Submitted by:
John Shaw-Rimmington
Perhaps the first dry stone structure of its kind in the world, this 'Rubble Helix' ( a replica of a section of a left-handed double helix Z-DNA molecule) designed by John Shaw-Rimmington, was built by John and 5 members of the Dry Stone Walling Across Canada (Damien Callon, Patrick Callon, Jay Ladell , Aaron Galbraith and John Mulleron) on Feb 3 and 4th 2007. This unique garden feature was built inside a spacious greenhouse near Bethany Ontario Canada as a two day project for the special DSWAC landscaper/media dry stone winter workshop .
Landscapers from London, Ottawa and Haliburton Ontario learned how to do some difficult walling as they attempted to do this twisted free standing structure with no glue or cement! It stands 10 feet tall and is completely self supporting. The 6 centre rungs, each weighing over 300 lbs , suspended 12 inches apart, above one-another, twist nearly 90 degrees over a central axis. The columns step out and around each other, well beyond their original foundation footprints. The structure looks impossibly unstable but it is remarkably rigid. (Builders had to climb all over it during the raising of each massive 4 inch thick ladder stone) If it were not situated indoors, the crew would have liked to have kept going to complete a 180 degree or even a dazzling 360 degree rotation. But for now it stands a rather intriguing accomplishment, until a larger outdoor installation is attempted.
Landscapers from London, Ottawa and Haliburton Ontario learned how to do some difficult walling as they attempted to do this twisted free standing structure with no glue or cement! It stands 10 feet tall and is completely self supporting. The 6 centre rungs, each weighing over 300 lbs , suspended 12 inches apart, above one-another, twist nearly 90 degrees over a central axis. The columns step out and around each other, well beyond their original foundation footprints. The structure looks impossibly unstable but it is remarkably rigid. (Builders had to climb all over it during the raising of each massive 4 inch thick ladder stone) If it were not situated indoors, the crew would have liked to have kept going to complete a 180 degree or even a dazzling 360 degree rotation. But for now it stands a rather intriguing accomplishment, until a larger outdoor installation is attempted.
The structure can best be interpreted as a whimsical allusion to the primal and essential connection there exists between rocks and people. Common aggregates of minerals are carefully stacked in this unique configuration as an inorganic representation of the macromolecular realm of genes and proteins, which make up the basis of life. All rocks are formed by complex combinations of crystal structures . All crystal configurations 'grow' according to some predetermined pattern based on the certain atom combinations present in the mix. This inorganic 'patterning' may well be the lithological counterpart of organic 'DNA patterning'. The propensity for ordered reproduction within cells (living and non-living) explains how, and in what form, all structures occur on earth. The free- standing Rubble Helix utilizes the forces of gravity and friction, combined with principles of tensile strength and counterbalance in an otherwise inexplicable demonstration of bilateral order and balance. The spiraling columns of stone are held together and prevented from falling over, by through-bonds across the centre of the helix. Like the microscopic double helix which has all the basic elements of life raveled within its structure, this towering inorganic form reveals many of the elements of structure on a larger scale.
Original design by John Shaw-Rimmington, June 2006 was a regular right-handed "dry stone DNA"
