Learning by Building: UB Students Help Construct “A Good Wall”

Beckett is a research-based artist who explores overlooked histories concerned with industrial development and the built environment. His installations, works for public space, and other artworks have been exhibited at the 2015 Venice Biennale, MCAD Manila, The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; MAAT Lisbon; and Centre Pompidou, Paris, among others.

A Good Wall is constructed from salvaged Medina sandstone—a material quarried extensively in the 19^th century and still visible in buildings throughout Western New York and beyond. The wall’s design sandwiches the sandstone between two layers of limestone—an intentional choice by Beckett. Over time, natural acids released by the limestone will gradually weaken the sandstone, eventually causing the wall to collapse.

The collaboration began when Joyce Hwang, professor in the Department of Architecture and Medina Triennial board member, introduced Beckett to Nicholas Bruscia, assistant professor in the Department of Architecture. With a developing body of research combining natural materials with advanced visualization technologies, Bruscia was a natural partner to help realize Beckett’s vision.

To support the work, Bruscia dedicated a Spring 2026 ARC 404 studio to the effort, calling it “Digitizing and Designing Towards Spolia.” The term spolia refers to the reuse of stone materials from older structures—in this case, sandstone salvaged from demolished buildings, roads, and ashlar block walls. Some of the sandstone pieces even still contained evidence of their past use, like cornice fragments and windowsills. Fifteen senior BS Arch students took part in the studio.

The students began by learning custom stacking algorithms in a workshop led by Jon Penvose from the University of Pennsylvania. “I wanted them to be introduced to working with the physical realities of material through algorithms,” Bruscia explained. Next, they broke into four research groups to explore different themes related to stone: 1) The chemical interaction between sandstone and limestone; 2) Culturing of stone (e.g., how stone develops biological growth like moss); 3) Slight of mass (i.e., using center of gravity to do structural tricks); 4) Techniques for crafting with stone.

From there, the work became hands-on, using “digital quarrying” techniques, a term borrowed from Oliver Wilton, a colleague of Beckett’s at the UCL Bartlett, to document the stone materials in order to create a digital catalogue. The first step was to scan the sandstone pieces. Starting out with a phone app scanner, they quickly realized that their goals required higher-quality equipment. With assistance from Mohamed Aly Etman, director of the Building and Environment Visualization Lab, they purchased a state-of-the-art handheld scanner that they used to scan approximately 85 stones at the school along with the limestone slabs that were too large to transport from the site in Medina.

With the stones in the digital system, they were then catalogued according to four characteristics: linear (long and plank-like); P’s (planar, flat and wide); V’s (volumetric, the kind of blocks typically seen in walls); and cornice (detailed pieces with architectural features in them like cornices or windowsills).

The students then developed design rules and used a combination of computational modeling and visual arrangement to test configurations. Working closely with Beckett over Zoom, they iterated through countless combinations. “It’s like piecing together a puzzle with 85 pieces that have all these different configurations,” Bruscia observed. “The combinations are endless.”

Testing for suitability helped the team to ensure the wall’s stability. By taking a cluster and finding its center of gravity, they could determine whether it aligned within the outline of where the stone touches the ground. If not, the structure would be unstable—a new configuration was needed. Once finalized, the digital models were then translated into construction drawings.

Constructing the wall came with its own set of challenges, beginning with the foundation. The team needed the stones to sit level and stable, which was no easy task given their size and variability. “If they were bigger and wider, we probably could have just gotten rid of the grass and let them sit, but that wasn’t the case,” Bruscia reflected. “So, we had to come up with an affordable and removable foundation.”

To solve that issue, Timothy Noble, adjunct instructor in the Department of Architecture, built a custom wooden framework, which he and the students then filled with gravel. Contractors were brought in to then pour in a thin slurry-like cement that solidified within the gravel to hold the stone in place. 

Once the foundation was complete, the bottom limestone slab was placed and scanned again to align the physical build with the digital model. Using the drawings as a guide, Noble managed the placement of the stones, stabilizing any gaps with a mortar mix. Finally, the top limestone slab was installed and pinned in place with a long rod epoxied into the sandstone below.

The team of Beckett, Bruscia, and Noble not only created a thoughtful, well-crafted installation for the Medina Triennial, but they also delivered a meaningful hands-on learning experience for the students. Beckett met with them virtually almost weekly, inspiring the students to think differently, stretching their comfort zones, and making sure their voices were heard.

“James has an interesting way of blending observation and research, converting it into design thinking,” Bruscia noted. “He’s super supportive of the students too. This project could have been very top-down and we would have understood, but it was never like that.”

The studio offered those students a rare, immersive learning experience, exploring first-hand what it takes to see a project from concept to completion. They worked through every stage: building a foundation, drawing details for a permit set, collaborating with engineers, and ensuring the stability of a structure. Along the way, they also navigated the realities of working within an evolving design process, adapting to uncertainty and change—the type of environment they will likely experience in professional practice.

For Bruscia, working with stone was a unique and fascinating experience—one that he plans to revisit. It’s growing in popularity as a building material right now due to its durability, low environmental footprint, and local availability, and its “foreverness” sets it apart from more common materials like wood or concrete.

“It’s millions of years old,” he pointed out. “If you’re reusing it, you can cut into it and reshape it, but that’s about it. Stone has a way of never changing, but the tools that engage with it change. And now we’re using digital tools to work with it.” A Good Wall may appear old and rustic to visitors, but Bruscia reminds us that the technology used to make it was actually quite sophisticated.

Structural challenges that arose just before the triennial’s opening became an unexpected but valuable lesson. As structural engineering consultant Andres Huerta noted, “A Good Wall exemplifies the intersection of artistic expression, real-world physics, and structural engineering. The fallen rock, caused by unbalanced support, simply reminds us that redundancy must be added to prevent recurrence.”

The project is highly experimental, pushing the limits on balancing stone in unexpected ways. While this approach involves risk, it also creates opportunities for learning, making each setback part of the project’s evolution.

Ultimately, A Good Wall stands not only as a powerful installation, but also as a testament to collaboration, experimentation, and the power of design to connect past and future.