CHAPTER 8
GLASS DOME
You can build a Minecraft biosphere in a desert with a glass dome—or, even better, with a series of glass domes connected by corridors. Because glass lets sunlight through, your farms will grow just as well inside a dome. If you keep the dome fully lit, you can also be completely protected from mobs. You can build your dome in any biome, but it’s probably most impressive in a desert or rocky environment or underwater.
Building a dome is the same thing as building a half sphere. You place increasingly smaller circles, one or more blocks deep, on top of each other. Follow the steps below to build a sphere that is 28 blocks in diameter. In these steps, I’ve used different colored blocks to help you see where to position the blocks, but you can build all the circles with glass blocks. If you have difficulty keeping track of the positions, you can build each new circle in a different color of block. Then, at the end, you can replace each block with a glass block.
One thing that can help in building circles and spheres is to concentrate on getting just one quarter of the circle right. Once that is done, you can copy the pattern to the other quarters of the circle.
1. Build the first circle.
The first circle has “ends,” or long sides, that are 8 blocks long. Each of the four curves begins and ends a set of 2 blocks connected by 3 single blocks in the center. Because the diameter of the dome is 28 blocks, the total height should be 14 blocks. However, to give some extra height, and to easily fit a door, we are adding an extra bottom circle.
2. Build the second and third circles.
Raise the first circle an additional 2 blocks for a total of 3 blocks of height.
3. Build the fourth circle.
The fourth circle is very similar to the first three, but the long sides are only 6 blocks long, and the first set of blocks of the curve are 3 blocks long.
4. Build the fifth circle.
The fifth circle has ends or sides that are only 4 blocks long.
5. Build the sixth circle.
The sixth circle is the first one that is smaller in width (at the long ends) than the circles beneath. Notice how the long ends are 8 blocks long, and many of the blocks don’t rest on a block beneath them.
6. Build the seventh circle.
The seventh circle has long ends that are 6 blocks long.
7. Build the eighth circle.
The eighth circle is a block smaller or inside the circle beneath, with long ends that are 10 blocks long.
8. Build the ninth circle.
The ninth circle has long ends that are 6 blocks long.
9. Build the tenth circle.
This circle is also smaller than the ninth, with 8-block-long ends.
10. Build the eleventh circle.
The eleventh circle is also smaller than the previous, with 8-block-long ends.
11. Build the twelfth circle.
The twelfth circle is smaller than the previous, again with 8-block-long ends.
12. Build the thirteenth circle.
The thirteenth circle has multiple blocks to create a flatter curve.
13. Build the fourteenth circle.
The fourteenth circle doesn’t rest on any of the blocks of the circle below it.
14. Finish the final circle.
The final circle is filled in. Like the previous circle, it doesn’t rest on any of the blocks below.
15. Complete the dome.
If you have been using differently colored blocks to keep track of your circles, now is the time to replace all of the blocks with glass blocks. Add one or more doors and customize the interior as a house, garden, jungle, or animal pen. This dome below is customized as a jungle retreat and ocelot sanctuary. There are jungle trees, ferns, vines, bushes made of leaf blocks, a path, a bench, and, of course, ocelots!
