Dome saved, but where will it go?

By John Howell
Posted 5/12/16

What does Whitney Houston have to do with saving the geodesic dome on Airport Road from the wrecking ball?

Johnston businessman Robert Corio believes there is a connection between the two.

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Dome saved, but where will it go?

Posted

What does Whitney Houston have to do with saving the geodesic dome on Airport Road from the wrecking ball?

Johnston businessman Robert Corio believes there is a connection between the two.

On Monday, the Rhode Island Airport Corporation signed an agreement giving Corio rights to remove the dome, which was erected in 1962 and for decades served at the maintenance facility for airport plows and other heavy equipment. It has gone unused since RIAC built an on-airport garage in 2008. Now, under a lease agreement with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the dome will come down and the property will be used to park cars.

Corio, president of Robert Corio Designs, a maker of fine jewelry since 1974, was appalled when he learned the dome was going to be scrapped. Norman Cook, who teaches an architecture course at the Community College of Rhode Island, as well as a class in advanced building technology, thought the structure was of historic significance – one of few still standing in the country – and could be moved. The two of them visited the site on March 15 with contractor Erick Misiak and initiated talks with RIAC.

“I feel pretty excited. We saved the dome,” Corio said Tuesday.

The issues now are whether he’ll be capable of disassembling the dome and where it will end up.

But why is Corio willing to invest so much of his time and an untold amount of money to save scores of aluminum panels?

Corio suspects his infatuation with the dome dates back to the late 1970s and Honolulu, Hawaii. While the precise date escapes his memory and efforts to find it on the Internet proved unsuccessful, Corio clearly remembers buying a ticket to see Sammy Davis Jr. The show was held in a geodesic dome slightly larger than the one at the airport at the Hawaiian Village in Honolulu. It was the first public appearance of Whitney Houston.

“Nobody knew Whitney Houston,” he said.

He said Houston was introduced by Dionne Warwick. He didn’t forget that, nor has he forgotten the dome.

“I guess there’s always been some kind of connection with the dome,” he says. Corio left Hawaii in 1982 and moved to the mainland.

According to the temporary access and structure removal agreement signed Monday, Corio will disassemble the dome, remove it from the site, and reassemble it at a new location for “a public use and/or display.”

Also under the terms, Dome Restoration, LLC, the company Corio has formed, will offer the dome to Rhode Island cities and towns “and other suitable public or not-for-profit entities.”

Corio said he’d get letters out to municipalities soliciting proposals to use the dome. Municipalities would assume the cost of reassembling the dome, he said.

“We’re in the midst of so much work to be done,” Corio said of the tasks ahead of him. “We’ve got a long way to go, but the main thing it’s been saved…hopefully.”

When Corio and Cook hooked up to save the dome, Cook approached a number of organizations suggesting possible use for the structure, including Roger Williams Park Zoo, the New England Institute of Technology, and the Quonset Air Museum. The museum appeared to be a good candidate, as they have been forced to vacate the hangar they occupied in Quonset. Aircraft in the collection have been shrink-wrapped while the organization looks for a home.

Corio and Cook thought they had found a home at Quonset, but Corio said the museum, for whatever reason, appears to have lost interest.

So, where would Corio store the disassembled dome should he not find a home for it reasonably soon?

Corio has a thought, but quips, “I’m probably in for a divorce.”

Corio said the “real work” of disassembling the dome needs to start soon. There was a lift inside the dome Tuesday, which Corio said would be used for the job. He said “riv-nuts,” a combination rivet and nut, were used to connect panels. He’s hopeful they can be loosened, although he notes that wasn’t the case in Hawaii. Built in 1957, that dome was scrapped, according to Corio’s research.

If it all comes together, the airport dome won’t suffer the same fate.

And, who knows, someday it may even host a concert. Guaranteed, Corio would buy a ticket.

Comments

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  • Justanidiot

    This is emblematic of what is wrong with Rhode Island.

    A structure that has sat unused for a decade and serves no useful purpose should be scrapped and the money used to pay for the legal fees created by the dalliances our erected officials.

    The new state song for Rhode Island, "You Take Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot."

    Saturday, May 14, 2016 Report this

  • RISchadenfreude

    Perhaps rebuild the Giant Zit at Rocky Point for public use (events, BBQ's, getting out of inclement weather, etc.) or sell it to build Ford F-150's or canoes; either way, I hope public money doesn't end up being wasted on this boondoggle.

    I believe Mr. Corio needs his "headspace & timing" checked.

    Monday, May 16, 2016 Report this