Skip to content
Our dream is
to help you
live yours.
Meet the Domegaia team. We travel the world to light the path for you to make your own paradise a reality.
Meet the Founders
Ella & Joel
Meet the Founders
Joel and Ella are the heart and soul of Domegaia. In some ways, you could even say they are the Dome and the Gaia.
Joel started his business career at the age of 14, achieving his first success at 16. The details of those two in-between years aren’t important, but the next 25 were packed with success across numerous industries, from tech to water purification. He’s a jack of all trades, an entrepreneur who’s equally at home presenting to boards or wiring an off-grid home for solar power.
Ella’s entrepreneurial background in education, e-commerce, commercial cheese making and interior design and team building – along with her passion for sustainable living and homesteading – aligns perfectly with Domegaia’s philosophy. She lives off of making good ideas a reality and putting her creative mind to work in marketing, educational and architectural design for the company.
Meet the people who
make it all possible
Meet the people who make it all possible
Not your typical construction crew or group of instructors, the Domegaia team is an unlikely bunch of passionate, artistic, nomadic and fascinating people. We’re pro-preposterous, fans of the fantastic and into the outrageous. We see the cure in curiosity and are turned on by the offbeat. Our dream is to help you live yours.
Hajjar
The original founder of Domegaia and nephew to famed Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran, Hajjar was an engineer and design/builder for many years before he decided to find – or invent – a better way to build. He realized he was in an industry that was destroying ecosystems – and shackling homeowners to a system that demanded they “spend the best years of their lives working to pay for the roof over their heads.”
Together with Steve Areen, Hajjar pioneered Domegaia’s methods and built Steve’s $11,000 Thailand dome home, igniting worldwide interest in Domegaia’s techniques and tools.
Gabe
Domegaia’s very first employee. Gabe got his start with the company assisting and apprenticing with founder Hajjar in the Domegaia Center for Research and
Development, helping to solidify the staples of our building practices. Since then, his tenacious drive and passion for faster, better building methods led to his rise to Lead
Workshop Instructor, with more than 30 dome build under his belt.
Students love both his friendliness, incredible construction speed and ability to not only teach Domegaia’s
methods, but create a new Domegaia community at every workshop.
When not building, Gabe is likely putting together real estate deals, hiking, singing or playing games.
Ignacio
Raised in California with Chilean heritage, Ignacio – or “Iggy” – is a master builder. With nearly 20 years of building experience in everything from remodels and furniture making to Japanese timber houses and Earthships, Iggy isn’t just an Aircrete and dome-building expert. He knows dome construction inside and out, but also knows how it compares to and intersects with numerous other building styles.
He’s passionate about how adapting our ways of home-building and home-living can effect social and environmental change.
Scott
Globetrotter, Aircrete artist and Domegaia construction expert Scott is unlike anyone you’re likely to meet.
Rarely seen without his bike, Scott is immediately likeable, and has an impressive 10 domes in 10 locales under his belt.
What’s more, there’s a mystique to Scott that’s tricky to see through. Is he secretly a mathematical wizard? Was he once shotgun slinging black market fireworks salesman? Does he have a history as an ice road trucker? If you find out, let us know.
Anica
Like so many in the Domegaia community, Anica’s first exposure to the organization was while scrolling Pinterest in her high school math class. It took a few years, but she
eventually made it to a workshop, where she fell in love not only with the building methods and community – but also her favorite instructor, Gabe. Before long, Anica
wasn’t just attending workshops, but coordinating all the behind-the-scenes details and support.
As Workshop Coordinator, Anica manages immense amounts of unseen – but crucial – parts of Domegaia’s workshops. She loves plants, nature, dancing and music
festivals, and dreams of one day owning a dome apothecary.
Steve
Steve is one big reason why we exist today. If you lived inside of Steve's brain for a day, you would never look at the world the same way again. If Michelangelo was alive, he would be friends with Steve.
Steve in partnership with Hajjar, designed the original dome in Thailand. His dome photographs caused a viral 'aha' moment as the world took notice of how anyone can make a beautiful home with their own two hands.
You can find Steve at a festival, cafe charming people with his beautiful smile or riding into the sunset in his newest invention, a stunning hoop wagon that is sure to cause a stir.
Want to join our team?
We are looking for bold, adventurous, heart warming people who want to help people create their own slice of paradise on the planet.
Do you love working with your hands, teaching and living an unconventional life? Then we are a match made in heaven.
Be part of the Domegaia family.
Opportunities:
Positions we are looking to fill include:
Introduction Night Leaders
Aircrete Masterclass Instructors
Dome Building Instructors
Assistant Instructors
Graphic Designer
Videographer
Musicians, Artists, Chefs and more!