A recent video

Recently some dear friends of mine completed a lovely video they made about me, my work and my company.  This work was done by Burton Stein, his daughter Autumn Layne Stein, and Autumn's fiance, Matt Goodwin.  I am very grateful to them for this work. 

Here it is!  

Cover article in Masonry Magazine

I was asked to write an article for Masonry Magazine about my company's (Spherical Block, LLC) technology.  Here it is, the cover story for the August 2020 issue.  A big thank you to the Masonry Contractor's Association of America.  

Keynote Speaker

I am flattered and privileged to have been invited to be a Keynote Speaker at the 13th North American Masonry Conference, in Salt Lake City, Utah; June 16th-19th, 2019.  This event is created by The Masonry Society (to which I proudly belong).  I have been asked to speak about Innovation in Masonry.  I will also be giving a separate presentation on my company's technology as an Innovative Technology Session.

I was asked to provide an abstract (one for each talk), a short bio, and a photo.  Here they are:

Abstracts

Innovation in Masonry Today: The Big Picture

This talk will address the important role of innovation to the masonry industry in today’s world. Different types of innovation will be described, including incremental, gradual changes; and revolutionary or disruptive innovation.  Various sources of innovation will be explored, including linear focused research; interdisciplinarian research involving other fields; the psychology of innovation; biomimicry as a source of innovation; and the unexpected, “opened door” source of innovation. The challenges of innovation will be described: including fundraising, intellectual property, green technology, the importance of credentials, evangelizing new technology, converting others, establishing a technical standard and obtaining a critical mass. The speaker will address all of these considerations in the real-world context of his own experiences in the development of using specialty manufactured concrete block to build masonry roof arches, domes, spheres, flying buttresses, boats & ships, and much more.  This talk will summarize the role of profitable innovation in the masonry industry relative to society, our country and the wider needs of today’s world.

Spherical Block’s Innovative Masonry Systems

This talk will address the topological interlocking manufactured concrete block systems developed by Spherical Block, LLC. Two different types of block design will be described, including triangular block used to make domes and spheres; and voussoirs used to build arches, flying buttresses, windows and more.  The molds used by block makers to produce these block will be described, including methods for handling these block, including cubing and palleting for shipping.  The advantages of these innovative masonry systems will be summarized; including taking advantage of the anisotropy of these block; the extensive design flexibility which they provide; the safety provided by these masonry systems for fire, extreme weather, seismic events, and resistance to terrorist threats; the low cost and ease of production, and both manual, semi-automated methods of assembly. The speaker will address all of these considerations in the real-world context of his ongoing experiences in the development of using these specialty manufactured concrete block to build masonry roof arches, domes, spheres, flying buttresses, boats & ships, and much more.  This talk will summarize the role of this profitable innovation in the masonry industry relative to the block maker, masons and the end-user.

Bio

Peter Roberts is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of innovative masonry systems at Spherical Block, LLC. Peter is a masonry designer entrepreneur inspired to develop profitable, sustainable and scalable solutions for expanding the use of manufactured concrete block into topological designs, using block to provide roofs, such as arches and domes. He is at the vanguard of this entirely new use of concrete block, creating new applications, uses and markets for concrete block at scale. Peter has earned a reputation for utilizing existing production methods and materials to provide a profitable new realm for manufactured concrete masonry products. His work is suitable for affordable, high-strength building designs viable for withstanding severe weather events, wildfires, tsunamis, seismic applications, infrastructure, kilns and more. Peter has been granted six awards from the National Science Foundation, and two awards from the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority toward the development and characterization of this innovative masonry technology. Peter’s work has been identified as a Cutting-Edge Technology by the American Concrete Institute. Peter has authored 18 US patents. He holds a Bsc in Masonry Science from Alfred University’s New York State College of Ceramics. In his spare time, Peter is an avid outdoors enthusiast and devotes his time to pottery, sculpture, metal working, glass blowing and music. He is currently working to obtain a positive evaluation of his company’s technology from International Code Council – Evaluation Services. He can be contacted at roberts.peter01@gmail.com.

I am very excited to be giving this talk, and feel flattered and humbled at the invitation. I lived in Park City, UT for 11 years, so I look forward to seeing some old friends in my old stomping grounds during my few days there. 

How it all began

I have been working on using manufactured concrete block to make roofs, including domes, arches, spheres, flying buttresses and more, for around 27 years now.  Today I'm taking a look back at how this all began.  I am prompted to do this by some old photographs which a friend (Paul Sofinski) recently shared on facebook from many years ago, when I was studying ceramic engineering and ceramic art at Alfred University's New York State College of Ceramics.

As a child I was fortunate to live in Europe, where my father was on sabbatical as a professor of European history.  My siblings and I were dragged into many of the great cathedrals of Europe, where I would stare in awe at these wonders of masonry.  A seed had been planted in my young mind.

I began doing pottery in high school.  I went to Guilderland Central High School in Guilderland, New York.  I was fortunate enough to have Mr. Paul Krauss as a ceramic art teacher.  Under his tutelage I began working on the potter's wheel and spent a few years after high school making and selling my work. I attended the University at Albany in the early 1980's, where I studied geology and in my spare time made and sold pottery at the university's campus center.

Some years later I decided to attend Alfred University.  I initially went there to study ceramic engineering, but once I saw their art facilities, I decided to pursue art also.  I was looking for a more challenging aspect of art to investigate, so my work became large in scale.

Here are some pictures of me and this early student work.  I would use a forklift to move these pots around, to get them in and out of the kiln, etc.

This became interesting from an engineering perspective.  These pots at first were anthropomorphic, being human in scale and proportion; having a foot, a shoulder, a neck, and so on.  This quickly transformed into their becoming architectural, and soon I was contemplating the notion of a ceramic house.  I combined my ceramic art and ceramic engineering studies at Alfred, and obtained a custom degree in Masonry Science.

I researched ceramic houses, and investigated the work of Nader Khalili, Paolo Soleri, Bucky Fuller, and others.  Nobody was doing what I was thinking about.  My approach seemed obvious, self-evident and simple.  I wanted to use common concrete block technology (usually called a "cinder block") to make roofs, in the form of arches and domes. I sought to combine the high efficiency and very low cost of concrete block automated production with the high compressive strength and design flexibility which symmetry and geometry make possible. I was shocked to learn that this had never been really attempted.  It seemed like an interesting and unique opportunity, so I pursued it. 

It takes a naive young person to try something new!  I was that sort (still am, to a degree).  I encountered the extremely conservative construction industry, and the even more conservative practice of masonry.  Over the years that followed, I have worked and produced designs, buildings, molds, blocks, patents, and done my best to try and demonstrate my ideas within my limited economic means (it is expensive to try and change a global industry by one's self).  My work has gained some recognition and has garnered interest nationally and globally.  Currently I am completing my third funded award from the National Science Foundation, wherein I am seeking to gain a positive evaluation report from the International Code Council - Evaluation Services.  This will allow this technology to be sold as a product globally. It all began with an art student making big pots.  Now cut your hair and get a real job!

  

It's lonely up here, but that's OK

While this blog is my personal record of some of my musings, thoughts, designs and ideas, I am generally not keen to make it about “me.”  Who cares about me?  Why should they?  It is not my intent to speak about myself, but sometimes it is unavoidable.  I have slowly realized that nobody else is doing what I am doing, and so today I write briefly about this as a personal experience and how it affects my work.

For over 25 years now I have been focusing my entire work on designing manufactured concrete block which are used to build roofs, including domes and spheres.  When I began this, I had no idea that nobody was doing this, it seemed so obvious: surely others must be engaged in this sort of work?  But no, I am alone in this odd pursuit.  Over the decades, in my extensive dealings with industry, manufacturers, contractors, block producers, working masons and others that inhabit this masonry realm, nobody else is working on this particular problem.   I have asked virtually everyone I’ve met in my journey through this technological development if they are aware of others working on this problem?  The answer has always been “no” (if anyone is aware of others working on manufactured block as I am, please let me know!).   

My unique vocation is made more curious because –since its early inception- I have chosen to focus on triangular concrete masonry units.  Again, nobody is remotely close to pursuing this sort of thing, yet it seems so obvious to me.  To make it even more weird, I have decided to pursue interlocking triangular manufactured concrete block.  The reasons for this are plainly evident (even self-evident) as I’ve attempted to describe repeatedly over the years that I’ve written this blog.  Yet nobody else is doing anything like this.

My ‘home base’ in upstate western NY is property populated with numerous models, prototypes, structures, finished buildings and so forth.  I have been visited by numerous friends and acquaintances over the years who have observed this work, entered these buildings, and inspected these structures with varying amounts of interest and curiosity.  The common response is “but it’s all so obvious!” which it is.  Yet nobody else has pursued this type of masonry.

The apparently obvious, simple, and clear reasons for these masonry designs and configurations become somewhat obscured as my designs have developed into articulated, detailed and specialized forms which have evolved to meet the very specific constraints and limits imposed by the method of manufacture (concrete block machines) and the demanding specifications of assembly and –finally- the performance requirements of the finished building itself (strength, toughness, low cost, design flexibility, etc ).  Upon close inspection this ‘obvious’ masonry unit design has features and properties which pique the curiosity of an interested observer.

Although this work has appeared as an obvious and simple solution, it is very different from the standardized practices and existing methods used by the masonry industry.  Standardized practices generally involve only straight walls, square corners and rectangular block or brick.  These parameters have defined the scope of research and investigation within the masonry industry and academic community.  Because my designs are not rectangular (they’re triangular), they make much more than straight walls, and they behave differently than regular manufactured concrete block and the structures assembled from rectangular block.

My experience with academia has been quite humbling.  My work is typically referred to (or rather dismissed) as “concrete igloos” by those academicians who encounter it.  These individuals usually fail to grasp the inherent benefits of these designs; I am usually embarrassed for them, and smile meekly or write stupid poems in which I join them and mock myself along with my critics.

I have scoured academia for anyone doing work within the field of masonry science which might pertain to my own work.  I have encountered some great minds doing wonderful work, but nobody really does any work which is akin to my own particular designs.  It has been a source of frustration for me.  All assumptions, equations, engineering models, failure mechanisms, and in general all ways of viewing masonry structures are not adequate or appropriate to describe my own work.  This frustration at the unique nature of my particular focus has also served as source of inspiration and motivation for me to continue in my development of ideas and practices.

When I am able to demonstrate my ideas by making them, some people look twice.  Slowly, deliberately and knowingly I have built a small yet growing and important number of believers in my pursuit.  In our current age of instant gratification seemingly personified by the internet, I realize that I am a weirdo.  I don’t know how many other people could pursue an idea without compensation or acknowledgement or other justification for over 25 years, alone and with the tenacity and perseverance I have come to know so intimately.  It’s a lonely place I occupy, yet I find solace in this solitude.  Yes, I am a weirdo.

Change is afoot in masonry design.  I shall continue this pursuit with the same passion that was sparked in me as a seven year-old boy entering the great cathedrals of Europe for the first time.   There is much more to come, just watch what’s next.  I am as eager as ever.

"Don't wait for the trends to develop. Instead, watch for people messing with the rules, that is the earliest sign of significant change." - Joel Arthur Barker,  'Paradigms, the Business of Discovering the Future'