No walls converge in sharp corners. Instead, a dome sprouts from the soft earth. Doors and windows seem glued on as an afterthought. Wrinkles and seams mar a dirty white tarp that replaces the shingles, paint and stucco of a typical house. It sits on a Chugiak parcel like the bulging top of a huge turnip or a gigantic golf ball buried in the dirt.
Some people say it's ugly, even overkill.
Others, prizing its attributes, don't mind the strange shape. They say bombs bounce off the shell. With claims like that, Soldotna's War Bonnet Construction Co. gets several calls a week from prospective buyers in places as far away as Florida and Africa. But owner Ray Ansel is sticking with Alaska. He's built 50 domes here in less than eight years.