[log in to unmask] wrote:
> I will be doing a radio segment in a few weeks about the worst
> buildings in New York.
>
> Is it possible to describe exactly just why cast stone looks so
> crappy? Take some perfectly good limestone - even one without
> bedding, or shells, or whatever - crumble it back to its original sand
> grains and reconstitute it into the same block and it will look like
> trash, will it not?
>
> So what is so good about the "original" limestone? Or, what is so bad
> about cast stone?
c,
What I consider most important about architecture is feeling it. How it
makes me feel to interact with it. When I stand with an architect who
has written a spec to treat the limestone that we are standing next to
with concrete patching technology and I tell him, "But this is
limestone." And he says, "How do you know?" It is like people who think
writing is easy and dash off bodice rippers but have no sensitivity to
the sound and nuance of individual words.
The problem with cast stone is that it can be fairly monotonous... one
piece when you look closely at it will look like any other piece. In an
industrialized architecture where the desire is replication of shapes to
the exclusion of natural nuance it is relevant and I would think
appropriate. It works because it can be done, and the approach can be
refined. Cast stone can be made to look more like natural stone. But it
is not natural stone and if one acutely feels natural stone then it will
never feel quite like stone. The same goes for terra cotta, another
industrialized masonry material... but cast concrete replications of
terra cotta similarly can be very off from the original... or highly
refined (but seemingly rare). There is also a whole lot to say for the
economy of cast stone vs. that of natural stone, an economy that tends
towards commodification of units produced and tends to erode the
sensitivity of the manufacturer. (I just found out last week that my
friend Alan Barr sold out his cast stone business and moved to New
England. To me, our generation, he was like for two decades the daddy of
cast stone replication of natural stone in NY. And all these other
businesses have popped up w/ a mixer & molds to undercut the cost... but
likewise to reduce the sensitivity to the subtle nuances of the
manufactured material.)
I was recently sent a photo of 1920's era cast stone, a bench on an
estate. What was nice, I felt, about the piece was that the cement
matrix had over time eroded such that the marble aggregate showed
through. The architect was curious how this effect would have been
produced and was not convinced by my sayng that it was likely fabricated
without the aggregate showing and that the aesthetic effect was one of
weathering. When I see this sort of material it makes me feel good. The
fact that I feel good does not equate to anyone else feeling the same.
They then asked me about exposed aggregate concrete to which I went into
a whole series of apoplectic comments mainly on how doing that little
refined technique is something most concrete folks like to say that they
can do but also quite often gets totally mucked. The architect knew
about Early (my mention of esoteric addicts to exposed aggregate) and to
me it was an odd mix of intellectual knowledge -- knowing about Early --
with a lack of feeling for what it is all about to play with concrete.
When the truck shows up you had all damned well be prepared to move and
have a really good idea where you are going to end up. I suspect this
sort of detached thinking/design from the physical process goes into the
equation between cast stone and natural stone, going back to not knowing
where hamburgers come from and as an architect having a contract to
redesign the McDonald's hamburger.
On older buildings prior to an industrialized manufacture technology the
nuance of natural elements in building materials was an element that the
designer/builder could not always hope to escape. I also suspect that
the aesthetic sensibility was not as homogenous as it is currently. As
these structures are not completely gone from our environment we have an
opportunity to feel them. Somewhat off the mark... for this box gutter
job that we are doing we were to replace one wooden bracket. I made one
bracket months ago and set it aside... wondering why I was not inspired
to finish it off. The original bracket that I had as a model was not
very well made, the face is not cut at a true 90 degrees. There are
other odd angles to it. The structural design of the bracket to begin
with was flawed. I am trying to improve on it in a manner that will not
be seen. So finally the weather breaks and we go to the job and when we
take down the original gutter we find that all four of the brackets are
rotted out crap (they do hide an angle iron). So I go to make 3 more
brackets. We are now into replication of units, a semi-industrial
practice. Problem I have is that though we got a band saw I don't really
have a precise shop... I do this stuff in the yard and if it is not a
good weather day it sorta does not happen. And I am not really
particularly good at fine detail carpentry work (we do have resources to
very good shop environments)... so the brackets kinda come out not quite
perfect to each other. We are talking millimeters. I do not actually
have a problem with that because when I look at the original brackets
they all look off to each other, and besides, since I am not charging
the customer for the 3 additional brackets I don't want to drive all
over hell or pay someone with wood-for-brains to make them. I stand in
the yard cursing at myself. But as badly as I might think that I am
doing I also know, from feeling the facade of the house, that the
brackets I am making will feel right when they are finished. It is also
at these times that I stand there saying to myself, "Why the hell did I
say yes?"
It is like that with the difference between natural stone and cast
concrete replications.
][<en
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