Friendship can take you to surprising places. For Cassandra Dalla Riva and Karen Lee, two best friends who post online about their experiences with do-it-yourself, off-grid construction on their shared Instagram profile, a chance meeting on vacation ended in the two creating a truly unique building, nestled away in the lush Hawaiian jungle.
Called “Inn a Volcano,” the fully off-grid luxury property looks just like two miniature volcanos, fully stocked with everything you need to enjoy one of the most unique Airbnb experiences on the Big Island. Built spoke to Dalla Riva and Lee about the story behind the building of the fascinating structure.
Two adventurers unite
Dalla Riva and Lee met on vacation. “We met five years ago on a vacation in Oahu one night and instantly clicked,” Dalla Riva said. “We have been friends since then.”
The two immediately bonded over their shared lust for life. “Dalla Riva and I have all these crazy adventures, like going to pole camp in turkey and CalEarth to learn how to build a hurricane shelter,” Lee said.
Dalla Riva agreed. “We’re all over the place, bringing our wildest ideas to each other and meeting them with support. So when we saw the OMG!Fund contest, I knew I had to reach out to Lee to collaborate to brainstorm ideas together.”
Dalla Riva had moved to Hawaii’s Big Island in 2019, building a tiny house on land that’s currently home to the volcano. Idly exploring the internet one afternoon, she saw a structure that sparked her interest. “We were looking through the OMG category on Airbnb and I saw a dirt-looking dome that somewhat resembled a volcano, so that’s where the idea originated,” she said.
In 2022, Airbnb hosted a contest to give 10 lucky winners $100,000 to bring their most awe-inspiring ideas to life. “We had entered a bunch of ideas together and separately, but I think because the volcano was harmonious with Hawaii’s landscape, the volcano village and the volcano national park, it made it an easy choice for Airbnb to choose this idea,” Lee said.
As Dalla Riva explained in an Instagram caption, “I told my boss I had won $100,000 and he was like ‘Sure you did. It’s probably a scam.’ But once that first $33,000 direct deposit hit, we got to work!”
Learning on the job
Dalla Riva and Lee didn’t have any kind of construction experience—but they had a vision. To successfully execute their plans, the duo went to Hesperia, California, to attend a workshop at the CalEarth Institute, whose mission is instructing students in sustainable and accessible forms of what they call Earth Architecture.
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“When we got back, we also reached out to Mark Hansen, who had built a permitted dome in Hawaii over 10 years ago, via letter,” Dalla Riva said. “He graciously gave us his cindercrete recipe and lessons on how to build in the rainforest,” Lee continued. “There wasn’t anything traditional about him, but his tradition of spreading sandalwood and knowledge of earth bagging gave us huge inspiration in creating the volcano.”
From that point on, it was up to them to leverage their new knowledge as effectively as they could. “I’ve never built anything in my life before the volcano,” Lee explained. “We learned on the job and had to redo things two, three or even four times over,” Dalla Riva said.
“Once the direct deposit hit, we hired an excavator operator to clear the land,” she said. “We had to bring in nearly 300 tons of rock before we hired masons to pour the foundation. Then, we did the first two layers of earthbags ourselves, with the help of friends, before we realized how much more help we would need.”
“Surprisingly, the earth bagging only took us eight weeks compared to the six months of finishing work,” Lee said. There were plenty of setbacks along the way. “We got scammed, we ran out of money and we didn’t finish in time,” Lee said. “At almost every step, it seemed like we made a mistake and had to do things over and over again,” Dalla Riva added. “Doing things for the first time is always the hardest.”
All’s well that ends well
After all their hard work, the duo was able to create a truly memorable structure—one that has captured and improved upon their original vision.
Dalla Riva said her favorite aspects of the finished volcano include “the lava lamps, the bathtub, the moss mirror, the candle niches, the comforter—I could go on.” Lee agreed, adding that the lava floor, rainbow crystals, bean bag, wood accents and the skylights are her favorite things about the dome.
Lee said that for her, the most memorable part of the structure was all the work and hours she and Dalla Riva put in to create it. “I loved all the literal blood, sweat and tears it took within us when earth bagging,” she said. “It felt religious and holy. It was spiritual so that this replicated the history of architecture.”
The volcano is in the top 10% of homes on Airbnb, Lee said, and has been getting lots of love on the internet as well. “We have had a couple Instagram reels go viral,” Dalla Riva said, while Lee added that the public response to the structure has been “mostly good.”
So, what’s next for the duo? “We are going to build another volcano!” they both enthused. “On the next build, I have a specific floor paper in mind in front of the heart-shaped bathtub,” Lee said. “What floor paper?” asked Dalla Riva.
And with that they were off dreaming of another unique and creative structure that will set the internet talking and create one-of-a-kind memories for visitors from all around the world.
