Italian Workshop on
Shell and Spatial Structures
Stereoplexy
Maurizio Brocato (Ecole Nationale Supérieure D’Architecture Paris-Malaquais, France)
The title of this talk is the ambitious proposal of a neologism, modifying “stereotomy” to suggest that the purpose of our study is not cutting stones but weaving them. Some structures that are presented are non-traditional, because the blocks that compose them are shaped in such a way that they interlock each others, and also, in some cases, because they include a new kind of steel reinforcement. The geometrical design of such systems has required the development of some methods that will shortly be presented. Their structural analysis introduces a new way of thinking stone structures, where blocks, due to their interlocking, withstand flexure. Hence these examples open the way to rewrite stone structures beyond the standard reverse funicular scheme.
Maurizio Brocato
Maurizio Brocato is Professor of Science and Techniques for Architecture at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Malaquais (National Graduate School of Architecture Paris-Malaquais, a school affiliated to PSL University), Professor of Structural Mechanics and Structural Design at École des Ponts ParisTech, Director of GSA – Géométrie Structure Architecture – a research laboratory of ENSA Paris Malaquais and President of DM – Digital Matters – department of the same school. His research activity concerns the interactions between shape and composition of structures, with particular attention to discontinuous and entangled systems.