[Greenbuilding] Building by Intelligent Rearrangement - an idea

[Alan Abrams]

>>>> 
It's a method for building walls from
irregularly-shaped stones where a computer acquires the 3D shape of several
stones using a 3d scanner or digital camera then the computer starts fitting
the stones to each other and to the wall shape, in the virtual world. The
computer outputs instructions to the builder as to the position and
orientation of the stones to be placed in the wall.
<<<<

interesting application of a somewhat familiar concept.  Dana Nau, professor
of artificial intelligence at U of MD gives his grad students a similar task
for their first assignment-to write a program to stow random objects into a
defined container.  I'm also put in mind of the guys from MIT how tried to
write a program, based on Palladio's well published proportions, to create
computer designed villas.  

see:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=8074
 
Although the concept for Malcolm's program may be brilliant-I question its
real world--and aesthetic--value.  Never had much luck with stone walls, but
I've laid flagstone floors before, and the notion of trying to photograph,
sort, and catalog stones on a tight work site seems daunting, compared with
pulling a few flags off the next pallet, chipping off an edge here or there,
etc.  What about matching or contrasting grain, color, texture-or saving a
really unusual stone for a special spot?    

I dislike what I see of modern stone work (usually set with fine grain
mortar mix), with this excruciating effort for a perfect fit-ignoring
texture, grain, and bedding.  It typically comes off looking forced and
hectic.  This, in contrast to an old eastern Pennsylvania house of field
stone set in generous joints of coarse grained mortar.  The fit may be
imperfect, but the stones seem to float in their beds, yielding a sense of
strength and at the same time repose.  

This approach, taken to the extreme, is ubiquitous in the late 19th-early
20th censh retaining wall here in DC--undressed granite stones set in very
thick beds--with little if any attempt to interlock.  Instead, a "rope" or
"grapevine" bead of fine white mortar, applied to the face of coarse grey
mortar, divides the joints, and suggests a tight pattern.

How 'bout Wright's style of alternating courses of thick stones and thin,
with thin projecting from the wall-tried out at Taliesin East, and perfected
at Falling Water-exaggerating this sense of horizontality.

Compare also with Wright's bold approach at Taliesin West-to the same
effect-that is, using available rubble with great efficiency-with stones and
boulders tossed into formwork with puddle mortar, sans Microsoft.

There is one green potential of the proposed program, however, which would
be to reduce the volume of mortar relative to the stones themselves.  Less
Portland, less global warming.  By the same token, working on a graded
mortar mix, with a greater range of coarse and fine particles-instead of the
fine sand of everyday Bricklok-would help to accomplish a similar goal.

Alan Abrams