Tempted to try building with stone? This project will convince you of its merits

If you hear the pitch for building with stone, it really is a no-brainer. The material is solid, consistent, sustainable and abundant. It is not a marketing spiel either; the numbers back it up. Creating architecture through stone construction can result in less than 10% of the carbon emissions of, say, the currently more commonly used steel frame, and less than a third compared to the concrete equivalent.

So why has this not caught on yet? Part of the reason might be misconceptions (that it's a finite resource, or more expensive, or difficult to work with), or red tape (often, the industry is missing appropriate guidelines for its use) or market forces and consumer demands. Architect Amin Taha, principal of Groundwork and the architect behind the Future Observatory's newest project, The Stone Demonstrator – a structure currently on display in West London, is on a mission to dispel the myths linked to building with stone and get the industry on the material's side.

Enter The Stone Demonstrator and explore building with stone

The Stone Demonstrator is a case study – a construction created as a showcase of how stone can be used, efficiently and sustainably, in every aspect of design and building, from foundations and floors, to walls and ceilings. Situated in Empress Place in Earl's Court, the project was created by the Design Museum's research arm focusing on green transition, the Future Observatory, together with the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), London-based architect and stone use pioneer Amin Taha, and specialist engineers Webb Yates and Arup.

'The idea is that people can come and study it and understand what the supply chains need to be, what the trade skills need to be, and that ultimately we're trying to move the construction industry away from steel and concrete because of the high carbon emissions associated with them, and fire clay bricks,' says Taha.

The structure spans three storeys tall and was designed as a sampling of different techniques and block sizes when building with stone. It uses pre-tensioned stone structures (both beams, slabs and columns) to a footprint of 6.5m x 6.5m and is surrounded by a garden that offers seating areas in further stone configurations - highlighting different shapes and sizes of stone bricks in a green setting by landscape designers Lyndon Osborn & Team.

Part of the point, Taha explains, is that it 'is not designed to look radical,' so that visitors - clients, architects or contractors - can see that existing skills and aesthetics can be used and achieved through stone construction as well, only with a fraction of the carbon emissions.

'It is a cost-effective, easy and normal way of constructing things,' stresses engineer Liam Bryant of Webb Yates. 'We have reached a point where it's somehow considered a complex and unusual, and high-risk construction method to build with stone, when it is in fact 1/3 of the process in all aspects,' compared to, say, building with concrete, which is a lot more labour-intensive. On top of this, 'it's also quite a local material, because everywhere you are in the world, you'll have a different stone,' Taha adds.

The results are impressive. 'The Stone Demonstrator is a prototype of an alternative way to build that reduces carbon emissions by approximately 70% compared to a reinforced concrete frame, and 90% compared to a steel frame,' reads the Future Observatory's report. And if the government plans to build 1.5 million homes in the near future are to be followed, then choosing the right material, one which doesn't burden the environment, feels more crucial than ever.

If you want to compare results, the team has numbers to back up its claims. A clay brick facade can emit around 40,000 kg of carbon dioxide; at The Stone Demonstrator, a similar structure produces some 3,000kg of CO2. Justin McGuirk, director of Future Observatory highlighted that 'it’s a building as a research tool, a 1:1 scale demonstrator of an ultra-low-carbon structure for the sector to study. And the accompanying design guide being produced by UCL [led by Professor Wendel Sebastian] is another key step in the adoption of structural stone.'

The Stone Demonstrator is set to stay on its West London site and remain open to the public for a few months at least. Its goal is to provide evidence and a powerful talking point for the building with stone – an often overlooked material, but one which its engineers here, Webb Yates and Arup, argue can be used a lot more widely and with impressive results. The self-supporting structural frame they have designed would be even suited 'for buildings up to 80 storeys tall,' and even in seismic areas, they say. It is hard to remain indifferent in the face of their facts and enthusiasm.

designmuseum.org

futureobservatory.org