Building With Stone.
Mt. Angus Sandstone wall in progress.
Torquay, Victoria.
Building is a big word. People build all sorts of things, material and not. People build megaliths, structures, homes. People build relationships, families, themselves.
Is it possible to build anything without the help of others?
Of course, there is a certain satisfaction in completing a build of any kind, material or personal, but is the practice itself not the goal?
What is possible with the swipe of a finger today could hardly be fathomed fifty years ago, let alone a hundred.
What will be possible in fifty years from now is hardly fathomable today. Our children’s generation will be working in fields not yet invented.
Yet, with all of the changes in building, especially since the industrial revolution, it is interesting to note that building with stone (and here I mean solid stone walling, like in the picture above, not cladding or veneer stone) has remained largely unchanged. Sure, advents of machines like demolition saws and grinders have drastically sped up the construction process, but the structural integrity of a building remains the same as it did when the great pyramids and structures of millennia past were built.
When you choose to build with stone, you choose to build with techniques that have remained true across the world for centuries. The processes of one of humankind’s oldest crafts are yours still to witness and enjoy when building with stone.