ARCHITECTURAL ANATOMY
(Living Stones)
'The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts, and although its parts are many, they all form one body.'
Stereotomy is the art and science of cutting three-dimensional solids into particular shapes. Typically this involves materials such as stone or wood, cut and assembled into complex structures. In the example at Baalbek, each stone has been designed to create a unique vector, filling the void of another. These stones were designed and cut with such precision, that not even a sheet of paper could pass between them.
Stereotomy is the art and science of cutting three-dimensional solids into particular shapes. Typically this involves materials such as stone or wood, cut and assembled into complex structures. In the example at Baalbek, each stone has been designed to create a unique vector, filling the void of another. These stones were designed and cut with such precision, that not even a sheet of paper could pass between them.
Baalbek cutaway perspective reconstruction of the Great Alter.
Baalbek is an ancient Phoenician city located in what is now modern-day Lebanon, north of Beirut. It is home to the Baalbek temple complex which includes two of the largest and grandest Roman temple ruins: the Temple of Bacchus and the Temple of Jupiter.
Perhaps the most precious of all known Roman models is the fragment of the elaborate Great Alter of Baalbek. It appears to be one of several stacked sections that could be dismantled to reveal a staircase inside. Its form is schematic but unmistakeable. The two tower-alters opposite the temple of Jupiter at Baalbek are themselves tour de force of stereotomy, each among the most complex organisations of space ever realised in stone.
Perhaps the most precious of all known Roman models is the fragment of the elaborate Great Alter of Baalbek. It appears to be one of several stacked sections that could be dismantled to reveal a staircase inside. Its form is schematic but unmistakeable. The two tower-alters opposite the temple of Jupiter at Baalbek are themselves tour de force of stereotomy, each among the most complex organisations of space ever realised in stone.
Baalbek, A single block from the great alter.
The components at Baalbek are not like most building materials, small modular units are assembled around a void, where the solid and void compete as volumetric equals each interlocking with the other. Joints and seams cease to correspond consistently to edges, angles are incorporated into the solids themselves.
A component block of the alters might comprise dozens of curved and planar surfaces defining both figures and voids and cut to a perfectly conceived analytical plane, their multi-planar faces commingling as snugly as organs in an anatomical model. In the same way, the unearthing of sculptural fragments of previous whole bodies within classical archaeology offer a similar image. The various parts do not make sense when isolated, yet together they each perform a function greater than themselves.
A component block of the alters might comprise dozens of curved and planar surfaces defining both figures and voids and cut to a perfectly conceived analytical plane, their multi-planar faces commingling as snugly as organs in an anatomical model. In the same way, the unearthing of sculptural fragments of previous whole bodies within classical archaeology offer a similar image. The various parts do not make sense when isolated, yet together they each perform a function greater than themselves.
Baalbek, fragmentary stone.
What is remarkable about the buildings at Baalbek, are the structures themselves have been resilient to the most cataclysmic, tectonic movements throughout history. Held in place not by mortar but by their own uniquely cut forms which work together as a composite whole.
