Partial Torus of America

Partial torus homes are externally insulated thin-shelled steel re-enforced concrete homes. They look like giant sausages. They are built using monolithic dome technology. They are very energy efficient. With proper doors and windows, PT homes achieve near-absolute protection from natural disasters.

"One thing interesting about the torus shape. From an engineering point of view it doesn't function as a thin shelled structure like a simple dome. The inner curve has to be much thicker and stronger than the outer. I think the New York torus was 12" at the inner base tapering to 6" at the top and 6" down the other side. The engineer did an FEA and looked at it as a series of arches rather than a shell." Robert Bissett

A torus is a surface having genus one, and therefore possessing a single "hole." The usual torus embedded in three-dimensional space is shaped like a donut. From MathWorld

Here is a story about the demolition of a monolithic dome home:

sometimes domes are put where they are later needed to be romoved from. One such was a house 4 miles west of us. It was a 3 story with a cupola. The new owner wanted it gone. (He owned the 7000 acre ranch next to it and bought it so he could tear it down to give his wife an unencumbered view of the lake beyond.) His foreman asked me how to get it down. I told him to get a big track hoe with a concrete breaker. He could then "cut" it into pieces they could haul off. He decided to take the sheet rock off the wood studding and burn it. By the way it had a nine foot hole in the top with a wood cupula above it. So there was a lot of wood inside. Wood studs, joists, etc. He figured the head would destroy the concrete and it would fall down. The fire was intense. The hole in the top acted like a chimney and firebrands flew for at least a half mile. He was in big touble with the neighbors for "trying" to set their places on fire.

Nothing happened to the Monolithic Dome. A few days later I saw the big track hoe being hauled to the site.