Stereotomy and Architectural Design at Foster + Partners

Abstract

For centuries, stereotomy has been the instrument for building arches, staircases and complex vaulted systems using stone as load-bearing material. Its constructive principles, codified in the classical treatises of few historical figures as Alonso de Vandelvira and Philibert de L’Orme, have found new applications in contemporary architectures, although the carrier is no longer stone, but pre-cast or fabricated components, and the technologies to materialise the whole process have profoundly changed. To demonstrate the great potential that the stereotomic process retains even in a deeply transformed context, the analogies between the stereotomy principles and some of the projects designed by Foster + Partners are outlined. The challenges faced by the builders of the Gothic cathedrals and the great constructions of the Renaissance remain unchanged.