Saturday, August 31, 2013

Extended Holiday


The idea of piling stones over each other so they stretch further and further out over a deep cavernous opening, without the use of fasteners or cement or any support from below seems a bit crazy. Each row of stones inches its way over the opening extending upward into the middle of the chamber. It seems like a precarious gamble against the laws of physics and common sense. It's more like a magic trick, one that one shouldn't try at home (or abroad). The concept of the 'cantilever' is a bit of a 'can't believe her' sometimes. But anyway we venture on... out over the abyss, boldly going where no stones have gone before. By the end of next week a dome eight and a half feet in diameter consisting of 5 tons of dry laid stone will hang gracefully, twelve feet in the air over the below-ground circular chamber that we completed just last week.