Yurt?
I first took notice of the Quonset hut in the one-time Republic of South Vietnam in the late 1960s. We (2nd Civil Affairs Company ) worked with a Catholic charity and their (pastor?) was building a Quonset on a stem wall for a school library. They used brick and mortar made from cement they repulverized when it had hardened in the bag.
Anyways, putting it on a stem wall completely changes the interior space. The wall can be counter height or door height. It really opens things up.
Then I came home and build geodesic domes on stem walls out of plywood.
The WWII competitor to the Quonset hut is the
Dymaxion Deployment Unit based on the Butler grain elevator with compound curve pieces added for strength..
The DDU was 20ft in diameter, so 314sq ft.
The modern product that supercedes the Quonset (technically a barrel vault) is Steelmaster and
their any competitors. Where the Quonset had ribs and sheathing, the newer ones are a single layer of metal bent three different ways: curved/folded plate/corrugations so it's self-supporting. And they come in different sizes.
http://www.steelmasterusa.com/news/s...set-hut-homes/
An alternative to a stem wall would be to put one side on grade to the North and have a passive solar wall on the South.
Another alternative would be a short, wide vault with big windows on both ends.
Or an 8ft wall with 90-120 degree arc for a roof.
And you could always add a trolley top in any case.
edit: While I was gathering support material I found this in the DDU's further reading:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patera_Building. This is what Elon Musk uses for the SpaceX stacking bays.