A post-tensioned stone frame by engineering firm Webb Yates is among the exhibits in the architecture rooms of this year's Royal Academy of Arts summer exhibition, curated by London studio Assemble.
Webb Yates worked with The Stonemasonry Company to create a frame made from cored cylinders of waste limestone joined together with tensioned steel rods, aiming to showcase stone as a modern, low-carbon structural material.
It is one of the many pieces displayed at the annual Royal Academy of Arts summer exhibition, which is open until 18 August, and is part of the architecture section curated by Assemble around the theme "spaces for making".
A post-tensioned stone frame is on display at the Royal Academy summer exhibition
"Webb Yates and The Stonemasonry Company have been advocating a return to stone structure to reduce carbon and pollution," Webb Yates cofounder Steve Webb told Dezeen. "Many people construe this as a suggestion to return to the massive stone structures of the past but we want to reimagine how stone can be used by modern engineers and stone masons."
"The pylon demonstrates how post-tensioning slim stone elements can achieve strength and rigidity at a fraction of the carbon cost," he continued.
Webb Yates Engineers used steel rods to connect cored limestone cylinders
Displayed in the octagonal central hall at The Royal Academy of Arts, the stone structure is imagined as an alternative to building with steel, Webb explaine...