To my eyes, modern work in expansion joints is always peculiar looking - the joints, although trying to be invisible, always stand out. I realize that could be eliminated if all the joints could be like expansion joints (probably too much caulk) or, alternatively, if the expansion joints could be part of the design, as opposed to something to sweep under the carpet.
This occurred to me as I was considering the case of the 1906 Masonic Temple in Fort Greene, a big cubic thing. For the terra cotta columns the architects, instead of trying to have the fewest and most invisible joints (between the "drums") as possible, made the columns out of 50+ sections - thus the joints are frequent enough to be part of the design, not something to be concealed.
Feel free to use this on your next 40 foot high terra cotta column. ---Christopher
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