Welcome - The Brick Development Associationrecall local stone detailing called snecked rubble. Through the pattern and the use of two base colours of brick, the facades trans-form

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2 • BB SUMMER 2012

Perhaps more than any otherbuilding material, brick has atendency to get under the skin.Peter Wilson of Münster-basedarchitect Bolles & Wilson epito-mises this lifelong relationship,recounting the practice’s explo-ration of brick’s expressivepotential in a series of notablebuildings. It’s an intriguing con-trast with the early modernists,including Mendelsohn andRietveld, who disguised brick-work beneath a skin of render.

Sarah Huelin AA Dipl

To find out more about the bricks or paversin featured projects, or to submit work, [email protected] or phone 020 7323 7030.

BB SUMMER 2012 • 3

4 NEWS

Projects in Aarhus and Chelmsford; FirstPerson – Neil Gillespie of Reiach & Hall.

6 PROJECTSJeanne Dekkers, Lewandowski Willcox, Landolt & Brown, GHM Rock Townsend, Kister Scheithauer Gross, Metaphorm, Biq,Korth Tielens, Stephen Taylor Architects, Perring Architecture, Squire & Partners.

14 PROFILEPeter Wilson on the expressive brickworkof Bolles & Wilson.

20 PRECEDENTBrick beneath the skin: iconic projectsby Melnikov, Mendelsohn and Rietveld.

22 TECHNICALGlenn Howells Architects’ BrammalBuilding at the University of Birmingham.

Executive editor: Sarah Huelin AA Dipl t: 020 7323 7030 e: [email protected] Development Association, The Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London, WC1E 7BT

The BDA represents manufacturers of clay brick and pavers in the UK and Ireland andpromotes excellence in the architectural, structural and landscape applications of brickand pavers. The BDA provides practical, technical and aesthetic advice and informationthrough its website www.brick.org.uk, in its numerous publications and over the phone.

ISSN 0307-9325 Published by the BDA ©2012 Editorial/design: Architecture Today plc

Blockleys Brick t +44 (0)1952 251933 www.blockleys.co.ukBovingdon Brickworks t +44 (0)1442 833176 www.bovingdonbricks.co.ukBroadmoor Brickworks t +44 (0)1594 822255 [email protected] Brick & Tile Co t +44 (0)1787 269 232 [email protected] Traditional Brick t +44 (0)1501 730671 www.caradale.co.ukCarlton Brick t +44 (0)1226 711521 www.carltonbrick.co.ukCharnwood Forest Brick t +44 (0)1509 503203 www.charnwoodforest.co.ukChartwell Brickworks t +44 (0)1732 463712 www.chartwellbrickworks.comColeford Brick & Tile t +44 (0)1594 822160 www.colefordbrick.co.ukDunton Brothers t +44 (0)1494 772111 www.duntonbros.co.ukFreshfield Lane Brickworks t +44 (0)1825 790350 www.freshfieldlane.co.ukFurness Brick & Tile Co t +44 (0)1229 462411 www.furnessbrick.comHanson UK t +44 (0)870 609 7092 www.hanson.com/ukHG Matthews t +44 (0)1494 758212 www.hgmatthews.comIbstock Brick t +44 (0)1530 261999 www.ibstock.co.ukKetley Brick t +44 (0)1384 78361 www.ketley-brick.co.ukLagan Brick t +353 (0)42 9667317 www.laganbrick.comMichelmersh Brick & Tile t +44 (0)1794 368506 www.michelmersh.co.ukAJ Mugridge t +44 (0)1952 586986 www.ajmugridge.co.ukNorthcot Brick t +44 (0)1386 700551 www.northcotbrick.co.ukOrmonde Brick t +353 (0)56 4441323 www.ormondebrick.iePhoenix Brick Company t +44 (0)1246 471576 www.bricksfromphoenix.co.ukTyrone Brick t +44 (0)28 8772 3421 www.tyrone-brick.comThe York Handmade Brick Co t +44 (0)1347 838881 www.yorkhandmade.co.ukWH Collier t +44 (0)1206 210301 www.whcollier.co.ukWienerberger t +44 (0)161 4918200 www.wienerberger.co.uk

ARCHITECTURETODAY

NEWS FIRST PERSON


Aarhus housing goes back to brick

Danish practices Adept and Luplau & Poulsenhave won a design competition for a major harbour-side residential scheme in their home-town of Aarhus. Titled City in the Building, the12,000 square metre development challengesthe massive scale of the surrounding port byproposing a series of brick structures, rangingin height from three to eight storeys, andplanned around a landscaped courtyard. Sharedroof-top greenhouses and common areas arecombined with subtle changes in brick bond,colour, and depth to create a sense of commu-nity and ownership. Due to complete in 2013, the ‘zero energy’ project will include greenroofs, solar panels and rainwater harvesting.

Chelmsford re-design gets go-ahead

Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects hasobtained planning permission to redevelop the former Anglia Ruskin University campus in the centre of Chelmsford, Essex. The 2.5 hectare scheme (right) for the GenesisHousing Association includes over 500 homes,8000- square metres of commercial and com-munity facilities, as well as the refurbishment ofseveral historic structures. Mixed-use retail andoffice buildings in a dark glazed brick framethe south side of Station Square, while also forming a curved gateway to the new urbanquarter. Planned around a series of publicopen spaces, the four-storey residential blocksare finished in a buff-coloured brick withchamfered reveals around the windows andbalconies. Red brick retail and commercialpremises complete the eastern side of the site,complementing the surrounding buildings.

Brick Awards 2012 launched

The Brick Development Association haslaunched this year’s Brick Awards. The criteriafor entry is that projects feature clay bricks orpavers made by BDA members (except for theWorldwide Brick Award). There are 16 awardssplit into three categories: housing, buildingand landscape, and technical and craft. Newfor 2012 is the Architects Choice Award for the shortlisted project that receives the most votes from registered architects and architectural students. There is also the BDASupreme Award for the overall winner. BobAllies of architect Allies & Morrison will chair the judging panel. The closing date for entries is 15 June. The awards will be presented at the Marriott Grosvenor SquareHotel in London on 13 November. Entryforms can be obtained from the BDA website,www.brick.org.uk/brick-awards-2012-entry-form, by emailing [email protected] or by calling 020 7323 7030.

Over the last few years we have been rediscov-ering the use of brick in our projects. In manyways, this re-engagement takes us back to themore innocent architectural times of the1960s when Scandinavian modernism was atouchstone for our newly-formed practice. In the works of Gunnar Asplund, Jørn Utzonand Arne Jacobsen the International Style wassoftened and enriched through the use of so-called ‘natural’ materials with their texturaland contextual associations. The graphic rendering of a white universal architecturewas mellowed and humanised through materi-als such as brick, naturally expressed timber,copper and stone. The dynamic plans andsimple massing of contemporary design weremade relevant to a culture that remained con-nected to an idea of localism.

In these days of contractor-designed por-tions, prefabricated systems, work packages,and performance bonds, it is a real joy toreturn to making rather than assembling.Brick is defined by the act of making, it ismeasured by the human hand; its source andmanufacture are elemental and ancient.Architects are increasingly cut off from theircraft by the contracting business. In somesmall way working with brick reconnects us tomore considered and human times.

Our practice has recently completed threeprojects, as well as having two still in design,using bricks that are richly varied in colourand have wonderful haptic qualities. We arebecoming increasingly interested in materialsthat look better through time, rather thanmaterials that look their best on day one, butgradually lose their sheen thereafter.

Dundee Council administrative headquar-ters uses a brick that has the colour andappeal of a freshly-baked white loaf. The

Neil Gillespie of Reiach & Hall on the Edinburgh-based architect’s rediscovery of brick.


building’s in-situ concrete structure, plasticand permanent, needed an envelope withqualities that matched the durability andsense of commitment in a future. In counter-point to the recent wave of school and hospital projects that adopt steel frames cladin a patchwork of proprietary systems – eachas thin and as insubstantial as the next – welooked to a more durable construction. Forthis civic building in a city core, we strove foran expression that evoked a sense of civilityand stillness with a certain nobility of propor-tion. The west-facing facades are deeply mod-elled, combining elements of brick, precastconcrete and glass. They attempt to reconcilea traditional context with the clarity and precision of a material-based modernity.

In the last few months we have completedtwo Further Education College buildings forForth Valley College. The first is located inAlloa on a demanding edge-of-town site. Thesecond is located on the broad carse of themeandering River Forth at Stirling. The Alloabuilding is tense, dynamically projectingbetween mature trees over a steep slope andopening up dramatic views to the Ochil Hillsto the north. Following the lead of the lan-guid path of the river, the Stirling building isrelaxed and expressed as an open, generousform. In contrast to the depth of the facadesat Dundee, both college buildings use brickas a thinly detailed durable skin that bothacknowledges the taut, economical plans andsimple forms, while adding texture and afamiliar surface.

Two smaller but extremely high profileprojects – a Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centrein Lanarkshire, and a visitor centre for theNational Trust for Scotland’s site of the Battle

of Bannockburn – continue the explorationof brick facades. At Maggie’s, a perforatedbrick garden wall encloses a simple plan thatis also perforated through a series of innercourtyards. The brick walls to the gardenincorporate a complex pattern recalling theancient use of willow hurdles to enclose gardens. The Bannockburn brick facades,through a stacked Flemish bond pattern,recall local stone detailing called sneckedrubble. Through the pattern and the use oftwo base colours of brick, the facades trans-form from light tones in the south to dark

tones in the north. Once again, both build-ings demonstrate the durable and lovedaspects of brick while also considering theidea of narrative or storytelling through thelayering of patterning and embellishment.Both draw on the qualities of a unique mate-rial that evolves and matures through time,one with the capacity to be at once traditional and contemporary.

Neil Gillespie is the chairman and design directorof Reiach & Hall Architects, and a visiting professor at Scott Sutherland School of Architecture,Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.

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House T (for technology) completes thesixth and final phase of the BremerhavenUniversity of Applied Sciences campus rede-velopment. Designed by German architectKister Scheithauer Gross, the 2500 squaremetre building houses laboratories, offices,meeting spaces, seminar rooms and a 135-person auditorium.In contrast to the dark masonry tones that

dominate much of the university, the five-storey concrete-framed structure is rendered in a warm, pale pink brick. Theaim is to draw attention to the new facility,without disrupting the ‘grain’ of the cam-pus. In keeping with the scheme’s boldmassing, the base of the auditorium is cut back to reveal a steeply sloping brick-


PROJECTS

clad soffit. Set into this, is a large flush-faced window and a secondary entrance whosedeep reveals appear to be carved out of solid brick. Internally, pink linoleum floors animate

the predominantly white and grey structureand fabric, while also making subtle refer-ence to the brick tones of the exterior.


Set within mature Gardens in Bramhall,Cheshire, Sheringham House is a large late-Victorian dwelling arranged over three storeys.The new wing, designed by London-basedpractice Stephen Taylor Architects, subtly shifts the emphasis of the plan westwards with the creation of an informal kitchen/livingspace housed within a two-storey structure.Exaggerated in scale, the extension adopts thesame geometric language as the octagonal baywindow forms that mark the principle rooms ofthe existing house. Its masonry exterior, whichfeatures concrete lintels, plant, shelf windowcills and expressive brick banding, reinterpretsthe materiality and surface articulation of theoriginal building.

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Won in competition, Metaphorm’s LibraryStreet housing scheme is part of an initiativeby the London Borough of Southark to establish a new generation of mixed-tenureresidential architecture that is affordable,light and flexible. Adopting a courtyardform, the development comprises fortyunits, ranging from large family flats to four-bedroom townhouses.

A stepped six-storey apartment block onthe western side of the site combines generous loggias, terraces, balconies andwinter gardens, with a landscaped roof gar-den. The living spaces are mostly orientatedtowards the south, east and west, maximis-ing sunlight. All the upper floor windowsare storey-high, providing good daylighting.

Enclosing a green open space to the


south, the six townhouses are plannedaround a first-floor piano nobile and fea-ture high ceilings and full-width balconies.

In addition to scale and massing, materi-ality and detailing were viewed as key tointegrating the building within its conserva-tion area site. Making reference to thecolour variation of the adjoining buildings,five different shades of brick were chosenfor the external elevations. In contrast tothe surrounding context, a slim-line brickwas specified with a subtle hand-madeappearance, laid in a random bond. Thefacades are articulated by projecting andreceding, storey-high masonry panels ineach of the five brick tones, together withwhite pre-cast concrete elements.


Responding to a tight overlooked suburbansite, a new three-storey family home in Barnes,south-west London by Lewandowski Willcox is designed to provide both privacy and open-plan living. A courtyard form draws naturallight into the heart of the building, and provides a sheltered external space. Timber-louvred windows and a large central lightwellprovide additional daylighting, while minimi-sing visual intrusion. An external pooladjacent to the lightwell reflects sunlight intothe interior. Conceived as a ‘garden wall’ buil-ding, the masonry envelope responds to thepredominantly London stock brick context.Large expanses of brickwork are modulatedusing nothing more than a Flemish bondpunctuated by random dark headers.

Atolplaza by Jeanne Dekkers Architectuurforms a key element in the regeneration ofa 1980s neighbourhood in Lelystad,Holland. Planned around a pair of centrally-

three colours: white, grey and black. Theyare intended to unite the building’s boldmassing and diverse programme, while alsoreflecting the monochrome tones of thesurrounding context. Muted grey fenestra-tion, together with retractable external sun-shades – colour-matched to the brickwork – complete the homogenous effect.

located atria, the five-storey schemeincludes two schools, a youth centre, library,sports hall and residential apartments.Large skylights are used to naturally lightthe deep-plan communal areas.

Inward-angled walls at ground- and first-floor level reveal a red-painted soffit whichsignposts the main entrance. The facadesare conceived as a brick mosaic comprising



Central to Perring Architecture & Design’sremodelling of a 1930s Arts & Crafts house,sited close to the New Forest National Park inHampshire, is the creation of an expressivemasonry entrance and lobby. As well as providing sheltered access to the house, thesingle-storey, flat-roofed structure framesoblique views of an existing Japanese flower-ing cherry tree set within the mature garden. Pre-existing site conditions necessitated acranked plan, which is articulated externallythrough the use of stepped and offset brickcourses, where the individual bricks remainaligned to the orthogonal axis of the house.The resulting play of sunlight and shadowover the uneven masonry surface providesadditional modulation and tactile appeal.

The Osmani Centre is a youth and commu-nity facility in East London designed byGHM Rock Townsend. Situated on a busythoroughfare linking Whitechapel withBethnal Green, the four-storey scheme pro-vides social and recreational amenities, aswell as employment opportunities for youngpeople from the surrounding area. Derivedfrom the sehan, or traditional Moorish

courtyard, the building’s tight cube-likeform is combined with a large glazed atriumto bring natural light and ventilation into thedeep-plan spaces.

Brick was chosen for the external envelopenot only to give the impression of solidityand protection, but also to ground the build-ing in its context and to recall the East End’sindustrial past. The unusually dark stock

brick – resulting from a selection processinvolving the client, design team and enduser – is intended to distinguish the centrefrom its masonry neighbours, endowing itwith civic presence and visual impact. Acoloured black/grey mortar combined withraked 5mm joints emphasises the colour andtexture of the bricks, as well as the half-lapstretcher bond used throughout.


Scheduled for final completion in 2025,Leidsche Rijn is a new residential district inthe western suburbs of Utrecht in Holland.Set within the 2500-hectare masterplan andforming part of the Grauwaart neighbour-hood is a high-density social housingscheme by architects Biq and Korth Tielens. Intended to promote human interaction

and construction efficiency, the schemeadopts an urban perimeter block form, withBiq responsible for the high-rise elements(4-5 storeys) and Korth Tielens undertakingthe low-rise units (2-3 storeys). The buildings are united through the use

of bold massing and a sparse materialpalette comprising yellow/grey bricks,anodised aluminium window frames andacid-washed, precast concrete lintels, para-pets and balconies. By adopting differentbrick joints and bonds – most notablystacked headers – as well as introducing subtle changes in fenestration and concretecolouring, each architect has been able to apply its own signature to the develop-ment without compromising the overallsense of cohesion.



Landolt & Brown’s West HampsteadThameslink station in London includes ticketing facilities, staff and passenger support, as well as a small retail concession.Architect Adam Brown says brick was usedon the project for two principal reasons:‘First, we wanted a material that couldextend from the long external spacethrough which the station is approached,into the concourse building itself. Theintention was to form a single plane thatwould create a strong dialogue between thelightweight steel station and the weighty,piled retaining walls against which it sits.

The use of sawtooth profile bricks on theexternal wall emphasises the depth androbustness of this ground-retaining struc-ture, while the flat brick used as an internalwall lining is more planar in quality, allow-ing it to sit comfortably with the glass andmetal panel fabric of the station.’

‘Second, it was considered essential thatthe facing material of the new wall, whichdominates the approach to the station,should create a high degree of visual inter-est and respond specifically to the avenue oflime trees which overhang the new publicspace. The use of the glazed, sawtooth pro-file brick also allows the wall to graduate incolour from dark green at one end to palegreen at the other, based on the changingshades of the lime trees above. The wall’srich texture creates a particularly strikingthree-dimensional surface at night, and itsfaceted, hardwearing finish also acts as adeterrent to graffiti and fly-posting.’


Occupying a corner site in Mayfair, London,5 Hanover Square by Squire & Partners is asustainable mixed-use development com-prising over 8400 square metres of office,residential and gallery space. The facadesare intended to create a dialogue with thesurrounding context, particularly a hand-some black brick Georgian building nearbyat 20 Hanover Square.

Intended as a contemporary response totripartite composition in terms of scale andproportion, the strongly modelled eleva-tions are constructed from a richly textured50mm grey/black brick laid in a Flemishbond. The walls are punctuated by deepwindow reveals lined with white precast concrete mixed with reflective mica, andoffset with vertical gold fins. A dark limemortar provides a uniform treatment acrossthe brickwork.

An early design ambition was to achieveminimal movement joints and the detaileddesign allowed a reduction in the numberof vertical movement joints to just one oneach of the primary elevations. The brick-work is tied to the frame with vertical steelfins and horizontal shelf angles running atthe head of each double-height window.The elasticity of the lime mortar adds fur-ther flexibility to the brickwork, while theuse of traditional nine-inch brickwork pro-vides more weight to the envelope, furtherreducing movement.

The top floor is designed as a mansardclad in matt black photovoltaic panels – oneof the first projects in London to use thepanels as cladding. The inset windows areoffset from the geometry of the facade, pro-ducing a saw-tooth profile that faces southand west for maximum solar exposure.

Peter Wilson and Julia Bolles first metwhile studying at London’s ArchitecturalAssociation. They moved to Germany in1989, establishing what is now one ofEurope’s most respected and busy offices,with projects from Albania to Australia, as well as Germany and the Netherlands.The sophisticated use of brick has been ahallmark of Bolles + Wilson’s work fromthe outset and, as Peter Wilson explains,this comes from both the head and theheart, combining technical ingenuity withsensitivity and flair for colour and texture.


PROFILEo

How has the use of brick developed in your work, andwhich projects have been important in this process?At the age of twelve a significant moment in my evolu-tion from childhood to architect-hood occurred. On overhearing my Australian Aunty Edna growl ‘shita brick’ I was instantly enlightened to the fact that the baked-earth-tectonic-multiple possessed not onlyphysical but also rhetorical, metaphoric, emblematicand even anatomic dimensions. Not that many yearslater, as a unit master at the Architectural Associationin London, I was charged with the enlightenment of asubsequent generation of architects. My teaching ofthe Diploma Unit One focussed on a weave of the tec-tonic, the physical properties and manipulations ofmaterials (or at least the representation thereof) withan equivalent metaphoric and even poetic potential.


if I remember correctly, the accompanying metaphor.This sort of facade plasticity would today fall underthe ‘cutting edge’ rubric of ‘Parametric’ architecture,with a three-dimensional model skipping down elec-tronic highways, direct from architect to proud pro-prietor of a laser stonecutter. In our case the facadewas brick and the three-dimensional solution some-what more traditional. A skilled and stoic masterbricklayer came out of retirement and, with the aid ofa plumb line, persuaded the bricks to slip around a seductive curve and in corbelled courses from the vertical to a rakish angled corner. The chosen bricksurface was what Germans like to refer to as ‘haptic’,an infinitely useful word whose translation lies some-where between ‘sensual’ and ‘tactile’. Here the darkgreen glaze exaggerates variation in daily and

It was not until Julia Bolles and I had quit the heady altitudes of Bedford Square and relocated to mainlandEurope, however, that we were able to put such specu-lations to the test. Already in our first major work, theNew City Library in Münster (1993), we had, with com-pliant local brick producers, cooked up recipes forproject-specific brick surfaces – an azure blue glaze formask-like attachments, and a sombre, almost metallic,oil-fired brick for the building’s podium. These experiments informed a subsequent office

building, for agricultural organisation WLV, whoseserpentine facades curve and lean, refusing to frag-ment into a flotilla of deconstructed subcomponents(as was the then preferred manner). Our theme was‘mass’, weight, the corporeality of the whole buildingas integral form – a single ‘brick of architecture’ was,

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directional light qualities. Looking up the bright skyis reflected; in shadow the brick surface is extra dark,a deep mysterious oily penumbra. The result is a sortof environmental mimesis, a performative buildingthat takes on different characters according to thetime of day, weather conditions and the position of anobservant and reflective viewer.

Is context the main factor in determining your use ofbrick? What other key factors drive this decision?Context interpretation is certainly one determinate,but even here we are always on the lookout for inventive interpretation, if not blatantly naughty mis-readings. This was the case for the office building ona site next door to our own office. The vernacular inthese parts is red brick, something we had avoided be-fore this super-red (red-orange in fact) monolith. Itsmortar joint has exactly the same colour as the bricksthemselves; the bond is like a provisional stack, justunloaded from the adjacent harbour. Close inspec-tion reveals that all bricks have the same orientation –headers to the north and south, with stretchers for theeast and west facades. The sculptural cut-outs were de-termined by building regulations: for the upper floorsa five-metre setback from the kinked property line,and somewhat more for the passage of fire engines atpavement level. A sort of regional contextual stereotype could also

serve as an explanation for our choice of the excep-tionally thin traditional Dutch Hilversum format for the recent City Library in Helmond in theNetherlands – though the brick supplier was German.

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The ambition for a fine-grained horizontal striationwas achieved with a dark brick, a light horizontal mor-tar joint and vertical joints left open, providing a well-ventilated facade.There is in fact a profound philosophical differ-

ence between Dutch and German bricks. The formerare porous, requiring adequate cavity ventilation anddrainage, the latter are impermeable, acting first andforemost as the waterproof layer. The opening up ofthe European market has led to some inappropriatedetailing and its inevitable consequences.

How important is bond, colour and texture? Has thelanguage of brick construction developed in particularprojects, and how has this evolved? What endears one to brick is the fact that each proj-ect offers the chance to enrich one’s bond, colourand textural vocabulary. A big favourite is a north-German Witmunder brick, traditionally-produced inturf-fired kilns, rough and with wildly varyingcolours – haptic in the extreme. We used it for ourFalkenried residential tower in Hamburg, with pro-jecting courses to give added depth to selected fields –a tweedy weave. Not long after, we further pursued the fabric anal-

ogy for the facade of a shopping block in the Hague.It is big, has few windows and had to mediate betweenthe 1920s expressionist brick facade of Piet Kramer’sDe Bijenkorf store and the white monolith of RichardMeier’s City Hall. With enthusiastic support from thecity’s chief planner we persuaded our clients that only an exceptional brick weave could provide the



dignity the situation required. The pattern is from the1930s, something I photographed years ago in Oslo.Glued panels were considered but in the end tradi-tional bricklayers did what their predecessors hadbeen doing for centuries.All these examples are hung facades, woven rain-

coats suspended in front of woolly underwear – 200-300mm of thermal insulation – and concrete skele-tons. The bricks speak of integrity (a semanticsurface); the underwear evidences one interpretationof sustainability (that of the insulation industry’s lobbyists in Brussels). As long-term advocates of low-tech, we could well envisage a counter-sustainabilityargument from the brick industry – very thick walls(lots of brick) and lifecycle energy calculations whichtake into account durability – buildings like Georgianterraces that prove their worth over a hundred ormore years. This is the philosophy our more far-sight-ed building system, lifecycle and sustainable energyconsultants are now advocating.

Are there particular architects whose use of brick hasinspired or influenced you? We were for a while looking at Mies van der Rohe, inparticular the Lange and Esters Houses in Krefeld,Germany, whose stringent grids were a modernist aes-thetic interpretation of industrial architecture. On theother hand we are not averse to a certain softness inAlvar Aalto’s brickwork, or the patterned expressionistsurface depth in buildings like Fritz Höger’s Chilehausin Hamburg. Our new City Hall and cinema block atHaarlem in the Netherlands most clearly demonstratesthis ambition to enrich a modernist form languagewith an abstracted interpretation of traditional detail.The historic centre of Haarlem is small-scale and

fine-grained, and the question was how to graft a major input of contemporary programmes into thisdelicate urban texture. Initially our brief was for a casi-no and a cinema centre, a large lump with almost nowindows. Luckily the casino mutated into a city hall(no political metaphor intended) and we set about



developing a casement window that could be recessed, flush or set proud of the brick surface. Two instructions from an enlightened alderman – ‘thinkDudok and don’t forget the clock tower’ – promptedour subsequent brick elaborations. Cubic cut-outs inthe spirit of Willem Dudok’s Frank-Lloyd-Wrightiantown hall in Hilversum (1931) gave us a volumetriccomposition compatible with the surrounding roofs-cape. Projecting courses gave the brick facade a‘tweedy’ depth. The same brick, laid flush and with amuch lighter mortar joint defined pinkish windowfields. At a certain point we were asked to incorporatefragments rescued from the nineteenth-centuryschool which previously occupied this site. Two stonearches were restored and mounted proud of the facade, Carlo Scarpa-like, on steel supports. Two stat-ues perch, a flock of handsome cast-iron anchorsswarm above the car park entrance and some 1950sstone sculptures are embedded in a projecting brickwall. The building is bisected at ground level by a pas-sage leading to the new and networked block interior,a passage that also divides the below-ground cinemafrom the city offices above.

The Haarlem Raaks project is the latest manifesta-tion of our ongoing brick researches. From time totime we philosophically ennoble these experimentsby quoting Martin Heidegger’s ‘brickness’ of a brick.We are also very fond of Louis Kahn’s ‘you have to askthe brick what it wants to be’, although one suspectsthat a sample recently arrived in our Münster officemight well respond with reference to my Aunty Edna.


Icons of bright, white modernismare not always what they seem, as the restorations of buildings by Mendelsohn, Melnikov andRietveld have revealed.


PRECEDENT

Brick beneath the skin

The white planar and modelled surfaces that characterisemany modern movement buildings are often skin deep.Beneath their veneers of stucco, Erich Mendelsohn’s Einsteintower in Potsdam, Konstantin Melnikov’s Moscow house, andGerrit Rietveld’s Schröder house in Utrecht, to name butthree, are brick. The reasons for this were usually pragmatic,in terms of cost and availability of materials, but the respectivearchitects also wanted to express alliegance to the new age ofreinforced concrete. Given the problems that have besetmany early concrete structures, however, their very survivalmay be thanks to the resilience of their brick construction.

The expressionist Einstein tower was built from 1919-24 tohouse a solar observatory and, until the second world war,was the most prominent research institution in the field.Though designed for Albert Einstein, and to corroborate histheories, he never worked there. A substantial refurbish-ment was begun in 1997, and the tower re-opened in 1999.

Rietveld’s Schröder house, also completed in 1924, wasbased on the principles of de Stijl painting, with a brief toavoid walls. Because the decision to use brick was made afterthe project started on site, and the details not updated accord-ingly, problems of cracking and dampness soon emerged andextensive repair work was required only five years after itscompletion. Decades later, the house was restored by BertusMulder and opened to the public as a museum.

Melnikov’s Moscow home and studio was his last work.Built in 1927-29, the experimental double-cylinder design,inspired equally by Russian churches and American grainsilos, attracted worldwide attention. Built in the fashionableArbat district, permission had been given originally to buildonly a prototype of worker housing. The brick constructionmade it possible to form the 60 hexagonal windows that per-forate the walls. Today it remains neglected, largely as aresult of ownership disputes, but there remains the prospectof a full restoration, and reopening as a Melnikov museum.


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TECHNICALo

The Bramall Music Building by GlennHowells Architects completes a semicir-cle of listed red-brick buildings that liesat the heart of the University ofBirmingham campus. Intended to com-plement the forms and materiality ofthe adjacent Aston Webb structures(1900-07), the new building houses a450-seat concert hall, teaching spaces,

Glenn Howells Architects combinetraditional and modern masonrybuilding techniques at the BramallMusic Building in Birmingham.

rehearsal rooms and electro-acousticmusic studios. Combining both ‘tradi-tional’ hand-laid brickwork and precastconcrete panels clad with brick slipsand stone veneers, one of the main challenges was to create a seamless andhighly crafted aesthetic. Analysis of the existing brickwork

uncovered a blend of three brick tones,which were then matched as closely aspossible to achieve a harmoniousappearance between old and new,explains project architect Will Schofield.The specially-sized 230x110x50mmbricks were supplied pre-blended – 30per cent dark red, 30 per cent medium

red and 40 per cent orange – and laidwith 10mm perp joints and 13.5mmbedding joints. Prefabricated brick and stone clad

concrete panels were specified for theauditorium and octagonal walls enclos-ing a domed rehearsal room. The for-mer comprises straight and curvedbrickwork panels measuring 3.5-metreswide by 6-metres high and 180mm deep.The latter comprises eight 6-metre wideby 4-metre high and 180mm thick pan-els, each with a 3.5-metre radius double-soldiered arch. The 240mm deep brickreveals give the facades a sense of depth. The pavilion and link block’s English

Garden Wall bond is combined withFlemish bond piers and quarter run-ning bond to the setback panels of theauditorium. The variation in bond isdesigned to subtly identify the newbuilding and to give the facades a fabric-like quality. In common with thetraditional brickwork used on the rest ofthe scheme, the mortar is a cement/lime mix with natural pigment. Themortar joints are chariot raked (1-2mm), which again differentiates thenew brickwork from the existing mason-ry. Movement joints are concealed inthe corners of the pier reveals. Elsewhere, the building envelope

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comprises a non-loadbearing, single-brick skin supported by a steel frame.The cavity walls are up to 600mm wide,with the brickwork fixed back to theframe and the inner blockwork leafs viacustom two-part stainless steel ties. Amodified English Garden Wall bondwith a header course at every fifth coursewas chosen to match the existing build-ings. Bed joint reinforcement – resultingfrom the decision to use a lime/cementmortar – ensures a minimum of expan-sion joints. Raked mortar joints mirrorthose used on the auditorium. A large number of standard special

bricks were used, including radial

stretchers and headers, pistol soldiersand stretchers, external angles, squints,half bats and quarter bats. The radialturrets on the pavilion building haveentasis to match the existing buildings.The radius of the brickwork graduallydecreases at a rate of 1mm per coursefrom bottom to top. By using a relativelysmall gang of bricklayers the team was able to ensure on-site quality and consistency of finish.

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Welcome - The Brick Development Associationrecall local stone detailing called snecked rubble. Through the pattern and the use of two base colours of brick, the facades trans-form