Virginia Round House Retreat

The couple decided to go with Deltec. They chose a one-story model from Deltec's 360° Collection. Deltec completed the home in 2016. The couple has since fallen in love with home's treehouse-like feel (the homeowner says that, as a child, she always wanted a treehouse). "We love our round house," she adds. "It is cozy and comfortable, and nothing in nature is square or rectangular, so we feel we blend right into our clearing in the woods."

A representative from Mandala Homes, when asked what it's like to live in a round house, said it felt like being "held by the container of the space…. like a hug from a home." They added that "the hallways and the stairwell of this house are curved, so the way I move from one area to another [flows]…. A gently rounded motion is evoked simply from the shape of space, and I notice that my body feels calm and graceful."

On Econation.com, founder Michael Lockhart cites the multiple sustainable advantages of living in a circular home. Circles, he explains, have "the shortest boundary relative to its area," he says. Meaning, circular homes have less wall length and thus require fewer building materials. 

A circular house, then, also costs less to construct than a traditional home. Round houses, he adds, "use 15 to 20% less materials per square meter (or square foot) than a rectangular design." 

The round shape also requires less energy. Circular homes are also more aerodynamic than square or rectangular houses, are less draughty, and thus are more energy efficient. Yurt builder David Raitt takes a more prosaic approach when talking about living in a round house. "Circular living," he says, "provides a balance of looking inward and outward, looking out at the natural environment and surroundings but then coming in again to the self and the hearth."

Circular homes, however, aren't new. Throughout the world, many of the oldest forms of human shelter were round in shape.

What homeowners love most, really, about their round homes are the views the curved window walls bring inside and the sense of being outside that the circular shape creates. As a Mandala homeowner said, "I could never imagine living in a rectangular house again…" With lake views through her multiple windows, and birds and wildlife passing by, "our view is like looking at a living painting."