Bob Chappelle used polystyrene panels, coated with mud and cement, to build the four-domed structure. Our country is wedded to studs, sheetrock, plywood, and plasterboard all you get is a box, declared architect Bob Chappelle during a 2015 tour of his handcrafted earthen home in rural Vermont. Chappelle who was 95 at the time of the interview and has since passed away designed and built much of the structure himself, spending multiple years of his retirement applying layers of polystyrene insulation boards, mud, and cement to complete each of the four domed sections.
Located in northwestern Vermont, this earthen home was designed and built by architect Robert Bob Chappelle, who studied mechanical engineering at MIT and architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he ran his own firm before retiring in 1974.