Source: Matter DesignEngineers from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-led research and design lab have created multi-ton masonry blocks that are moveable by hand.

Created by the design and research lab Matter Design, the blocks, which can weigh up to 13,000 lbs each, are known collectively as “Walking Assembly,” due to the blocks’ unique designs that enable individuals to single-handedly move the structures, pivoting, tilting and locking them together to create larger structures.

Led by Matter Design director and MIT assistant professor Brandon Clifford, Matter Design’s blocks were inspired by the Moai statues on Easter Island. Matter Design wanted to create stone building blocks that could be assembled, disassembled and moved by hand and without cranes or other heavy equipment. This was made possible thanks to variable density concrete and an unorthodox design that let designers calibrate the object’s center of mass.

“By using variable density concrete, the center of mass of the object is calibrated precisely to control the stable, but easy motion of the elements. This ensures that these massive elements successfully walk and assemble into place, creating the possibility for a crane-less tilt up construction method and turning our building sites into spectacles of play,” a spokesperson from Matter Design explained.

“Intelligence of transportation and assembly is designed into the elements themselves, liberating humans to guide these colossal concrete elements into place. Structures that would otherwise rely on cranes or heavy equipment can now be intelligently assembled and disassembled with little energy,” the design practice said in a statement.

Although still in development, the makers of Walking Assembly envision using the building blocks to create structures in locations that are inaccessible to trucks, cranes and other heavy machinery.