L’arte della stereotomia

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” The very principle of decomposing dry-stone vaults into small-size elements makes stereotomy one of the areas of choice to analyse the way problems of geometry, statics, construction and aesthetics are articulated. Erudite dry stone architecture is probably one of the first examples of constructive geometry in terms of the relationship between the characteristics of the material used, and its capacity for constructive efficiency. Stereotomy also provides an excellent example to make people understand that, in architecture, there is no “geometry without material”, which is to say that one cannot build without prior drawing nor draw without prior knowledge of the material and how it is to be used. Indeed the drawing of each panel does not only depend on the geometrical shape of the arch-stones, but also on the way each stone face is cut.”

Joël Sakarovitch – Construction History & Experimentation – p 2778 –

L’arte della stereotomia