No quirk of fate: Love of the unusual leads to dome home

Cath Wild outside her dome home she designed and built at Flaxton in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Picture Lachie Millard

Sunshine Coast artist Cath Wild has designed and built her own quirky home after growing up a series of unusual properties thanks to her architecturally adventurous parents.

Ms Wild spent three years creating an aircrete dome house on her Flaxton property, hand-making about 6000 aircrete bricks to complete the project.

She was the first person in Australia – and possibly the world – to get council approval and engineer sign-off for an aircrete home.

“I’m a sculpture and this is the largest sculpture I’ve ever built – it’s just one you can live in,” she said.

Looking like something out of Star Wars or The Hobbit, the almost 90 sqm home is made up of four interconnected domes and covers 89.9 sqm with a kitchen, sitting room, bathroom and two bedrooms.

The property has been used as an Airbnb and will soon be a family home for relatives of Ms Wild.

Ms Wild said her interest in unusual homes dated back to a childhood of living in unique dwellings.

“My parents converted a grain silo into a house, then we moved into a hexagonal house and then they built tree houses,” she said.

“I grew up with thinking outside of the box.”

The aircrete dome home built in Flaxton by artist Cath Wild. Picture: Supplied

When Ms Wild was hitting her 50s, she decided to build a home but needed one where the process wouldn’t break her.

So, she opted for an aircrete dome home.

“When I did a course on it, it was so easy,” she said.

“I thought ‘I can do this, it’s not going to break my back and it’s affordable’.

“And I’ve always liked round things.”

Aircrete bricks are created by mixing water, cement powder and a water-based foam to create a low-cost building material.

“I liked how light it was, so you could make your own bricks and stack your own walls,” Ms Wild said.

“It’s cheap, the insulation properties are amazing and it’s super strong.”

Inside the dome home built by Sunshine Coast artist Cath Wild. Picture: Supplied

The total build cost Ms Wild about $130,000 and took three years to complete.

While the build was physically strenuous, Ms Wild said the process of getting council approval was also hard.

“The challenge was in finding an engineer willing to put their name to such a building,” she said.

“It took me about 20-odd engineers to find one, and then it was a case of just follow the process to get council approval.”

Ms Wild had help along the way and now she passes on her knowledge to others seeking to build an aircrete home.

“Anyone who has called me up or wanted to look, I’m so there for them,” she said.

“During that build process, you need someone to say you’re going OK.”

Ms Wild also sells the drawings and plans from her build to help others.

“I wanted to make it easier for people to follow in my footsteps and to make it affordable for them to grab,” she said.

“I’ve had about 30 or 40 plans sold and two other dwellings in my area get approval.”

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