Date of Submission
Spring 5-12-2026
Degree Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Architecture
Department
Architecture
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Christopher Welty
Abstract
In a period defined by industrial standardization, automation, and increasing distance from material reality, architecture has become increasingly detached from the physical knowledge of making. Processes once grounded in time, touch, and material consequence are often replaced by speed, abstraction, and systems of production that conceal labor. This thesis begins from that condition and examines stone as a material through which architecture can recover a deeper relationship to time, craft, structure, and responsibility.
Stone resists speed. Its weight, density, and permanence demand precision, patience, and consequence. Each cut, joint, and surface operation requires an understanding of the material’s limits and capacities. Through this resistance, stone becomes a critical medium for rebuilding material literacy. It asks architecture to slow down, to consider how material behaves, how it is shaped, and how its use carries ethical, structural, and cultural implications.
The inquiry begins with stone carving and the human hand as a way to understand the relationship between labor, knowledge, and material response. Carving makes time visible through action. It requires judgment, restraint, and repeated contact with the material. Each removal is irreversible, forcing a direct awareness of consequence. This process establishes the foundation for the thesis, where craft is understood as a way of thinking through material rather than a secondary act of decoration.
As the research develops, the focus expands from the carved surface to the structural behavior of stone itself. Compression becomes a primary means of investigation, allowing the material’s inherent strength to guide questions of form, assembly, and contemporary application. This shift opens the possibility of reintroducing stone into architecture through its physical intelligence, rather than limiting it to finish, cladding, or historical reference. The goal is to explore how stone can remain materially honest while challenging its usual association with heaviness, permanence, and grounded mass.
This investigation also confronts the role of mechanization. The thesis begins with a critique of industrialized production and its separation from craft, yet contemporary stone construction often requires digital modeling, machining, and fabrication accuracy. This tension becomes central to the work. The project seeks a way for mechanized precision and hand-based knowledge to operate in relation to one another, allowing stone to participate in contemporary construction while preserving the labor, care, and material understanding that give it cultural significance.
Included in
Architectural History and Criticism Commons, Architectural Technology Commons, Construction Engineering Commons, Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis Commons