AN EVALUATION OF BINDERS AND AGGREGATES USED IN ARTIFICIAL STONE ARCHITECTURAL CLADDINGS AND ELEMENTS IN LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

Abstract

The material defined as 'artificial stone', frequently used on the facades of the late 19th and early 20th century buildings, is a mixture of binder, aggregate and other additives and may either be applied directly as a coating on wall surfaces or precast in moulds and then attached to facades as decorative architectural elements (1). One of the effects of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century was a tendency to standardize architectural production, which in turn moved away from time-consuming and costly traditional techniques in search of those in accordance with the dynamic social, economic and cultural structure of the period. One of the resulting solutions was the rapidly mass-produced artificial stones that replaced the traditional stone masonry.