Ceramic

Architecture
Drashtant Bosmiya
 brief history of ceramics
● Ceramics is one of the most ancient industries going back thousands of years. Once humans
discovered that clay could be found in abundance and formed into objects by first mixing
with water and then firing, a key industry was born. The oldest known ceramic artifact is
dated as early as 28,000 BCE
● the Venus of Dolní Věstonice

(The oldest known ceramic artifact)

Ceramics in architecture

● Ceramics are acquiring a more and more

important role in architecture, both as a
finishing designed to improve buildings'
energy efficiency and as an expressive
component of their outer shells.
● Mainly there have been huts as a example of
ceramics but now a new architectural
style\type of architecture; ceramic
architecture
 Ceramics: Composition of clay

Iron substitutes for

silica, alumina or magnesia water
aluminum and magnesium

Are mixed and later are put into a kiln to cook\harden the clay

the clay body loses a bonding

the pots\brick are dried by
"baking" by the heat in the
kiln
agent. The clay particles are no
longer being held together by
water. However, the point in the
firing schedule where clay has
lost its water content is when
another bonding process
begins. This process is called
'sintering'.
Architectural Terracotta
Architectural terracotta refers to a
fired mixture of clay and water that
can be used in a non-structural,
semi-structural, or structural
capacity on the exterior or interior
of a building.
Ceramic building material
Ceramic building Materials is a wide topic
● Adobe – Building material made from earth and organic materials
● Antefix – Terminal block for the covering tiles of a roof
● Architectural terracotta – Fired clay construction material
● Brick – Block or a single unit of a ceramic material used in masonry construction
● Brickwork – Masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar
● Clay – Finely-grained natural rock or soil containing mainly clay minerals
● Cob (material) – Building material made of soil and fiber
● Imbrex and tegula, also known as Roman roofing tiles – Overlapping roof tiles used in ancient Greek and Roman
architecture
● Mudbrick – Unbaked earth used as building material blocks
● Palmette – A decorative motif based on the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree
● Pilae stacks – Tiles used to support a floor over a hypocaust
● Roman brick – Style of brick used in Ancient Roman architecture
● Tile – Manufactured piece of hard-wearing material
Building and firing
The earth used for building ceramic houses is essentially a type of adobe with a higher clay content and fewer impurities. The earth
and water are mixed. The clay/earth mixture is worked into forms, and the blocks dry over a period of one to two weeks. A mortar is
made
The adobe blocks are laid so that the joints are staggered(types of bond). There is no mortar in the vertical joints to allow for
expansion and contraction during firing. Rammed Earth and Mud Pile can also be fired, but must be fired from both sides because of
the thickness of the walls. Building with stiff wet mud, like a potter, allows for thinner walls, and the possibility of incorporating flue
systems into the walls. Arches can be formed by stacking non mortared blocks as form work, and removing them after firing.
The firing system used is based on the availability of fuel The burner is placed at a low opening with room for air circulation, but
protected from wind.
During the early stages of firing, 200–900 °C (392–1,652 °F) water vapor escapes through the flues located on the roof. Once the
steam escapes, roof flues can be closed and heat will circulate the room before escaping from floor vents. This is when the room is
heated to at least 1,000 °C (1,830 °F) and the adobe is baked. After the firing, only the ceiling flues are opened to allow slow
cooling over at least 48 hours.
The outside walls are finished with either a mud straw plaster, fired brick, or ceramic tile. When finished with mud straw plaster, a thin
layer of clay earth and straw is baked on to the structure at the end phase of firing, and a second layer of the plaster troweled on
after cooling. When finished with tiles, they are mortared directly over a waterproofing layer such as tar.
 Case Study (old Ceramic mud houses)
1) Make adobe bricks
2) By a use of a motar,
connect the bricks in a
bond
3) By using a local fuel,
fire up and cook the
clay from the inside to
make the clay to
ceramic
4) Using a mixture of laterite
earth(mud), lime and
cement, a finishing is done
Case Study (IIM)[modern ceramic architecture]