Skip to main content

Stereotomy: Architecture and Mathematics

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of the Mathematics of the Arts and Sciences

Abstract

Stereotomy is the art of building with small structural elements, geometrically refined, which allow the construction of architectural systems with triple value: aesthetic, static, and functional. A sense of constructive rationalization is inherent to the discipline of stereotomy which permits the optimization of structural form through the knowledge of geometry and cutting techniques and to simplify it using advanced technologies and techniques for design and production of building elements. While originally formulated in the sixteenth–seventeenth century, stereotomy is valuable in contemporary architecture, and research about it continues today in various centers around the world. This chapter traces the fundamental aspects of the history of stereotomy and its development to the present day, touching on its geometrical principles and mentioning some important examples.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • D’Amato C (2014) Studiare l’architettura. Un vademecum e un dialogo. Gangemi Editore, Roma

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Amato Guerrieri C, Fallacara G (2006a) Costruire con la pietra oggi. In: D’Amato Guerrieri C (ed) Città di Pietra/Cities of stone. Costruire in pietra portante/Stones of Apulia. To build load-bearing stone. Venezia, Marsilio, Pietre di Puglia, pp 34–35

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Amato Guerrieri C, Fallacara G (2006b) Archetipi costruttivi dell’architettura in pietra. In: D’Amato Guerrieri C (ed) Città di Pietra/Cities of stone. Costruire in pietra portante/Stones of Apulia. To build load-bearing stone. Venezia, Marsilio, Pietre di Puglia, p 39

    Google Scholar 

  • Fallacara G (2007) Verso una progettazione stereotomica. Nozioni di stereotomia, stereotomia digitale e trasformazioni topologiche: ragionamenti intorno alla costruzione della forma/towards a stereotomic design. Notions of stereotomy, digital stereotomy and topological transformations: reasoning about the construction of the form. ARACNE editrice, Roma

    Google Scholar 

  • Fallacara G (2012) Stereotomy. Stone architecture and new research. Presses des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Fallacara G (2014) Stereotomia e rappresentazione del mondo. In: Fallacara G, Minenna V (eds) Stereotomic design. Edizioni Gioffreda, Maglie (Lecce), pp 17–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Fallacara G (2016) Architectural stone elements. Research, design and fabrication. Presses des Ponts, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Fallacara G, Barberio M (2018) Stereotomy 2.0: the rebirth of a discipline that never died. Nexus Netw J Archit Math 20:509–514. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-018-0408-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frézier AF (1980) La théorie et la pratique de la coupe des pierres et des bois, pour la construction des voutes et autres parties des bâtimens civils & militaires, ou Traité de stereotomie à l’usage de l’architecture (1737–1739). Tome second, Planche 53. Jacques LAGET-L.A.M.E, Nogent-le-Roi

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadaleta R (2018) New stereotomic bond for the dome in stone architecture. Nexus Netw J Archit Math 20:707–722. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-018-0379-7

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Gallon J-G (1735) Machines et inventions approuvées par l’Académie Royale des Sciences depuis son établissement jusqu’à present; avec leur Description. Dessinées & publiées du consentement de l’Académie, par M. Gallon. Tome Premier. Voute Plate inventée par M. Abeille, 1699, N°. 50, p 159–160–161, Planche N° 50. Voute Plate inventée par Le Pere Sebastien, de l’Academie Royale des Sciences, 1699, N°. 51, pp 163–164, Planche N° 51. Chez Gabriel Martin, Jean-Baptiste Coignard, Fils, Hippolyte-Louis Guerin, Ruë S. Jacques. Avec Privilege du Roy, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Kepler J (1619) Harmonices Mundi. Liber II, Fig. Aa, between pp 58–59. Lincii Austriae, Sumptibus Godofredi Tampachii Bibl. Francof. Excudebat Ioannes Plancus, Frankfurt

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills D, Warminski M, Greenhills Historical Society (2013) Greenhills. Arcadia Publishing, Charleston

    Google Scholar 

  • Potié P (1996) Philibert de l’Orme. Figures de la pensée constructive. Editions Parenthèses, Marseille

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberta Gadaleta .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Fallacara, G., Gadaleta, R. (2021). Stereotomy: Architecture and Mathematics. In: Sriraman, B. (eds) Handbook of the Mathematics of the Arts and Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57072-3_85

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics