brick

The greats of twentieth-century Colombian architecture were regarded for their genuine interest in brick. To this day, many of Colombia's iconic neighborhoods are filled with brick buildings. 

Below, a selection of stunning Colombian brick projects. 

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Bricks have historically been the cornerstone of a wide array of living spaces, providing everything from enclosure and protection to the framework for letting in sunlight. Whether it be for their economic or aesthetic aspects in both color and texture, the use of brick can be glimpsed in cities the world over. 

In spite of its practicality and widespread use, brick does present a challenge for architects and builders. Everything from humidity, wind, sun, mold, and time leaves its mark on brick, gradually wearing down its practical and aesthetic properties.

But fear not, in the following article we'll give you our tips on how to best treat and care for brick.

Carlo Ratti Associati has released details of their schematic design for the University of Milan’s new science campus, featuring robotically-assembled brick facades, porous communal areas, and natural oases. Working in collaboration with Australian real estate group Lendlease, the “Science for Citizens” proposal will sit within a new Milan Innovation District, located on the site of Milan’s 2015 World Expo.

Located within this new district, and home to over 18,000 students and 2,000 researchers, the “Science for Citizens” proposal seeks to “put forward a vision for an open campus that becomes a testing ground for innovative education while fostering exchanges between the university and the surrounding innovation neighborhood.”

The Brick Industry Association (BIA) has announced the winners of the 2018 Brick in Architecture Awards, given to “the country’s most visionary projects incorporating fired-clay brick.” This year, 19 projects were selected from 88 total entries, spanning commercial, educational, landscaping, and residential categories.

“Fired-clay brick offers unlimited aesthetic flexibility, and is an integral part of any sustainable, low maintenance building strategy,” said Ray Leonhard, BIA’s president and CEO.

Full details on the awards and winners are available on the official website here. Below, we have organized the winning schemes by category.

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Eduardo Souto de Moura, in collaboration with META architectuurbureau, has released images of a proposed urban renewal project in the Belgian city of Bruges. The Beursplein & Congresgebouw consists of a new exhibition hall and covered public square on the site of a recently demolished trade fair complex.

The $46million (€40million) scheme seeks to act as a catalyst for urban renewal at the center of Bruges, with a dual role of exhibition hall and conference center capable of receiving business delegates on weekdays, and tourists on weekends.

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Penda has released images of its proposed high-rise residential tower in Tel Aviv, featuring brick arches and cascading terraces influenced by the city’s Bauhaus era and the materiality of its Old Town. The 380-foot-high (116-meter-high) scheme will house a range of one to four bedroom apartments, as well as double-height penthouses.

For the scheme’s design, Penda rejected the “generic glass tower” in favor of a form and materiality which responds to Tel Aviv’s sunny Mediterranean climate.

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A team comprising Schauman & Nordgren Architects, MASU Planning, and Schauman Architects have been announced as winners of an invited competition for the design of a new exhibition, shopping, and housing scheme in an old customs area of Tampere, Finland. The “Tulli Halls” scheme is defined by a red brick materiality referencing the industrial heritage of the area, and a central tower forming a “beacon and focal point for Tampere.”

The scheme seeks to balance old and new, as well as public and private, with a form which has a “grounding in Tampere’s heritage as well as aspiring future” and public space to improve living conditions of residents and offer meeting places for the general public.

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Manuel Herz has been chosen to design the expansion of the Tambacounda Hospital in rural Senegal, conceived and funded by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and American Friends of Le Korsa.

The extension is viewed as an urgent project to address overcrowding in the vital facility, with the demands of 20,000 annual patients resulting in hot, overcrowded communal spaces, and children sharing beds in wards. The Foundation described Manuel Herz as the “unanimous choice” with an approach showing “a mix of visual flair, practical understanding, and profound humanitarianism.”

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French designer, Nathanaël Abeille's metalized pieces in 'Proyecto Reflexión' shows how a building could reflect sunlight and share it with another building in some of the narrow spaces of Villa 21 de Barracas, Buenos Aires. These "metal bricks" came about as a combined team effort with architects Francisco Ribero and journalist Cecilia Fortunato.

Review the full project after the break.

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This week we present a selection of the best images of brick houses published on our site. These 11 Mexican projects reveal the diversity of expression that architects in the country have achieved through creative arrangements of the brick modules. read on for a selection of images from prominent photographers such as Carlos Berdejo Mandujano, Onnis Luque, and Patrick Lopez.

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• Architects

  ADAP Architects, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

• Location

  Tujianaozhen, Liangzihu, Ezhou, Hubei, China

• Project Architects

  Gangyi Tan, Dunyuan Zhang, Min Qian, Sha Liu

• Client

  Liangguang Xiong

• Main contractor

  Liangguang Xiong, and local people

• Area

  445.0 m2

• Project Year

  2017

• Photographs

  Gangyi Tan, Jinghao Feng

Uniting the material intelligence of vernacular crafts with the precision and flexibility provided by the new digital design and manufacturing technologies, the Robotic Fabrication LAB of The Faculty of Architecture of HKU has developed the CeramicINformation Pavilion, with the objective of finding suitable levels of automation to be used for emerging and transitioning economies.

Part of an evolving series, each of its 1,000 components is unique and relates specifically to its neighboring units. The elements are constructed through 3D printing and are made of terracotta brick, a material commonly used in modern Chinese construction.

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Danish firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects has been selected to design the redevelopment of Kimmel Quarter, a historic district in the heart of the Latvian capital of Riga, after an international competition. The 19th-century Kimmel Brewery complex, now mostly abandoned, will be transformed into a mixed-use center featuring a new office building, hotel, and an array of public facilities. Schmidt Hammer Lassen was one of eleven participants, with firms such as Henning Larsen and Zaha Hadid invited to the open competition.

The proposal for the 120,000-square-foot (11,500-square-meter) district manifests as a vibrant, public-orientated program, including a gym, child care center, café, food court, and spa. A series of courtyards and plazas are laced throughout the scheme, connecting old and new in a “timeless, classic appearance that is also uniquely contemporary.” The design took 2nd place in a competition in which no first place winner was selected, as the jury felt that no entry fully met the competition criteria. As the highest-placing entry, the competition organizers have committed to begin negotiations with Schmidt Hammer Lassen to refine the design.

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Gonzalo Viramonte has released a series of photographs that focus in on the use of bricks by engineer Eladio Dieste in his Atlántida Cristo Obrero church.

Viramonte shows us the essence of the project with an artful register that places the serial yet simple material element (the brick) at the forefront. This gallery also celebrates the potential and versatility of bricks by highlighting the artfully geometric interior and exterior spaces and the apertures that allow natural light to cast upon the walls, floors, and other surfaces. 

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• Architects

  Technical University of Berlin / CODE Chair Construction + Design - Ralf Pasel

• Location

  Av. Santa Cruz, Quillacollo, Bolivia

• Architects in Charge

  Ralf Pasel, Andreas Skambas, Lorena Valdivia, Anna Wortmann

• Design Team

  Arch. Students of Tech. University of Berlin; Jasmin Auda, Sabrina Baschinski, Johannes Belz, Larsen Berg, Svenja Binz, Magdalena Böttcher, Antonia Breckwoldt, Ammon Budde, Vera Burkhardt, Almar de Ruiter, Anja Dotter, Oskar Ellwanger, Simon Finzel, Ellinor Förster, Carolin Friedrich, Paulina Hagen, Olga Herrenbrück, Lisa van Heyden, Anne Hommerich, Tom Jones, Detlev Kerkow, Felizitas Konrad, Bastian Landgraf, Jonathan Lewkowicz, Juri Lux, Annalena Morra, Canan Öztekin, Eyal Michael Perez, Tessa Poth, Charlotte Reh, Benjamin C. Schaad, Hong Mai Tran, Paul Walter, Karol Wojtas, Xiao Xiao.

• Area

  235.0 m2

• Project Year

  2017

• Photographs

  CODE + Johannes Belz

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• Architects

  China Northwest Architecture Design and Research Institute

• Location

  Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

• Design Team

  Zhao Yuanchao, Zhi Pu, Wang Dong, Hui Qiannan

• Area

  69000.0 m2

• Project Year

  2014

• Photographs

  Chen Su