The use of specific building materials is based on the qualities of each and every material that goes into the composition of the space. As an example:  concrete is a material that is massive, solid, cold to the touch, it requires considerably more volume of this material (than say steel) to structurally handle loads. Concrete is also monolithic and has the ability to form joints and connections with no visible, additional fasteners . . . as with steel or wood . . . all of these qualities of concrete are unique. Stereotonic comes from the two Greek words: Stere- or Stereo- meaning solid, solid body, having or dealing with three dimensions of space; and the second syllable of tektonikos- of a builder. So the term stereotonic is a building system having qualities of solidity, carved, sculpted. Now I use the term system because it is just that. A building system is like an element on a palette . . . like a color on a painter's paltte, only these two systems are oppositional in their qualities and are thought of as elements of a sculptural composition. The other system is techtonic- from the French word techne - art, craft, skill; from the Greek word tekton - builder, carpenter; and from the Latin texere to weave. Hence a techtonic building system is one which is composed of a series of small, linear elements defining edges etc. with a certain degree of transparency.
The use of complimentary material systems is used to clarify elements of the composition, and in turn, the composition as a whole.  The stereotonic composition must be able to stand without the tectonic system and still retain the essence of the idea . . . as the ruin does.  The tectonic system also must be a composition in itself . . . able to stand apart from the carved system and be read as a tectonic, sculptural element which retains and conveys the essence of the idea.






references:

The Writing of the Walls  Anthony Vidler
What is a Thing:  Martin Heidegger,  p. 32-34.

Critique of Prue reason.  Emmanuel Kant.  pp. 212-216.