Dome

I don't know about housing, I am just throwing this out there... We built our greenhouse using a soccer ball for a blueprint and plywood for the hubs. The hubs are the tricky and expensive part usually, our method allowed us to make allowances for mistakes, and it is still standing after a central Idaho winter - a lot more snow than you'll get in Texas and some serious wind - no tornadoes. You win that one... lol! At any rate, we put a dome frame together in a weekend for under $500 in parts. Worth considering for homes, I would think.

Claire can you share some pictures of how it is constructed?

This is the best I have - at 0:53 you get a pretty good look at the hubs. A second set of carriage bolts at each connection would really tighten things up - if we use this to build our house, we plan on doubling those.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSyar-ucNEM

Cool Thanks, I made a copy of this thread and put it in the Green Building thread also.