Abstract: Construction and design of domes have been of great engineering challenge for thousands of years. Great domes are still fascinating structures that reflect power and unity. Domes have been used extensively in long span public structures. The dome structures reflect power and project sense of community. Building domes require experience, time and great effort. Dome like structures can be easily built at relatively lower cost. Pyramid and conical shape roofs are some examples of the dome like structures considered in this study. The pyramids are of square base or rectangular base while the conical shape roofs are of circular base. Domes are very efficient in supporting loads, taking advantage of the strength of the building material in compression. Flat slabs can shift its behavior to dome like behavior by increasing the central rise. This process converts the two dimensional structural element into three dimensional structural element. The slab will shift its behavior from plate element to shell element, depending on the slab thickness and the value of the central rise. The increase in the central rise up to certain values, converts the flexural stresses into compressive stresses. Most of the building materials are stronger in compression compared to tension or flexure which makes the domes and the dome like structures efficient structures. Square and circular slabs are used in this study where the central rise is increased gradually to study the effect of the central rise on the central deflection and the maximum stress. Finite Element Model is developed to study the effect of the slab thickness on the maximum Von Mises stress at a given value of the central rise. The slabs are subjected to uniformly distributed dead loads and live loads.