Building a second floor almost always necessitates the use of wood framing on the interior of the house, which, of course, makes the home more vulnerable to fire. Heating and Cooling. The energy efficiency of a Monolithic Dome is directly related to the ability of the structure itself to store and release heat or cold. When the interior of the dome is heated or cooled, the concrete will warm up or cool off, and then radiate its temperature back into the dome. So, if there is more than one floor in the dome, the inherent heat-sink is less effective.
Stairways are hard to design around.
They rarely lend themselves to perfect locations within the home. However, with proper planning and designing the space under the stairway can be utilized for storage, shelving, or even a bathroom. Domes with a diameter of 20 feet or larger can accommodate a second floor. The following method is only one way to attach a second floor. Sometimes an engineer will require additional bracing by using a method other than what we suggest.