Watch the event back on our Instagram Live.
The curators of The New Stone Age exhibition Amin Taha, Steve Webb, and Pierre Bidaud come together to share their experience of working with structural stone and the environmental, economic, and practical virtues of this material. The trio will give a gallery tour of some of their favourite stone projects, including their collaboration on the seminal London building 15 Clerkenwell Close. We are also delighted to be joined by Carl Fredrik Svenstedt who will share the work of his practice on the recently completed Delas Frères Winery in France.
Stone was a key construction material until it fell off the architectural radar in the late 19th Century. Architects such as Louis Sullivan in the United States pioneered the separation of structure and facade and opted for lighter and faster to erect steel structures.
Across the Atlantic, architect Auguste Perret and later Le Corbusier experimented with reinforced concrete superstructures, contributing to the modernist movement of steel, glass and concrete.
Thankfully, other contemporary architects, such a Fernand Poullion challenged these materials as all-encompassing solutions of the future and continued to experiment with stone. After WW2, Fernand Poullion proved that multi-storey housing could be built as fast and cheaply as concrete and steel.
Today, as we work towards cleaner construction techniques, our gaze returns to this ancient material – stone – for its unexpected economic advantages, forgotten structural properties and crucial zero-carbon qualities.
The event will take place at the Building Centre on Store Street and will be shared live on the Building Centre Instagram, for those who cannot travel to attend.
Speakers:
- Amin Taha, Founder of Groupwork Architects
- Pierre Bidaud, Creative Director at The Stonemasonry Company Limited
- Steve Webb, Director at Webb Yates Engineers
- Carl Fredrik Svenstedt, Founder of Carl Fredrik Svenstedt Architect
The Building Centre is dedicated to providing a safe environment to its visitors, therefore a limited number of places are available. For more information on our COVID-19 measures, please read our statement.
This event is part of The New Stone Age exhibition curated by the Building Centre exhibitions team with Amin Taha + Groupwork, Steve Webb, and Pierre Bidaud. Supported by the Built Environment Trust.
We would like to thank our headline sponsors Polycor and The Stonemasonry Company Ltd.
