Professional Documents
Culture Documents
First prize for Christ & Gantenbein here, adjacent to an exterior undeveloped
area. The ‘thick’ wall offers multiple use
Christ & Gantenbein has won an international options, accommodating plant that provides
competition ahead of five Pritzker laureates, for the essential needs of the complex.
including Peter Zumthor and Zaha Hadid, to The new buildings are double-shell
extend the Basel Kunstmuseum in Switzerland. constructions. For economic, climatic and
acoustic reasons we prefer heavy to light-
Sited on an adjacent plot to the museum, the
weight materials. This preference also ensures
scheme’s angular, massive form refers to the
the afore-mentioned architectural continuity
former buildings of the ‘Berghof’ and creates
of the complex. One could say that the con-
a frontispiece between St Alban Vorstadt and
struction method of laying bricks has also laid
Dufourstrasse. The brick structure recalls a
down a pattern of scale in our subconscious.
historic townhouse that has lost its decor
The invention is thousands of years old. It
over the years, but remains anchored to the site
seems as natural to us as if it were a part of
through its physical presence, geometry and
our genes, a silent companion of our evolu-
materiality. The facades comprise seven types
tion. Although there were always times when
of brick, changing from anthracite to light grey
the use of baked clay was less popular, even
and from rough to sharp-edged clinker.
rejected, the handy construction material
persisted so consistently over the ages that
Re-imagining the fabric of Mouveax First person: Arno Lederer
one can confidently include it among the
‘timeless’ materials used by man.
Paris-based practice LAN Architecture has Our recent extension of the Marianum, a
Aside from its easy handling, the enduring
designed a competition-winning residential private secondary school and vocational train-
success of brick masonry can be attributed to
scheme for Mouvaux in northern France. The ing centre at the Hegne monastery at
its economy and permanence. Gothic cathe-
intention is to create a rich mix of private and Allensbach, Germany, addresses the issue of
drals, the buildings of Karl Friedrich Schinkel
social housing types that define public spaces continuity of venue, appearance and history.
and Alvar Aalto all share the triad of scale,
and engender both intimacy and sociability. The The new is developed out of the old – the
economy, and permanence. They all possess
architect describes the project as a complete new west wing is developed symmetrically to
an aesthetic aura which is as timeless as the simple supports or walls, but in the beautiful exterior with a certain suspense. Often that for centuries has been able to create an
entity, where every element has its place and a the existing Marianum, built in 1927, and
material from which they are made. Catalan arches of his Jaoul houses. enough contemporary architecture is exciting feeling of difference between the
specific role to play within the overall composi- mirrors its size and proportions. The result-
Bricks are far less weighted with symbolic Traditional construction no longer lacking in the surprise effect which we so building exterior and interior: bricks.
tion. Inspired by the typology of German ing height offers an unobstructed view of
values, much less indoctrinated, than per- achieves the required thermal insulation appreciate in older houses – we do not
terraced houses, the masonry dwellings are Lake Constance from all levels. Between the Professor Arno Lederer is a partner, with Jórunn
haps prevalent opinion nowadays recognises. demanded of today’s building shell. The use expect anything special any more, since we
served by ‘linear stairwells’ that serve two older building and the extension lie the cafe, Ragnarsdóttir and Marc Oei, in the Stuttgart-based
The material as such is practically free of brick is largely limited nowadays to the already know from the outside what a office Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei. He is also head of
apartments at a time. Mouvaux’s long historical foyer and sports hall.
of ideology: even Le Corbusier, who was not outer shell of a multi-layered wall. Critics say building will look like inside. But if one the institute for public buildings and design at the
association with the textile industry is acknowl- Streetwards the compound is enclosed by
particularly partial to brick, later used this that such a layer is simply a ‘stone wallpaper’. University of Stuttgart.
a wall. An arbour marks the entrance and acts wants to create the fine difference, it is
edged by the varied brick facades, which are medium with great virtuosity, not with
as a car-port. The washrooms are also located These voices, speaking in accordance with prudent to design the walls in a material Above, left The Hegne extension by LRO (ph: Zooey Braun).
based on the geometrical patterns of fabrics.
modern architectural philosophy, deem it
Off the wall down under more important to produce a ‘modern’ sur-
face as well, something that fits better to a
An Australian brick manufacturer has demon- multi-layered wall, such as metal or concrete.
strated the versatility of masonry by creating a Our own thoughts on the subject intersect
100 square-metre mural of Michael Jackson at the issue just at this point: even if the brick
the entrance to its Horsley Park plant in Sydney. veneer is only there to provide weather pro-
tection for the insulation, and is thus fully
Brick Awards 2010 launched released from its original constructional sup-
portive function, what is wrong with that?
The Brick Development Association has Are the ‘new’ materials inherently better with
launched this year’s Brick Awards. The criteria regard to durability, solidity, stability, or the
for entry is that projects feature clay bricks or capacity of subordination to every conceiv-
pavers manufactured by BDA members (except able smaller scale? And are not metal or glass
for the Worldwide Brick Award). There are 14 facades in similar wall constructions also
awards split into three categories: housing, nothing else but ‘wallpapers’? 6 10 7 7 7 6 11 12
building and landscape, and technical and craft. Naturally the whole discussion about an 13
There is also the BDA Building of the Year adequate material is concerned with more 9
Award for the overall winner. Bob Allies of than simply the use of bricks in construc- 8
architect Allies & Morrison has been retained tion. We are convinced that there must be 8 7 7
as chair of the judging panel. The awards will some counterpart, a reasonable counter-
6 6 7
4 4 4 4 4 4
5
Hotel in London on 3 November. The closing steel and glass architecture of the twentieth Bestand
date for entries is 25 June. Entry forms are avail- century, something that in fact continues to
able from www.brick.org.uk/2010awards, or enrich architecture with the tangible differ-
by emailing brick@brick.org.uk, or by calling ence between the interior and exterior, that
the BDA on 020 7323 7030. distinguishes the interior space from the
4 • BB SPRING 10 BB SPRING 10 • 5
1
PROJECTS
Timber Packer
Timber Batten
Trench Heater
Grafton Architects has used brick
to expressive effect on two mews
Window
houses in Dublin.
The scheme is a composition of alternating
volumes, cantilevers and surfaces, which
occupy the space of the site without offering Window
a hard wall or boundary to any edge, be it
front, back or gable, writes Grafton Architects.
Solitex Plus glued to
The houses are primarily two-storey in window frame with
Orcon F glue
character with a study and roof terrace at
the upper level. The roof terraces are 50mm Kingspan TF70
embedded in the interior of the houses with Stepped dpc
Georgian townhouse remodelled. A wide range of Located on a brownfield site outside the
brick building model village of Stewartby in Bedfordshire,
An east London house built in 1720 has been Project Kimberley is a 6900 square metre
extensively refubished by Chris Dyson techniques are office building for a brick manufacturer.
Architects. The works include additional showcased in an Architect TP Bennett has used brick in a vari-
accommodation at the back of the house, office complex ety of sophisticated and surprising ways,
overlooking a remodelled courtyard garden.
by TP Bennett. including non-loadbearing stack-bonded
Across the courtyard, a workshop which had cladding to the main office facades, four-
been converted into a cottage was remod- storey loadbearing walls to the core areas and
elled inside and out. The facade had been structural brick piers forming the main eleva-
subjected to various piecemeal alterations tion, which are viewed from the country
over many years, rendering it visually inco- house-like approach around a small lake.
herent. Complete rebuilding was chosen as it The choice of bond and specially manu-
offered the opportunity to adopt a similar factured long, thin brick reinforce these
setting out to the new rear wall of the main concepts. The industrial heritage of the
house, with floor-to-ceiling sash windows on adjacent brickworks is reflected in the
the first floor over glazed doors providing design of the freestanding core areas which
light and access to the ground floor. are pulled clear of the rest of the building,
Little if any of the original facade could be punctuating the overall composition. The
retained, thereby permitting a free choice of core facades are articulated in varying
brick. The handmade bricks were chosen for intensities by ‘missing bricks’, recalling the
their colour, which works well in contrast with random pattern of brick stacks as they are
the western red cedar elevation opposite. placed in the kiln. These voids are also
They also blend in with both the sandstone brightly lit internally and act as ‘lanterns’
paving of the courtyard and the muted colour after dark.
of the London stocks from which the original
boundary walls are made. Credits Photos: Hufton & Crow.
8 • BB SPRING 10 BB SPRING 10 • 9
Social and sacred
The Painted House been interested for some time in the way that laminated to match paint, and this lends the window openings, which are retained to Lambeth Academy
UK construction methods rely on materials conventionally-shaped volumes an abstract maintain the ordinary, everyday feel of the
that are becoming thinner and thinner while character. The exterior of the old building traditional suburban semi. To the sides and
striving to retain their surface material quali- has been over-clad with insulation, the rear to the rear, however, the openings become
Two typical 1940s semis in a north London ties. At the same time the practice has been and side finished with a layer of render, and more expansive. The Sixth Form Centre at Lambeth College
suburb have been converted into a large studying paint as a material in its own right. the facade is faced with brick slips, present- in south London, desiged by BDP, is shaped
Below Main elevation and view from the street.
double house for an extended family of Almost all of the interior surfaces, walls, ceil- ing a clearly defined face towards the street, Credits Photo: Hélène Binet. around the idea of visually ‘opening out’
eleven people. Architect Jonathan Woolf has ing, floors and joinery are either painted or an appearance emphasised by the original Details See page 22 for further technical analysis. to neighbouring Clapham Common.
Externally the building’s character is a delib-
erate counterpoint to the undistinguished
1950s brick-built construction of adjacent
housing. The organic shape of the centre’s
performing arts base is wrapped in playful
patterned brickwork, subtly spelling the
word ‘learn’. Textured panels are formed
from bricks cut in half.
Brick, says BDP, was ‘selected to give
warmth, texture and human feel to the
building elements as they are experienced.
The brick creates a mellow appearance sym-
pathising with the surrounding buildings
and setting, through colour, texture and
scale. It also stands individually whilst com-
plementing the other materials and offering
durability both inside and out.’
10
north • BB SPRING 10
elevation east elevation BB SPRING 10 • 11
Left Fashion Hotel and Andreas Ensemble, Amsterdam, 2004-11.
PROFILEo The site, formerly occupied by a hospital, links a pre-war urban district
planned by Berlage, typified by closed blocks, and the post-war Westelijke
‘We normally build in brick because Tuinsteden (western garden towns) by van Eesteren with open plots.
it is still the most modern material’: The plan aims to unite these two qualities through an opened-up
superblock. Besides many homes, the central location makes it possible to
James Payne examines the work of prolific include other uses (ph: Stefan Müller); Jeroen Guerst and Rens Schulze.
Above JC Pleijsierschool, The Hague, 2006. Located in the Transvaal
Dutch architects Geurst & Schulze. district, this scheme includes 54 homes for the elderly, a parking garage and
a school for children with behavioural difficulties. Small group sizes, commu-
nal recreation areas, compartmentalisation of the building and the ability to
maintain control were the basic principles taken into account in the design.
By making the brick facade loadbearing, walls separating the classrooms can
easily be moved. (ph: Christian Richters).
Below right Overhoeks campus, Amsterdam 2003-12. The former Shell
site is well located on the river IJ opposite Amsterdam Central Station.
The plan envisages a high-density urban district with homes and workplaces
with green surroundings. The large buildings combine to define
public spaces and communal inner courtyards. The design refers to 1930s
residential blocks and hotels with apartments and shared facilities.
Residential and work functions will be interchangeable in each building.
Jeroen Geurst and Rens Schulze first collaborated projects brought the architects into contact with Hague where there were social problems and old buildings and urban planning for two major new
as students at the Technical University of Delft two Portuguese master Alvaro Siza. Working on a proj- houses. So they asked Siza and he surprised them developments. Now under construction, the
years before their graduation in 1986. Since then, ect within his masterplan and later as executive with his solution – he was not reproducing mod- Andreas Ensemble and Overhoeks campus in
almost all of their office’s substantial and consistent architects on his third project in the Hague, Geurst ernism but he tried to understand traditional Dutch Amsterdam are two ‘super-block’ schemes built on a
output is of brick, used with a commitment to make explains how Siza’s influence was decisive in redis- architecture. That was what his first project was cleared hospital and an industrial site respectively.
a lasting contribution to the fabric of the city. covering the traditions of Dutch urbanism: ‘At that about. He made a new urban scheme for this area These plans synthesise two Dutch urban paradigms,
Assuming lowland sea defences hold out, it is a body time there was a re-discovery of modernism after a and we were one of the architects. It was one of our the closed urban blocks defining streets of Hendrik
of work that one can imagine still standing 50 years period of non-architecture in the seventies and the first big projects on this scheme. We learnt from his Petrus Berlage’s Amsterdam-South and the post-war
from now. Theirs is a very literate architecture, con- beginning of the eighties’, he recalls. ‘Architects eye for the qualities of the street, the traditional slab blocks set in open parkland of Cornelis van
versant with the past, not so much through stylistic and also politicians re-discovered modernism and street, traditional materials like brick that we had Eesteren’s western garden cities.
quotation but as an endless resource of forms, mate- they liked very smooth, white stucco buildings. Siza already used in the first projects we did before we The rather rigid and prescriptive masterplans
rials and typologies that can be deployed at will. made this kind of architecture in Portugal and also met Siza. It was familiar to us but we learnt more leave little freedom for the architects assigned
Since its formation the practice has concerned in Berlin’s Kreuzberg. Dutch politicians thought about how to deal with tradition in combination buildings within them, among them Tony Fretton,
itself less with the formal and programmatic exper- this modernism, combined with the experience of with a modern design attitude.’ Alvaro Siza and Jo Coenen. The advantages of this
iments of the ‘Superdutch’ generation than playing the new inhabitants from countries such as Turkey Geurst & Schulze’s oeuvre has since expanded approach soon becomes apparent at an urban, aes-
a long game. Its early reputation for large housing and Morocco, was useful for some areas in the from the residential to include schools, commercial thetic and economic level. Standardised concrete
12 • BB SPRING 10 BB SPRING 10 • 13
Above, below Bos en Lommer housing, Amsterdam, 2008. With 199
houses, studios, commercial space and a parking garage, this project aims
to create a new centre for the district. The urban block connects to the
Amsterdam School architecture on the Hoofdweg and forms part of the
1935 Bos en Lommer expansion plan of Cornelis van Eesteren. The facade
has an urban appearance, referencing the Amsterdam School in the brick-
work pattern and the imposing corner and use of dappled warm yellow
bricks (ph: Stefan Müller).
Opposite Buitenom, The Hague, 2008. Some 50 houses and commercial
space are located on the canal ring that once formed the boundary of the
city among grand but diverse buildings. (ph: Stefan Müller).
technology applied systematically has driven down of this way of life. A palette of shared colours, Maybe it is also a Dutch thing, in our blood, that we
construction costs and programme times. These materialities and carefully controlled massing set like to be very economical.’
gains have been re-invested into the buildings in the up subtle variations within a coherent whole. The brick framed facade of the Drakenburg
form of very generous apartment plans, large win- These are large projects and sometimes, as in residential tower for the elderly in Rotterdam
dows and high quality facade materials. Geurst & Schulze’s hulking Fashion Hotel on the (2006) certainly follows this logic. Apart from its
‘After 25 years we know our building systems very Andreas Ensemble, the commercial forces behind clever treatment of the ground floor, where parking
well and we are able to design with them’, explains the development emerge more explicitly. Neverthe- is sunk half a level to hide cars from the street,
Geurst. ‘This is something I did in the Andreas less this kind of rigorous overall approach strikes a it might to the uninitiated be hard to place in any
scheme and Overhoeks – to play with the building mutually beneficial balance between the collective particular decade of the last 50 years. The refine-
systems, but also with systems of measurements. Both and the individual that is rare in recent British hous- ment of the sand-coloured bricks and large bronze-
projects are based on a well figured out grid system ing. Practices who have achieved this are often coloured windows placed in alternating planes
which fits not only the building system but also the those with a background in Dutch housing such as underlines the importance of the repetitive unit.
size of the parking and the housing. If you can con- Maccreanor Lavington or Biq. But sources can be more eclectic too. The
nect these systems then the project will be very eco- Geurst & Schulze has been referred to as an expressionist and flowing brick lines of the 1920s
nomical and you can spend the money elsewhere, exponent of Dutch rationalism: typological as well Amsterdam School informs the street facade of the
like beautiful exterior components such as bricks or as structural and material clarity are important to Bos en Lommer urban block project in Amsterdam
good window systems. So that is an advantage.’ the practice. According to Geurst, the advantages of (2008). Responding to the context, it also evokes
Defined courtyard and landscaped spaces brick together with standardised and economical nostalgia for another age in the manner of Hans
between the buildings also play an important role, building systems is clear: ‘I don’t want to invent Kollhoff. The varied shapes and materials of tradi-
providing a calm ambience for the delicate project- things – I want to discover things. What I like about tional canal houses with vertical windows are appar-
ing balconies of Fretton’s Andreas blocks or Geurst traditional Dutch housing is that for centuries it was ent in the canal-side Buiternorm Hague project of
& Schulze’s stepped terraces at Overhoeks. These already very standard, they were looking for stan- 50 flats (2008). Decorative banded brickwork clads
smaller and more finely proportioned apartment dards to make it possible to build: standards in tech- the corner block with a diagonally projecting dog-
blocks are the most gracious and show the potential nology, standards in brick, standards in everything. tooth course.
14 • BB SPRING 10 BB SPRING 10 • 15
This robust materiality extends to the practice’s
school projects which are all of loadbearing wall
construction. The Prinsehaghe primary school in
the Hague (2004) bears on its facade and internal
walls to the corridor, leaving internal classrooms
free to open into each other by means of folding
partitions. The generous bronze-coloured alumini-
um-framed windows are set in openings too large to /s
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Left Prinsehaghe, The Hague, 2004, a primary school with pre- and after-
on
d
bg
concierge
incorporates small windows with white stone
maatschappelijk
werk
frames (ph: Stefan Müller).
Below Edwin Lutyens’ Thiepval Memorial, 1932.
speellokaal middenbouwlokaal middenbouwlokaal NSO
‘We normally build in brick because it is still the and picturesque. Geurst & Schulze collaborated neighbourhood and one of the blocks. I was able to Hertzberger he states: ‘One might think that in a schaal 1:200
most modern material’, says Geurst. To clarify this with another architect, Korteknie Stuhlmacher, who express myself more in all kinds of influences I had system you have no freedom, but it gives us more
statement, he stresses the material sustainability of designed houses within the scheme. Within this from trips I made to Morocco and other African freedom to play.’ In this context his interest in
his buildings as well as their cultural sustainability. urban block an astonishingly polychromatic interior countries. This was in fact inspired by my first les- Lutyens’ design principles is more understandable.
‘When you are looking for a material which is eco- world of ornate details and varying building heights sons from Aldo van Eyck who also went to these His pure monumental architecture of remem-
nomical, sustainable and beautiful that also brings surround a calm central square with the axial for- African countries like Mali, where there is this very brance had several key rules and powerful formal
something from the past which fits in the situation mality of a Persian carpet. Architectural elements special mud architecture.’ inventions such as the war stone, assembled with a
where you build, there are not very many materials such as stone cornices and window surrounds are Geurst is increasingly interested in developing consistent material palette of stone and brick. Each
you can choose. It is very important to have a very combined in a formal game. Laid out on a rational rules within which his collaborators can operate, one subject to different sites and topographies, 140
good brick, as when you spend a lot of energy to plan it owes little to the spatiality of the casbah but whether in his own office or with other architects. cemeteries have been researched and recorded by
make these bricks they should last for more than 50 is instead inspired by the rather unlikely figure of In an echo of the structuralism of Herman Geurst and his office.
years in the building. That is also the problem with Edwin Lutyens. ‘What I learnt from all these cemeteries – almost
calculations. In Holland and maybe also in Britain ‘The commission of Le Medi happened in the a thousand in all – was that Lutyens didn’t design
they make calculations about the energy you put in same period as when I became interested in them all himself, but he invented some rules within
the building. It makes a lot of difference if the Lutyens, and not only his private houses, which which other architects could play. There are some
building lasts for 30 years, 50 years or a hundred I had known for a very long time’, explains Geurst. main rules, like a corporate identity of the
years. The older the building gets the more eco- ‘I saw a publication about the First World War ceme- Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and
nomical it is in terms of embodied energy.’ teries Lutyens did in northern France and Belgium. Lutyens designed some of the bigger ones. The
Geurst & Schulze’s relentlessly serious and rigor- I became interested in his work, and one result is a smaller ones were designed by young architects.
ous architecture is evolving. A recent project in book published this month about his cemeteries. In I visited many of these cemeteries and saw that they
Rotterdam called Le Medi, commissioned by a suc- parallel I got this commission for Le Medi, which were alike, but not the same. They are all variations
cessful immigrant businessman who wanted a hous- was special because of the client’s idea to do some- on a theme.’
ing scheme that would express the cultural diversity thing with the cultural background of the new peo- James Payne is a director of Archipelago Architects and runs a
of the newcomers to the area, is surprisingly relaxed ple in Rotterdam. I did the urban scheme for this design unit at London Metropolitan University.
16 • BB SPRING 10 BB SPRING 10 • 17
PRECEDENT
with a kind of toothed corbelling, which was visually impres- and before the building’s restoration it was obvious that they
sive but structurally unnecessary. The wall projecting at the had been scored and damaged by this work. The flag-like
corner of the barn encloses a small spiral staircase, so here projecting figures on both ends of the cowshed were placed
Häring set the single outer leaf of bricks vertically to take the to protect open doors standing against the wall, while their
tight radius, but the decision to carry on this difficult bond horizontal projections presented buffers against the side
leftward along the side wall in order to let it change with the frames of haycarts delivering to the hayloft above. On the
sliding door seems to have been a purely compositional mat- end of the barn a whole battery of projecting courses provid-
ter. More directly pragmatic, at least in starting point, are the ed a stop for the big sliding door, but the varying length of
projecting courses that produce such strong lines and shad- these strips and their completion with vertical courses seems
ows on some parts of the buildings. Around the edges of the to have been again a purely compositional matter.
root cellar they served as buffers against unloading carts, We know that Hugo Häring, as a member of the
Novembergruppe, was intimately connected with exhibi-
tions of abstract painting which he helped to mount, partic-
ularly one involving Malevitch and El Lissitsky in 1923, and
his oeuvre contains many experiments in facade composi-
tion involving contrasting bands of material pursued for
their visual interest, sometimes with and sometimes without
tectonic purpose. Even buildings actually constructed, like
the Neustadt sausage factory of 1926, were drawn in a way
that emphasises the balance of the visual composition, with
brickwork details like those at Garkau added in drawings but
axed in construction. The relation between visual composi-
tion and tectonic necessity with Häring was complex, but it
did result in the development of a formal vocabulary that
used constructive means to enrich otherwise ordinary build-
ings, producing for example the great textural richness at
the Siemensstadt housing project in Berlin, in contrast with
the bland painted render of blocks by the other architects.
Brick slip cladding been used in the original design. enhanced thermal performance over Adhesive fixing system
Examples of situations where this cavity-fill insulation and minimal site This is similar to the mechanical fixing
Dr Ali Arasteh of the BDA
requirement may arise are buildings waste. The enhanced appearance system in principle. It includes a back-
examines the advantages of constructed in timber frame or con- offered by brick can also be important ing plate made of rigid insulating
brick slip cladding systems. crete masonry. Likewise, situations can in resolving planning issues. material with horizontal guides or
occur where neglect or mechanical There are two basic brick cladding ledges to facilitate speedy installation
action has resulted in extensive dam- systems: in the first, brick slips are of the slips in horizontal lines. The
age to brickwork and a general repair mechanically attached to support rails insulating plate is fixed to the sub-
is impractical and prohibitively expen- of a galvanized profiled steel backing structure with suitable fixings, often
sive. Furthermore, with older housing plate; in the second, slips are glued to nylon plug and screw for fixing to air-
stock there is always a desire to reduce an insulating backing. After fixing the crete. The slips can be cut from any
carbon emissions through improving slips the joints can be grouted in the brick, including handmades, to match
thermal efficiency. The main choices same way in both systems. the required facade appearance. The
for improving the thermal efficiency cut slips are stuck to the insulating
of existing stock are cavity-fill insula- Mechanical fixing system backing using a strong, waterproof
tion, which provides limited benefit, The first step is to fix the steel backing adhesive and the joints are mortared
and thermal boards which intrude plate to the substructure using appro- using a mortar gun. The advantage of
into the internal space. The applica- priate plugs and screws. The backing this system is that it includes an insu-
tion of insulation to the exterior of plates are vertically interlocking to lating backing as part of the package.
existing buildings is often preferable. form a continuous support. Next the This adds thermal insulation value to
The brick industry has responded to brick slips, sometimes referred to as existing buildings without having to
There are few materials which can these requirements by developing brick tiles, are clipped onto the sup- take up internal space.
compete with the appealing appear- over-cladding solutions where the porting rails. The slips are locked into
ance of brick. The variety of colour existing building is given a facelift with position vertically but can be moved Certification
and texture, the robust feel and the minimal disturbance to the occupants horizontally before the joints are Brick slip systems are considered as
minimal maintenance requirement and the original structure. mortared, normally done using a mor- ‘kits’ and are therefore not covered by
are just a few reasons why brick is Other advantages of brick cladding tar gun. The backs of brick slips for any particular product standard. Their
a favourite with housebuilders and systems – generally preferred to ren- this system are specially shaped to lock approval for use is obtained through
occupants. der – are speed of installation (best into the backing plate railings. third party certifications. In the UK
However, it is sometimes desired to realized for large areas of walling), Specially shaped slips are available for this is normally done through the
achieve a brick finish to an existing provision of a waterproof shield use in returns, details around window British Board of Agrément (BBA) or
building where brickwork had not against the ingress of rainwater, openings and soldier courses. Building Research Establishment (BRE).
much improved thermal efficiency Right Detail through brick slip overcladding at the
Painted House, designed by Jonathan Woolf Architects pointing mortar, 10 mm joint
and air tightness.
in collaboration with the project client Bharat Patel.
The cladding system used comprises Above The cladding applied on site at the Painted House
an insulated backing panel which – the system can be installed by semi-skilled labour. The
panel comprises a 0.6mm thick vacuum-formed poly- vacuum formed polystyrene backing panel
comes pre-laminated with a vacuum- styrene waterproof skin creating a brick track, bonded to with brick track
formed waterproof polystyrene skin, vacuum-extruded polystyrene insulation (75mm). The extruded polystyrene insulation 75 mm
brick is a handmade severe weather grade kiln-fired clay
moulded to form a template of slip (ph right: Hélène Binet).
existing brickwork
Far left Mechanically fixed brick cladding in Kilburn by
horizontal tracks which locate the
Levitt Bernstein (ph: Tim Crocker).
brick slips (stone can also be used). Left Installation of mechanically- and adhesive-fixed systems.
22 • BB SPRING 10 BB SPRING 10 • 23