After centuries as the region’s primary building material, stone has latterly been relegated mainly to a cladding role. Stonematters stands against this trend, restoring its structural value to present a modern stone construction method as part of a local and global architectural language. A prototype for one of 12 interconnected self-supporting vaults that will house the el-Atlal artists’ and writers’ residency, it was created through a collaborative research process that combined novel computational simulation and fabrication techniques with local artisans’ skills and know-how. Each of the 300 stones used to construct it features four inclined surfaces that slot together. Geometrical parameters including the overall shape, density of the pieces and contact angle can be tweaked to ensure optimal performance.

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture