A glance at stereotomy: a key step from projective to computational cast

(Incipit) Looking at stereotomy, here referred to stone cutting according to the Greek words στερεός (solid) and τομή (cut), it is clear its propelling role in enhancing applications and researches either in architecture or in geometry and graphics. In relation to architecture, this very special construction process has not only led Renaissance and Baroque buildings to their highest virtuosity, but has also contributed to prepare architects and engineers to the new design approach later developed during the Industrial Revolution. Stereotomy, indeed, promoted closer relationships between statics and aesthetics in architecture, at the point that constructive lines, that is, the contact lines among ashlars where directly exhibited as a decorative apparatus. (...).