wrote:
On Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:53:23 +0000, Bruce
wrote:
The picture is a very good illustration of a technique known as
"curtain walling" which is used very extensively in modern office
buildings. A light and very efficient steel or aluminium structure
carries glass or thin stone panels or a combination of the two. There
is some adjustment available in the metal structure to cater for the
tolerances of the (usually) reinforced concrete structure and give a
near-perfect finished building.

It has also been used to re-clad some older buildings, changing their
appearance and adding modern standards of weather protection.

Leaning on the wall of an 18th century house in a Dorset town this
week, while the missus did some shopping I passed the time as I often
do by looking at the buildings ,rooflines are often interesting but
this case a modern drainpipe repair had damaged the materials of the
front and showed that it was not Brick but Mathematical Tiles a
forerunner of these modern techniques.
More details here for those who are interested
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_tile

Often buildings are not what they seem at first glance.


I have had a fascination with mathematical tiling ever since staying
in a house in Brighton that was faced with them.

The Wikipedia article is interesting and is illustrated with some
excellent examples, however it completely avoids any mention of the
derivation of the term "mathematical".

The term comes from the great precision with which the tiles needed to
be made. Unlike roof tiles, which overlap and can cope with quite
large variations in dimensions, and bricks, whose unevenness is
routinely corrected by each mortar layer, mathematical tiles need to
be fairly precisely made.

As the obsessive pedants will no doubt point out, there are probably
better terms than 'mathematical', but that is what they were called.