Interior Design Insights |
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Meet our new Director -- Judy South
by Freda Parker - April 6, 2007
Monolithic has a new director, a director of Interior Design – and she's no other than Judy South, David's wife.
Sharing her decorating expertise
During Monolithic's last two annual conferences, Judy hosted presentations that illustrated and discussed organizational and dome-decorating strategies. More recently, she established a new segment on Monolithic's Bulletin Board called "Dome Dècor." It solicits suggestions, comments and questions from viewers that Judy answers.
In addition, Judy is now busily gathering information and artwork for a series of dome-decorating articles she's writing. The first of these, titled "Curved Dome Walls -- Easy and Fun to Decorate," will soon appear on www.monolithic.com. It talks about a dome-decorating secret that Judy has been using for some time: Optical Illusion.
The start of a decorating bug
Judy got bit by the decorating bug while still in high school. She said, "One day I was just suddenly attacked by this desire to design a round school. I worked at it over a period of months and got it very detailed, with desk placement, flooring, storage areas, windows, etc.” She also did a unique desk design -- never seen before – round desks with multiple students at each.
Her plans included the interior of a round school building, with classrooms arranged about a central atrium -- much like the design arrangement for Emmett High School, the first dome school Monolithic designed and built.
Decorating run-of-the-mill, stick-and-brick homes
In the early 1960s, both David and Judy were involved in real estate development projects in Idaho Falls, Idaho. "That's when David and I did our first house plans," Judy said. "During the initial project, somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 homes were built, but we did not do the floor plans for all of them, although we did do the decorating. We chose the paint, carpeting and flooring for the interiors and sold the houses decorated."
In later projects, Judy contributed to the planning and design of more homes. She selected wall and floor coverings and accessories and helped with the organization of kitchens and offices. She and David also moved into some older homes that they cleaned, fixed, redecorated and sold.
Decorating in the round - Starting with Cliffdome
In 1978, David decided that the time had come for him and his family to build and live in a dome. In Think Round: The Story of David B. South and The Monolithic Dome, David says, "Can you convince others of the comfort, economy and beauty of living in a Monolithic Dome home while you house yourself and your loved ones in a conventional, boxlike structure? I think not."
Result: Cliffdome, a 75' x 28' Monolithic Dome home, with two and a half levels, 8000 square feet of living space and 1500 square feet of attic space, perched atop a cliff of the South Menan Butte, overlooking the Snake River in Menan, Idaho.
Cliffdome had an indoor garden with a pond and a banana tree, a living room with eleven, 6' x 5' windows, a gymnasium the size of a volleyball court, a den, two bathrooms and five bedrooms, each with a vanity, sink and walk-in closet. And Judy planned or helped plan every inch of it!
She also did the looking for and negotiating with subcontractors. "Because I was doing the subcontracting, I got all the storage cabinets I ever wanted," Judy said. "That home has tons of cabinets."
Charca Casa
Nearly 20 years later, Judy and David planned another Monolithic Dome home: Charca Casa in Italy, Texas. They designed their home by the pond so that it can be easily converted into a duplex, simply by installing two doors in the main entry.
Judy said, "We wanted this dome home to be easy to manage and completely safe from the elements, and we wanted to be able to enjoy the scenery surrounding us.
The office
A little over a year ago, Judy persuaded David to let her, Larry Byrne, Monolithic's in-house chief designer and other staff members do some reorganizing and redecorating of our office facility. Judy said, "I really didn't like the dark, ominous-looking sound baffles that were hanging from the office ceiling. They made it look like everyone was working under a dark cloud."
So the ugly baffles got replaced by lighter, brighter and prettier ones, the walls got coats of fresh paint, the electrical wires and cords got hidden and desks got rearranged for a more efficient use of space. "In essence, we lightened and brightened the office," Judy said. "I think everyone should have a clean, efficient, happy place in which to live and work.”
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