Design your zome. Cut every strut right.

A zome is a dome built from diamond-shaped panels that spiral up from the ground and meet in a single point at the top. The name was coined in 1968 by Steve Durkee (now Nooruddeen Durkee), joining “zonohedron” and “dome”; Steve Baer then built and popularised zome structures. People build them as garden rooms, studios, greenhouses, play structures and small homes.

Open the calculator and set four numbers (order, shape, scale and rows) while you watch the zome change in 3D. Then press “Build this zome” to see, row by row, the strut length and cut angles, the assembled diamond drawn to scale, optional brace lengths and the angle between rows. Enter the thickness and width of your timber to get raw board lengths, the number of boards and the timber cost at your price per m³.

Order is how many diamonds go around each row, which is also the number of spirals. Shape sets how pointed the diamonds are: a higher number gives a taller, steeper zome, and the calculator tells you the lowest value that still closes into a dome. Scale sets the size, in metres: it is the horizontal width of one diamond in the top row. Rows is how many rows of panels come down from the top. With fewer rows than the order, the bottom row is made of triangles that sit flat on the ground; with as many rows as the order, the shape closes into a full sphere.

Yes. The calculator is free to use, needs no account and runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to us.

Zome Calculator is a design and planning aid, not structural engineering. Displayed figures are rounded, so cut and assemble a test diamond before cutting everything, and check your design with an engineer, a building surveyor or certifier, and your local council before you cut or buy anything.

Pro turns your zome into a full build plan you can take on site: ground-line half diamonds, a knee wall and floor deck, doorway framing, strut drawings marked out from a zero line, buy-length advice and a rip planner, cladding and window layouts, materials and cost at your own prices, and a printable PDF. It is not on sale yet; join the launch list to hear when it is.