Stone

Matter and surface

Stone

Ancestralmasonry · stonework · river stone · piedra (Spanish)

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It is rock quarried, cut or gathered from rivers to build foundations, walls, floors and paths.

Solves

What it solves

It withstands ground moisture and wear for centuries. As a plinth it protects earth or timber walls from splashing rain.

Today

Use local stone to reduce transport and save cut stone for where wear demands it. Use it as a plinth and in retaining walls that let water through.

Common mistake

Gluing thin veneers of stone brought from far away onto walls, which come loose and lose the meaning of the material.

Tomorrow

Stone reclaimed from demolitions and gabions filled with stone from the site make it possible to reuse material and retain slopes with little energy. Dry stone walls leave crevices where lizards, insects and small plants take refuge.

Fact The cobbled causeway of Guayabo connected with settlements up to 9 km away.

Where it comes from

  • 1Guayabo de Turrialba Costa Rica, around 1000 BC to 1400 AD
    Stone causeways, foundations and aqueducts recognized as a notable work of pre-Columbian civil engineering.
  • 2Inca Andes, Inca Empire
    Blocks carved and fitted without mortar, with walls leaning inward and trapezoidal openings.
  • 3Adobe house of the Central Valley Costa Rica, 18th and 19th centuries
    Foundations were made of river stone with mud or of calicanto, stone bound with lime and sand.

Masters

  • Peter Zumthor Therme Vals, Vals, Switzerland, 1996
    He stacked layer upon layer of quartzite slabs taken from the same valley so that the baths seem carved into the mountain. He teaches how to build with local stone as the central idea.
  • Diébédo Francis Kéré Lycée Schorge, Koudougou, Burkina Faso, 2016
    He made the walls with local laterite cut into blocks that harden in the air. Their thermal mass, together with wind towers and overhanging roofs, lowers the temperature of the classrooms.
Sources

See also

Also in Matter and surface

Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.