Design Philosophy
Square Domes International was founded in 1999 based on research
by Dr. Tom Moriarty. Dr. Moriarty is an inventor, educator and structural
designer from USA. His bachelor's degree (cum laude) is from the University
of Wisconsin in Mechanical Design Education. He was awarded an MBA
from Maharishi University of Management, USA and a Ph.D.. in Maharishi's
Vedic Administration from Maharishi European Research University, Holland.
For more than 30 years he has been researching consciousness as a field
of all possibilities under the guidance of His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation Program.
During the 1990’s Dr. Moriarty discovered the fundamental role of
sound at the basis of all structural systems. This importance of
sound is described in the Veda and Vedic Literature, the oldest and most
authentic record of human experience. In Maharishi’s Vedic Science,
Atma, the unbounded Self, vibrates and becomes the sounds of Veda, which
in turn assumes the manifest forms of the universe. These vibrations
or sounds of the Veda are therefore fundamental to all physical creation.
Veda (knowledge) has a three-fold structure of Rishi (knower), Devata
(process of knowing) and Chhandhas (that which is known). The threefold
structure of Veda is the basis of all structures. Physical structures
are fundamentally triangular, a fact pointed out by the great philosopher
and inventor of the geodesic dome, Dr. Buckminster Fuller. Ultimately,
the stability of any structure can be traced to its triangularity.
It can also be shown that the operation of sound within a structure creates
its integrity. It was this understanding that prompted Dr. Moriarty
to develop a practical program to design, analyze and optimize structures,
and led to the development of Square Domes. The proprietary software
used in custom designing Square Domes operates on the same principles used
by Nature in solving actual load distributions through the mechanism of
sound distribution. Therefore, the software is naturally efficient,
yielding quick results at any specified level of accuracy.
An additional area of research applied in the design of Square Domes
concerns the ideal forms of buildings based on Vastu Shastra, the eternal
knowledge of building proportion and orientation. This wisdom is
derived from Sthapatya Veda, the complete knowledge of building in accord
with Natural Law. Vastu Shastra advises that buildings should be
square or rectangular in outline to bring best effects to the owner and
occupants. Round buildings, such as most domes, and odd shaped buildings
do not produce good effects. This can be understood from the influence
various structures have on the dweller – in a round or unusual shaped building
there is always uncertainty about one’s location and orientation, but in
square and rectangular buildings there is a sense of ease and stability.
Orientation is another key concern of Vastu Shastra. Buildings
should have East entrances to produce best effects for the owners and
occupants - that means true due East, not magnetic East. Even the
English word, "orientation" (derived from orient, meaning East) points
to the importance of the Eastern direction. From that direction the
nourishing values of the sun come to the building every morning. North
entrances also bring good effects, but by no means should a building have
a South entrance. In some building systems South entrances are advocated,
but the effect of such systems has been global isolation for those countries
where South entrances predominate. Even in one's own city it may be observed
that buildings having South entrances are often vacant because people don't
like to be in those structures. Square domes are meant to have entrances
from the East, and are suited to having North entrances too.
Square Domes fulfill the need of all time for shelter that is in
tune with the basic human requirement for comfortable housing in harmony
with Nature’s fundamental principle of economy. The omni-triangulated
trusses used in Square Domes provide the most efficient, cost-effective
square and rectangular bases for ideal roofing and flooring systems.