Bricks;
a composite
a monolith
Bricks are small bits of compressed and/or vitrified clay that come in standardized units and has been used to build structures since the beginning of recorded history. But what really are they from a design sense?
Bricks come in several types, traditional fired clay bricks, mud bricks, concrete bricks, modernist sand lime bricks and fly ash bricks. However, they’re all stackable materials that used to be used to build monolithic structures. Nowadays they’re more often used in curtain wall systems, aka, wall systems that are hung from an internally based structure.
The Aesthetics of Brick
Being neither monolithic nor piecewise, brick lends itself to a myriad of historical architectural styles in addition to many modernist applications as well. Brick's hues are often warm and inviting - but can range from solemn and dark to a more playful and roomy white. Bricks can also be painted, although this does tie them together compositionally and can make a building or structure feel larger than it really is. The beauty of brick is in the way it deconstructs the larger constituent mass.
Brick in more modern applications may sometimes be monolithic, but more often, it is sinuous and curvilinear. Brick, through its inherently modular nature - can be thought of as not just molecular - but collectively liquid.
Brick, when laid in differing patterns, can also break a facade up visually. When brick is embraced in its combinative monolithicisim, this tactic can break what would be a uniform facade into multiple parts. It can also add visual interest to an otherwise dull construction.
Like sand, or some newtonian fluid, brick can flow. Its many identical parts ebb together like the ribbons of a stream, or prose from a novel. Brick's curves likewise has profound effects on volumetric space as well. As brick is modular - void spaces caused by intentional lack of material can lighten a brick wall or create penetrations within its massing.
A bit on the technical parts
Bricks, being piecewise in nature - and adding up to a constituent whole - have properties that fair well under compressive loads. Studies on their ability to carry weight have shown that much of their force is allocated to the brick below them although small amounts do branch out to other members within the bond. This allows them to carry quite large structures for such a simple and lackluster building material. In fact, some of the first ‘skyscrapers’ were made out of brick before transitioning to true steel-frame structural designs. The Monadnock Building is one such example, as its bottom was much thicker than its top to account for the added stresses. Despite the building’s size, however, it was built entirely out of brick and mortar.
Wythes and Bonds
Brick walls are measured in “wythes”. These are basically just brick walls that are one unit thick. Wythes can be tied into one or another or left singular (although this is only structurally done for one type of wall, serpentine walls - which are often not use in buildings). Wythes that tie together in multiple, horizontal layers are called “Bonds” and these convey differing strengths to the wall that they are constructing.
A note on modern brickwork***
**most modern brick work is "fake". Not in that it's not real, as bricks are still mass produced the world over for construction every single day. No, but most brick walls are curtain walls. This means that they hang from an interior structure that bears most of the weight - normally steel but sometimes also concrete blocks (which is paradoxically another type of masonry structure). Curtain walls are part of a greater innovation in building technology that has been growing with the use of indoor air condition, called wall systems or the building envelope. Modern buildings are rightfully just as complicated as many other parts of modern society.
Can you tell which one is structural?