Most people don’t really understand the Paradox Mindset until they see real examples. So I’ll tell you a story about building Dreamdome.

01 / Design and planningThe first big challenge

Not many people know that dome spaces work very differently from square ones. And there was a high risk of making major mistakes, since everything I had built before that was just a geodesic bungalow — cute, but far from efficient.

The local Thai team, on the other hand, had built many properties around the island, but had zero experience with dome construction. The budget was very tight, which limited us even more.

So I applied paradoxical thinking and framed the task like this:

We design the dome by ourselves — but we do it perfectly.

How was that possible?

After some imagining and thinking, I found two solutions:

  • Model the dome in VR first, so we could be sure there were no stupid planning mistakes. It cost me just $700, but saved the whole project. Seeing the space in full 3D revealed many nuances and potential issues. In fact, it led us to redesign the dome with three floors instead of two.
  • Consult the most experienced dome builder in Russia — Alexey Mitsko. This was pure gold. With just two Skype calls, I gained more practical knowledge about dome technologies than I had gathered from a year of online research. He compared eight different dome-building technologies and helped us choose the one that fit our situation best.
The multi-level interior of Dreamdome with a spiral staircase
The finished three-level interior

02 / TechnologyPerfect panels without our own production

Since we decided to build using prefab panels, we first needed a way to produce them. We could have rented a space and equipment, or worked with local factories — but that looked overly complex and far too much effort for just one house.

Again, I formed a contradiction:

We don’t produce the wall panels ourselves — but we get them perfect.

That led us to another obvious solution: find an existing producer and buy from them. It turned out there was only one American company in the world doing this at the time.

Surprisingly, due to material efficiency and time savings, it was economically reasonable to ship the entire dome kit from the USA to Thailand. So that’s exactly what we did.

The bright interior of Dreamdome with geometric windows
Geometry created from the prefabricated shell

03 / ConstructionInstructions were not enough

Even after we received the kit and detailed instructions, when we started assembling the panels, something felt off. We weren’t fully confident about certain details and were afraid small mistakes could lead to bigger mismatches later.

Paradox mindset again:

Our understanding, even with instructions, is not enough — but we build it exactly the way it is supposed to be built.

The solution was simple: bring in someone who had already worked with this technology. That’s how we found Kevin, a former employee who had built more than ten domes himself.

We flew him to the site for on-site consulting, and everything immediately fell into place. The work went smoothly, with no delays or failures, and Dreamdome turned out great.

The visible result is the dome. The real project was a chain of contradictions that had to be solved before they became expensive mistakes.

Of course, there were many more challenges along the way, but I don’t want to overload you. I just wanted to give a few clear examples of how dramatically a Paradoxical Mindset can increase problem-solving ability.

You can apply this approach to your business or life challenges right now — especially when you work with real examples.

Dreamdome is also available for sale or lease. Message me if you are interested.