Masonry Field Trip

Today, as part of our masonry design class, we went on a field trip to a masonry workshop, where I had the chance to assemble a few rows of an unreinforced masonry wall. I was especially excited for this trip because I have always thought of masonry as a very versatile composite material and construction system. It can look and function so differently depending on its form, structure, and purpose, but it almost always has a certain beauty to it. I had been hoping to get a chance to build something myself one day, though definitely not an entire house yet. I have to admit, I thought it would be much easier than it was. Turns out, I may not be as physically strong as I thought ≥ᴗ≤ Still, despite my limited physical abilities, the experience was exciting and inspiring. It made me think that it would be really cool to learn how to become a mason one day. This kind of craftsmanship feels especially valuable for historic preservation, since historic masonry buildings are almost always unreinforced, while masonry buildings today are typically reinforced. In any case, I’m very grateful to our professor for organizing this trip and to my master mason, who taught me how to lay bricks. He even gave me an exclusive look at his own study of a masonry-arched wall that he’s working on, including the dimensions and calculations he prepared before assembling it. It looked incredibly impressive, and I hope I get to build one someday too.