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Real World Build
The Citadel · Patagonia · off-grid · two years
The Citadel
As a kid in Patagonia, I dreamed of a secret family citadel on the far side of this very river.
I learned Spanish and walked the river, talking with locals, until I found a piece of land in the perfect location. Then my wife and I spent two years building it from nothing.
The land was untouched, with no roads, no power, and no buildings, and the only way across is by boat, through rapids. We built a full off-grid home base for family and friends: a shed, four geodesic domes, several septic systems, a bathroom for each dome, a kitchen, offices, a TV room, and a sauna. Everything runs on solar and connects to the world through Starlink.
- Access
- Boat only, through rapids
- Structures
- 4 geodesic domes, shed, kitchen, offices, TV room, sauna
- Water & waste
- Multiple septic systems, a bathroom for every dome
- Power & comms
- Solar, connected over Starlink
- Photo placeholderThe river crossing
- Photo placeholderLand before the build
- Photo placeholderDome frame going up
- Photo placeholderThe four domes
- Photo placeholderSolar array
- Photo placeholderSauna
- Photo placeholderKitchen & common space
Related: I built TerraScale to size solar, water, and septic systems like these.