guest bathroom also has a hand-held shower and a wide seat end to facilitate access and egress. The pedestal sink allows fairly close use, the toilet is at a “right height,” and the cabinets are at a lower height, with none beneath the sink, and feature pull-out or lift-out bins for easy access.

The patio is the same height as the interior floors and has a three-foot wide doorway. The kitchen features reach- in cabinets with dual doors for ease of access to small appliances. “I had the sink mounted at a lower height, however, which allows me to work without water running up my arms,” Miller says. “Also, the pull-out sprayer, and the front-mounted disposer switch—as well as an apron that covers plumbing and angles back from below the sink and ends above the floor—allows ample space for work, and the dishwasher to the left allows for seated loading and rinsing. Most dishware and pots are in drawers that can be reached from in front of the sink, which makes dish unloading quite convenient. Both inside corners of the kitchen have easy-reach, two-tier carousels and there are two pull-out pantries below the counter that allow access from both sides. Most upper cabinets store plastics and other lightweight items that can be reached with a ‘grabber.’ The spice rack is also a pull-out shelf below the counter. A pull out work surface replaces the top drawer to the right of the sink and is easy to work at while seated. The eating counter is at chair height so I can pull up to it and the dining room table has no end chairs so one end is available for my chair or walker.”

For Miller, the only, albeit minor, downside of her new home is that, with granite counter tops and concrete floors, her glass stemware is “getting quickly depleted. I use mostly plastic glassware.”

Miller and her husband have been married for 19 years and have three grown daughters. She holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and, in addition to United Spinal, she is active with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America. She is also a volunteer water exercise instructor for the National MS Society.

Rob Ingraham is senior editor.