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Limestone: The Latest Architecture and News

6 Materials That Age Beautifully

09:30 - 26 March, 2018
6 Materials That Age Beautifully, © Rory Gardiner
© Rory Gardiner

Often as architects we neglect how the buildings we design will develop once we hand them over to the elements. We spend so much time understanding how people will use the building that we may forget how it will be used and battered by the weather. It is an inevitable and uncertain process that raises the question of when is a building actually complete; when the final piece of furniture is moved in, when the final roof tile is placed or when it has spent years out in the open letting nature take its course?

Rather than detracting from the building, natural forces can add to the material’s integrity, softening its stark, characterless initial appearance. This continuation of the building process is an important one to consider in order to create a structure that will only grow in beauty over time. To help you achieve an ever-growing building, we have collated six different materials below that age with grace.

This Stone Vault Prototype Creates Almost No Material Waste

09:30 - 26 August, 2017
This Stone Vault Prototype Creates Almost No Material Waste, © Maurizio Barberio
© Maurizio Barberio

Italy-based New Fundamentals Research Group recently designed and built a full-scale prototype of an experimental barrel-vaulted stone structure for SNBR, a French company that specializes in cutting-edge stone construction. The structure is named Hypar Vault in a reference to the geometry of its constituent blocks; it uses two types of prefabricated stone modules—one type is the mirror image of the other—whose designs are based on the hypar (hyperbolic paraboloid), one of the only "doubly-ruled" surfaces in geometry. The use of these configurations allowed the vault to be constructed with almost zero wasted stone.

© Maurizio Barberio © Giuseppe Scaltrito © Maurizio Barberio © Maurizio Barberio + 29

Autodesk's Generative Design Pavilion Plays with Properties and Fabrication Processes in Stone and Fabric

12:00 - 5 February, 2017
Autodesk's Generative Design Pavilion Plays with Properties and Fabrication Processes in Stone and Fabric, Courtesy of Quarra Stone
Courtesy of Quarra Stone

At Autodesk's 2016 conference in Las Vegas, a team from Autodesk's BUILD Space led by principal research engineer Andrew Payne collaborated with manufacturer Quarra Stone, engineers Simpson Gumpertz and Heger, and University of Michigan assistant professor Sean Ahlquist to unveil its new Generative Design Pavilion. The project is an exploration of materiality, with stalagmite stone forms that rise up from geometric floor panels to meet fabric that stretches down from a canopy above. The junction of textile and stone aims to emphasize the distinct behaviors of the two materials.

Courtesy of Quarra Stone Courtesy of Quarra Stone Courtesy of Quarra Stone Courtesy of Quarra Stone + 20

How Rebuilding Britain’s Houses of Parliament Helped Create Clean Air Laws

08:00 - 29 January, 2017
How Rebuilding Britain’s Houses of Parliament Helped Create Clean Air Laws, The British Houses of Parliament. Image © Flickr user megantrace. Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
The British Houses of Parliament. Image © Flickr user megantrace. Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

MIT has published new research revealing how the reconstruction of the British Houses of Parliament paved the way for legislation to tackle air pollution in Victorian London. Through original archival work into the 1840-1870 reconstruction, MIT architectural historian Timothy Hyde has revealed that work on the Parliament building was so hindered by air pollution that the British government ordered an inquiry into the effects of the atmosphere on new buildings.

The British Houses of Parliament. Image © Flickr user megantrace. Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 © Flickr user daveograve. Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0. Image New limestone corroded while the building was still being constructed. Image © Flickr user pahudson. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 Westminster Bridge, 1903. Image © Flickr user nedgusnod2. Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 + 5

NLÉ Architects' “Rock and the Bean” Invites the Public to Leave a Mark on their Lakefront Kiosk

08:00 - 8 October, 2015
NLÉ Architects' “Rock and the Bean” Invites the Public to Leave a Mark on their Lakefront Kiosk, Summer View. Image Courtesy of NLE Architects
Summer View. Image Courtesy of NLE Architects

With its Lakefront Kiosk competition, the Chicago Architecture Biennial is hoping to leave a long-lasting impact and legacy for its city. The ROCK, a submission from NLÉ Architects in collaboration with School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is giving the public the opportunity to shape that legacy. Throughout the course of the event, which opened on October 3rd, eventgoers are invited to Millennium Park to add value to the 1930s limestone rocks that will create the pavilion through carving, painting, performances and other unimagined processes.

Video: Robert A.M. Stern on Designing Background Buildings and The Limestone Jesus

00:00 - 14 November, 2014

"We have lots of silly buildings being built, in my opinion. The buildings should not look like Lady Gaga,” stated Robert A.M. Stern in the latest installment by the Louisiana Channel.

The Barnes Foundation on the Parkway / Tod Williams + Billie Tsien

17:30 - 16 August, 2011
© The Barnes Foundation
© The Barnes Foundation

The last chance to see the Barnes Foundation’s artwork in its original setting has passed. It is now being prepared for the move to its new home in downtown Philadelphia. Architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien designed the new building for the Barnes Foundation with respect for its strong history and as a reflective addition of the foundation’s mission. The building is scheduled for completion in late 2011. More after the break.