Garden domes & outdoor igloos
The garden dome that is still usable in January.
A rigid polycarbonate garden igloo for the end of the lawn — 2.1 to 3.5 m, from US$1,094 EX-WORKS, delivered as a labelled kit you assemble yourself.
What a garden pod is, and what it is not.
A Celenest garden dome is a solid polycarbonate shell on an aluminium base ring. It is the same product people search for as a garden igloo, backyard igloo, patio igloo or simply a dome for garden use.
It holds its own shape with no blower and no inner frame. Four sizes cover 3.3 m² to 9.6 m², from US$1,094 EX-WORKS, and two people can put the smaller garden domes up in an afternoon.
The room the family ends up using most.
- Breakfast without the wind. Coffee outside in March, with the door open when it is warm enough and closed when it is not.
- A dining room for bad weather. Rain on a solid shell is a sound, not a cancelled evening. Nothing has to be carried back indoors.
- Winter for the plants. Light on all sides keeps tender plants alive through the cold months without a separate greenhouse.
- Somewhere to work. Far enough from the house to be quiet, close enough to walk to in slippers.
- The children’s place. Visible from the kitchen window, dry, and more interesting than any room indoors.
- A clear ceiling at night. With the lights off, the whole sky is above the table.
Start from what goes inside it.
Home projects almost always land in the compact range. Choose by the furniture you already own, not by the diameter that sounds impressive.
Round 2.1 m · From US$1,094
3.3 m², seats 2, 120 kg. Two chairs and a small table. The smallest footprint that still feels like a room, and the easiest to place on an existing patio.
Round 2.5 m · From US$1,300
4.9 m², seats 2–4, 130 kg. A bistro table with room to walk around it, or two loungers side by side.
Round 3.0 m · From US$1,445
7.1 m², seats 4–6, 160 kg. A full dining table for the family. This is the most common home size.
Round 3.5 m High · From US$1,692
9.6 m², seats 6–8, 180 kg. Extra headroom, space for a sofa and a table together, and the size most people choose when the pod replaces a conservatory.
Prices are fully configured — shell and roof, aluminium door and window, base profile, LED light strip and curtains — quoted EX-WORKS Suzhou and updated 26 July 2026. They move with the exchange rate. Shell-only pricing is lower. Sea freight, duties, foundation and local installation are quoted separately: send your destination port and we will include a landed estimate with the quotation.
The garden questions, answered straight.
Will my neighbours see straight in?
At night, yes, unless you plan for it — interior light makes any transparent room visible. Curtains are included, and you can add zoned privacy curtains or a solar-control light grey shell. Position the door away from the boundary and put the lighting low rather than in the crown.
Does it get too hot in summer?
A closed transparent room collects solar heat. Specify the remote-controlled top lift, opening windows and shade before you consider cooling equipment. In strong sun the solar-control light grey shell blocks 99.9% of UV and over 80% of infrared while still passing 70% of the light.
Do insects get in?
Only through what you open. Insect screens are available for the door and the opening windows, and the shell itself has no fabric seams for anything to work through.
What does the ground need to be?
Flat, level and able to carry the weight — an existing patio, a timber deck or a poured slab all work. We give you the base dimensions; a local professional confirms the platform, anchors and drainage for your soil and site.
Do I need planning permission?
It varies by country and often by municipality, and it can depend on height, footprint and distance from the boundary. Check before you order, not after the crates arrive. We supply dimensions and available documents for your application.
Can two people put it up?
It is a bolt-together kit with labelled panels and no site fabrication. Compact home models are within reach of a prepared household with ordinary hand tools; the crew size and assembly time for your exact model are stated in your written quotation. Step-by-step installation videos are provided to every buyer.
Most “garden igloos” online are film, not sheet.
The same photograph sells three different products. An inflatable PVC bubble that needs a blower running day and night, a thin PC film stretched on a frame, and a solid polycarbonate shell. They cost different amounts because they are different things. They last for different lengths of time — an outdoor PVC bubble is typically finished in about three years, while a solid polycarbonate shell is built for 15 years or more with normal maintenance.
A garden dome is not a garden office pod.
In the UK, “garden pod” and “garden room” usually mean an insulated timber office — opaque walls, a concrete base, a builder on site, and £15,000 to £25,000. That is a different product solving a different problem.
A garden dome pod is transparent. You buy it for the sky, not for the wall sockets. It bolts together without a contractor, and at US$1,692 for 9.6 m² it costs about a tenth of a timber garden office.
If you need a soundproofed room with three walls of shelving, buy the timber office. If you want to work, read or sleep under an open sky and still be warm in January, that is what this is.
The garden office pod that is not a shed.
A garden office pod usually means a timber box with one window. A transparent shell changes what the room is for: daylight on every side, a view instead of a wall, and about 91% light transmission. So you are not working under a lamp at three in the afternoon. Rated from −40 °C to 120 °C, it is a working room in January, not a summer studio.
- Power and data. Plan the route before the platform goes down — a backyard dome is easiest to wire while the base is still open.
- Screen glare. Face the desk away from the low sun, or specify the solar-control light grey shell (99.9% UV and over 80% infrared blocked).
- Calls and quiet. Solid polycarbonate is 5–9 dB better than glass of the same thickness.
- Patio or lawn. A patio igloo sits on the slab you already have; an outdoor pod on grass needs a level, load-appropriate base.
Ordering is four steps and takes about a business day to price — see how to order.
Tell us the garden, not just the size.
Send the available area, what you want to use it for and your nearest port. You get a configuration, a price and a landed estimate — usually within one business day.