Pyramids could be among the oldest of human construction still standing today, but it’s simple to understand why – just a big heap of stones. What is among the most astonishing still-standing ancient structure? There could be many answers, one among them being the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae, Greece standing strong for over 3200 years! Supposedly commissioned by King Agamemmon its famous for its corbelled masonry dome, the earliest extant example we have.
Domes were the earliest construction techniques humans discovered to cover large areas, the Pantheon dome was built with Roman concrete achieving 140 feet diameter way back 2000 years ago, only to be rivalled by St. Peters in Rome 500 years ago, and our own Gol Gumbaz 400 years ago, both just few more feet in diameter, but built with bricks. Structural yet monumental; strong yet elegant; column free yet safe; simple to see yet beautiful; there is nothing to equal the magnificence of domed roofs.
However, as modern construction methods came to stay, the calculation based and labour-intensive brick domes were relegated to the back seat, only to be employed for specific cases of majesty and grandeur. It survived the onslaught of sloping tiled roofs and flat stone slab roofs, but the advent of steel and concrete technology made people ignore masonry domes as outdated relics of the past.
Occasional failures of badly built domes added to the public apprehension. Despite this downfall in popularity, every visitor to historic cities would have returned home after seeing few domes at least.
While domes faded from mainstream projects, few engineers and architects across the world did not forget them. They re-discovered how to build them with bricks with greater benefits than concrete based systems, major among such figures being architect Hassan Fathy of Egypt who popularised Nubian techniques of making of domes about 80 years ago. Simply said, it did not need any supporting scaffolds, hence faster, easier and cheaper.
Of course, domes did not return to the mainstream right away, so this happening recently due to the awareness of climate change causing modern construction systems. People keen on eco-friendly methods are returning to the roots now, domed roofs being one among them, be it normal hemispherical brick dome, segmental domes with soil cement blocks, Mexican domes, flat domes or domes over varied base geometries.
Among the recent trending is a flat dome method called Rohtak domes, named after the family of masons from Rohtak in Haryana (about 70 kms from Delhi), who are travelling across India building domes if invited. Of course, following their footsteps few other people and organisations have also started building them. These domes need to be explained in detail for their contexts and benefits for popular awareness.
Philosophically we can theorise the hemispherical dome over the room as the sky over the earth, the immediate roof as a micro-cosmic miniature of the macro phenomenon. Imagine a house with a dome and architecture of domes!
(The author is an architect working on eco-friendly designs)
