Cycladic Stonewalls - a simple form of structuralist architecture

(a comment by Ath. Zoulias)

I recently had the opportunity of watching the construction of a stonewall^* by a craftsman from the Cyclades (from Tzia). It was a really exciting experience.

In contrast to pre-fabricated constructions and the mainly two-dimensional "decorative" coatings -- that are designed in some modernized office with the latest computers and highly advanced design software that cut and paste templates which they then try to "brutally" apply on the land, violating its harmonies and balances -- the craftsman from the Cyclades acts in an entirely different way.

He starts with the stones available in the area of the work, which he picks to start a poetic process of weaving the hundreds of diffent forms of stone, each time taking advantage of their geometric, morphological features and their mechanical features of strength.

Acting spontaneously in the 3-dimensional space (that others need complicated, expensive software to conceptualize) and taking advantage of the polymorphy of the stone, in color and morphology, he produces an excellent aesthetic result with enormous mechanical strength in time and through austere weather conditions. In reality, he intervenes - for a particular instant and a certain spot - in the structure of the earth, "shaping" its matter in a new solid form, in perfect harmony with the environment. A new form that will serve certain human needs for a limited amount of time (therefore ephemeral) and then, despite its volume and weight, can easily be taken apart to take a new shape and use, without creating and waste material, which destroyed by some pneumatic drill would end up in a pile of debris. The perfect recycling!