The dome may have a new home – at least that’s what Norman Cook thinks.

Cook was one of those who couldn’t understand why the geodesic dome on Airport Road built in 1962 couldn’t be saved from the wrecking crane to make room for a regional Enterprise Rent-A-Car facility. But Cook did more than lament the possible loss of an Ocean State icon. He set out to save it.

On Tuesday, he disclosed it is not only possible to disassemble the dome, but he believes it may have a future as the home for the Quonset Air Museum. After being evicted from a deteriorating hangar, museum contents have been packed into metal containers and the airplanes towed to a tie-down area and shrink-wrapped.

“This moves it from airport to airport,” Cook said with a gleeful sense of irony. The irony is the dome that was once used to shelter Rhode Island Airport Corporation maintenance trucks would house historic fighter planes, which he observed could be suspended from inside the structure.

“This is a part of the history of the airport,” he said.

Cook, who teaches an architecture course as the Community College of Rhode Island as well as a class in advanced building technology, has designed and built many things. He is currently overseeing the design and construction of a dome for Quinnipiac Law School.

Cook knocked on many doors before finally talking to John Kane and Barbara Fahey at the air museum. He thought the dome could be an ideal covering for an athletic field. He talked with the New England Institute of Technology. That wasn’t the only institution of higher learning he contacted. He thought it might be a good enclosure for a riding ring, but that didn’t work out. Roger Williams Zoo was one of his stops, where he suggested the dome could become a great covering for elephants. He thought it would be ideal as a place for festivals and concerts in South County. He was especially keen on having it used as an enclosure for concerts, as he said, acoustics inside the dome are exceptional.

He said many people liked his ideas, but they just couldn’t seem to make it work.

“They’re so bogged down in bureaucracy that they can’t think,” he said.

RIAC, owner of the dome, also faces red tape if this is going to happen.

Peter Frazier, RIAC interim president, is excited by the prospect of saving the structure, but he points out while the corporation has the authority to tear the dome down, giving it away could be problematic.

“State procurement is a different set of rules,” he said.

He doesn’t see problems if the dome goes to a non-profit and is not used for commercial purposes. He also thought it important that the dome have a public use.

Frazier said there have been inquiries about possible uses of the dome since the story broke that it would be scrapped. Speaking of Cook and Robert Corio, the president of the Robert Corio Designs of Johnston, who have teamed up, Frazier said, “They’re the ones who seem to have a viable plan.”

The clock is ticking.

On Monday, the City Council cleared the way for the Enterprise development with abandonment of Hallene Road, which will enable the combination of property owned by Marley Industries with airport land. Enterprise would lease the two parcels, making an investment of about $6 million for its car facility. Construction would start later this spring.

“We have a window to try to make it work,” Frazier said.

Cook’s plan is to disassemble the dome, which he estimates could be accomplished in a week, truck it off the site, and store it until the air museum has a place to erect it. As old as it is, Cook said the anodized aluminum dome is in “beautiful condition” and has many more years of life. He said it was assembled with a combination nut/rivet fastener that can be loosened without damaging the aluminum panels.

“The thing is intact, absolutely intact,” Cook said.

He estimated the cost of disassembling and trucking the dome offsite at $18,000. It’s a cost he would bear “as a charitable act.”