Larvikite used as load bearing elements on Finchley Road.
Photo: Timothy Soar
A closer look at the stone frame.
Photo: Timothy Soar
A common voice for building in stone
For centuries, stone was a mainstream structural material. The Stone Collective argues that, today, structural stone has largely disappeared from mainstream construction due to misinformation, fragmented industry voices, and a lack of coordinated research and modernized approaches. To address this, The Stone Collective is coordinating a program of information, lobbying, innovation, and research, with the ambition to enable large-scale stone projects, from individual buildings to entire cities.
Research, tools and practical guidance
A core focus is building the technical confidence needed to specify stone structurally. The Stone Collective highlights research and development needs such as fire performance for load-bearing masonry, guidance on capabilities and limitations, standardized tables for load-bearing components, and tools such as carbon calculators and repurposing calculators that support early-stage decision making for architects and engineers.
Alongside its research, The Stone Collective publishes and shares knowledge through a growing series of practical books that help the industry understand how stone can be used structurally, at scale, and with lower embodied carbon.
The first publication is the Blue Book, Building in Stone, which makes the case for stone as a commodity (not a luxury) and explores topics including respectful extraction, new structural stone typologies, low-carbon stone brick, and spolia (repurposing masonry).
The second publication is the Yellow Book, launched earlier this year, which reframes stone as a material of the future through specially commissioned essays by industry experts and presents four contemporary case studies, including Coulouvrenière, Saint-Bodon House, Finchley Road, and Social Housing 2104.
