Matt Ruckman

Architecture / Maps

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A place to think out loud about buildings, building materials, and maps.

Cross-section of a freshly-cut tree trunk, showing dark heartwood, lighter sapwood, growth rings, and bark.
May 27, 2026·timber

Heartwood

The wood that holds a tree up is dead by the time you cut it down, which turns out to be why the oldest wooden buildings on Earth have stood for fourteen centuries, built from a polymer the planet's recyclers couldn't digest for sixty million years.

A weathered limestone wall, close in.
May 10, 2026·limestone

Limestone, The Compressed Ocean

Limestone built every great city we still recognize, and we have, in the span of about four generations, almost completely forgotten how to use it. A quiet, stubborn revival is now underway.