(CS1.5) The Art and Science of Stereotomy – An Organic Holistic Technology

Stereotomy, done manually, is an art and science for drawing, or more precisely, a way of representing volumes in depth. Stereotomy has been used by over a millennium in different countries and by practicing these manual drawings techniques has contributed to the cultivation of unique architectural and cultural heritage. French carpenters call stereotomy ‘L’Art du Trait’, German “Schiftung” and Japanese “Kiku-jutsu”. Each culture using stereotomy manually in a very unique, but similar way, to create and represent their own well defined architectural cultural styles. The development of these 2D drawing techniques gave rise to their own unique cultural identity. Stereotomy is a method for using systematic geometric construction drawings to present architectural details in three dimensions, achieving a kind of “objectification of craftsmanship.”
Due to large societal shifts largely from the industrial revolution, stereotomy as a knowledge sphere became sealed within traditional architectural craftsmanship; nevertheless, it was still passed down without interruption. Apprentice practitioners of practical stereotomy become knowledgeable through hands-on experience of a process which makes the most complex designs very manageable. In truth, the experience of this approach not only provides craftspeople with new skills and enhances those they already possess, but in fact transforms them in a more profound way. They begin not only to do things differently and think differently, but indeed to see differently.