7.27.USA-7-detail-a Highlights Relevant to Sustainable Design:
We can build to last rather than create disposable properties.
Stone construction speaks to more permanence than siding. Material like stone that comes up and out of the earth often has an appealing texture and quality. Some upscale houses have stone façades that are thicker than a veneer, but the applied stone surface is significantly thinner than a load-bearing structural stone wall. The houses look like they have all or partial stone construction. Ironically, many farmers around America and the world have real structural stone houses, but they most likely have a fraction of the annual income of the larger McMansion residents with the fake or nonstructural stone walls.
Builders will make the case that for insulation, the façade stone provides the ability to run stud walls on the inside edge of the stone, and pack the studs with insulation. This is correct, but you could also run stud walls inside a real stone wall. The reality is that the cost of expert masonry craftsman has gone up as the demand has come down. The advantage of a thicker stone wall is that the thermal mass is like a sponge that regulates temperature. By reducing warm and cool temperature peaks from day to night, the walls even the temperature. Thick walls can reduce fuel costs if designed correctly, in conjunction with interior studs and insulation. We did this in the lower level of our house, which is built into the hill, by filling twelve-inch-thick concrete blocks with concrete and then running the studs with insulation on the interior.
7.26.USA-7-Horizontal-with-Figure
The figure outline in this image is for scale to illustrate the size of the fold-out field drawing. The descriptions of certain key elements and insights are included with the accompanying drawings in this section.
Author and illustrator: Charlie Szoradi is an architect, inventor, and the CEO of Independence LED Lighting. He writes about many other topics related to stone construction through his extensive travels around the world.
If you have found this posting online, it is an excerpt from Mr. Szoradi’s book Learn from Looking that served as the inspiring seed content for this drawing share resource. For additional drawings and insights on stone construction and other long lasting materials, we hope that you enjoy exploring LearnfromLooking.com. You can search via general terms such as sustainability as well as narrower terms such as Stone construction and concrete blocks.
