Modern Masonry: 6 Technically Advanced Brick Buildings Turning Tradition on Its Head

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As one of many few supplies that has stood the check of time, brick holds a novel place in architectural historical past. From historic Mesopotamia to modern city structure, bricks have been a relentless, adapting to the wants and kinds of every period. In historic occasions, bricks have been handmade from native clay, sun-dried and used to construct all the things from humble properties to monumental constructions.

In modern structure, brick is commonly seen as a vernacular materials rooted in custom and regional id. This can be a frequent false impression, nonetheless, since trendy bricks are merchandise of refined fabrication processes, providing a spread of finishes, strengths and ecological advantages.

Whereas conventional brickmaking was labor-intensive and depending on native assets, in the present day’s bricks will be mass-produced with exact specs, enhancing their efficiency and flexibility. This shift has allowed architects to push the boundaries of brick use, creating constructions which might be each aesthetically distinctive and functionally superior.

These developments have enabled architects to honor conventional aesthetics and vernacular makes use of whereas embracing trendy design improvements. This assortment explores six outstanding A+Award-winning tasks that exhibit the flexibility and potential of contemporary brick, reworking this historic materials right into a cornerstone of latest structure.

Twisted Brick Shell Idea Library

By HCCH Studio, Zhejiang, China

Jury Winner, twelfth Annual A+Awards, Structure +Brick 

This 32-foot (10-meter) diameter, 16-foot (5-meter-high) spiral shell construction makes use of purple bricks with an unconventional approach. As a substitute of conventional masonry, bricks are forged in-situ, positioned by perforated metal plates and stuffed with high-strength concrete. This method creates a steady, double-curved floor that blurs the traces between inside and exterior areas.

Distinctive building strategies contain distributing bricks of 12 totally different widths alongside a UV grid to make sure radial continuity. This methodology subverts typical brick building, leading to a pixelated, dynamic look. Encouraging guests to attach with nature, physique and thoughts, the library’s design and poetic integration with the panorama provide a transcendent expertise.

Alternative Headquarters

By Plan Associates Co.,Ltd., Chiang Mai, Thailand

Standard Alternative Winner, twelfth Annual A+Awards, Workplace – Low Rise (1-4 flooring)

Whereas it positively doesn’t appear to be it at first sight, the distinctive façade of this venture is made out of brick. Domestically sourced, these slender, hole bricks act as heat-protecting louvers. Rigorously aligned alongside the constructing’s exterior, they create a dynamic and practical façade.

Mounted onto a metal framework, the hole bricks serve each as shading units and aesthetic components. Organized in a sample, they supply pure air flow whereas shielding the inside from direct daylight. This system improves power effectivity and provides the constructing a particular visible id.

By integrating conventional supplies with trendy engineering, the design respects the area’s cultural heritage whereas embracing modern structure. This method demonstrates how vernacular supplies will be tailored to fulfill trendy sustainability and design requirements.

Canvas Home

By PARTISANS, Toronto, Canada

Jury Winner, twelfth Annual A+Awards, Structure +Façades

Canvas Home stands out in its Georgian neighborhood with a novel, undulating brick façade. The designers used a monochromatic brick palette and improvised corbel variations, making a dynamic, sculptural look that contrasts with the encircling symmetrical properties. Impressed by Larry Poons’ visible results, the approach makes use of a repetitive bond sample of 5 bricks. This achieves a constant kind that highlights brick’s potential for contemporary creative expression whereas sustaining its conventional look.

Functioning as each a residence and an artwork gallery, the home options curved partitions that combine with ceilings and fixtures. Gentle and shadow play throughout the façade, which swells to kind overhangs and recedes to permit skylights, reflecting the shopper’s theater background and sustaining conventional grace with out conforming to standard requirements.

The Grand Mulberry

By MA | Morris Adjmi Architects, New York Metropolis, New York

Standard Alternative Winner, twelfth Annual A+Awards, Structure +Façades

Drawing inspiration from historic Italianate tenements, The Grand Mulberry makes use of custom-profiled bricks to reference its heritage. The tripartite façade options conventional banding on the base, pediment home windows within the center and arched home windows with a cornice on high. Quoining particulars additional outline the construction.

Whereas the façade sample is conventional, the applying of the hand-molded domed bricks may be very trendy — every brick was fastidiously positioned throughout the double-stacked working bond coursing to current the phantasm of an Italianate façade.

KOLBADI HOUSE

By L.E.D Architects, Garmsar, Iran

Kolbadi Home showcases one more revolutionary brick facade. Solely this time, it’s impressed by conventional Iranian desert structure.|

Prefabricated metal grids place bricks with exact spacing, making a textured floor impressed by historic designs. The grids can rework into clear meshes in entrance of home windows, seamlessly mixing strong and open areas. This methodology enhances visible enchantment whereas guaranteeing pure air flow and lighting, sustaining the performance of a conventional central courtyard.

Using domestically sourced bricks and adaptable building strategies, the design honors regional heritage whereas assembly trendy constructing wants, demonstrating the potential of conventional supplies for modern functions.

Bricks in Widespread

By AART, Copenhagen, Denmark

Do you know that superior brick know-how can minimize carbon emissions by as much as 75%? “Bricks in Widespread,” a pavilion on the UIA World Congress of Architects 2023 in Copenhagen, demonstrates this potential by way of its design. The pavilion options three intersecting arches, every representing a distinct method to sustainable brick manufacturing.

The smallest arch is manufactured from conventional bricks, that are fairly energy-intensive to provide. Subsequent, you encounter the medium arch, crafted from the most recent climate-friendly bricks. These bricks minimize carbon emissions by 50%, displaying important progress. However essentially the most formidable is the biggest arch, designed to realize a outstanding 75% discount in carbon emissions.

By this design, “Bricks in Widespread” illustrates the huge potential of brick as a sustainable constructing materials, serving as a strong reminder of how revolutionary approaches to conventional supplies can drive us in direction of a greener future.

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