Do geodesic domes make good homes?
Answer:
My parents had one as a vacation house--leaks were a real issue, and figuring out how to place furniture was another one. Curved walls, right? They put an island in the middle with the kitchen stuff, but had to get a lo-boy shorty type of fridge to put against the wall. Buckminster Fuller was a guaran-dam-teed genius, but everyday life wasn't his brief.
Depending on your climate, we had some @ a camp and they had lots of leaking problems, too many joints for a roof.
I would imagine if it's built well, it could stand up to higher winds that a regular four sided house. It could be useful in my neck of the woods. I live in a hurricane prone area.
Had a friend that had one. The joints where the roof panels joined together required regular maintenance to keep them from leaking.
They are great in terms of strength and efficiency of material and space use. Not very practical for floor space use.
I stayed for a week with a friend who lived in one. The acoustics were not so hot. If you had the radio volume loud in the kitchen it would make the bedroom wall a sounding board.
You have got some good answers about leaks already.
Conventional houses are built in a conventional way for a good reason. They work. A sloping roof sheds snow if it has to and prevents accumulation of rain in puddles which can leak inside. Curved walls waste space which is why you do not see them much in conventional homes.
Many varieties of conventional housing do not make a lot of sense specially if the "Californian bungalow" is built in Norway or the Swiss chalet is built in northern Australia but the basic idea of straight walls under a sloping roof is sound.
Check out Amory Lovins' Rocky Mountains Institute site for a lot of good information on environmentally sound housing.
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