STICKY STONES

WHAT DOES THE BRICK OF THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?

ARCHITECTURE ACADEMY OF AMSTERDAM, STUDIONINEDOTS,

AND STONECYCLING ARE DEVELOPING THE BRICK OF THE FUTURE
FIRST BLOG IN A SERIES OF 3 ON ‘STICKY STONES’, FEBRUARY - JUNE 2016
 PART
I/III
WHY STICKY STONES?
FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM
FACTORY VISIT: STACK AND ERROR
THEMES AND PROTOTYPES
 NORMALLY, BRICKS ARE GLUED BY MEANS OF MORTAR:
NOT DEMOUNTABLE AND THEREFORE VERY SUSTAINABLE.

CAN WE DESIGN BRICKS THAT FUNCTION AS STICKY NOTES?

DEPLOYING GRAVITY AND OTHER MEANS IN CASE TO ACCOMPLISH
A DRY OR DEMOUNTABLE STACKING OF BRICKS: STICKY STONES
 ASSIGNMENT
Not clay as raw material, but toilet bowls, tiles and roof tiles. The people at Stonecycling make bricks from
rubble, and not from clay as we are accustomed to in the Netherlands. How can we further upscale this
sustainability ambition?

Traditional bricks are laid by means of cement/mortar. Moreover, the mortar has reached a level of such high
quality that it glues the bricks together. Not demountable and therefore, very sustainable. It also seems to
rob the brick of its rudimentary, aesthetic and tectonic qualities: stacking balance and stability. The objective
is to discover and design new methods of stacking and connecting bricks. By eliminating the mortar,
students are triggered to reconsider the elementary stacking techniques and the limitations that gravity
imposes on the brick. The assignment focuses on the design and production of bricks that defy, stretch and
deploy these limitations. Allowing bricks to function as sticky notes: deploying gravity or other means in
order to accomplish a dry, or in any case, demountable stacking of bricks: Sticky Stones

With the help of the facilities of Stonecycling and the St. Joris factory, the students translate their design
research into physical prototypes. The experiments and results will be exhibited at FabCity, a circular
campus at the head of the Java Island, as part of the Netherlands’ presidency of the EU in 2016.
 SINCE AGES, WE LAY BRICKS TO CREATE WALLS, AND COUNTLESS DESIGNS
ARE DERIVED FROM THE VARIOUS SIZES, BONDS AND JOINTS. HOWEVER THE
NEW DRY STACKING SYSTEMS DIVIDE WALLS INTO BRICKS AND THEREFORE
THEY FIT IN ONLY ONE WAY (IKEA-WISE) BUT HOW TO DESIGN DRY SYSTEMS
WITH VARIOUS POSSIBILITIES & EXPRESSIONS? HOW TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM?
 DURING THE FACTORY VISIT,
STUDENTS GOT INSIGHTS IN
THE PRODUCTION PROCES OF
THE WASTE-BASED BRICKS.
THEY ALSO PRESENTED THEIR
FIRST IDEAS AND EXPRESSED
THEM IN STACKED
STRUCTURES, MADE OF LEFT
OVER BRICKS
 STUDENTS PITCHED THEIR FIRST
PROTOTYPES AND ARE DIVIDED IN 3
GROUPS TO WORK OUT THE NEXT THEMES:

1. SURFACE: MAXIMIZE GRIPS

2. WEAVING: TIE BRICKS TOGETHER
3. DNA OF BRICK: STRUCTURES
STICKY STONES 2016 - O4 ASSIGNMENT AMSTERDAM ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE

Amsterdam Academy of Architecture: Machiel Spaan

Studioninedots: Jurjen van der Horst
Stonecycling: Ward Massa
St.Joris keramische industrie B.V.