Brick has a long history of use as a building material - in one form or another, it’s been in use for thousands of years. And though today brick is mostly used as a high end architectural finish (thanks to those thousands of years of history, people have grown attached to the aesthetics of it), up until the mid-20th century it was the standard material for constructing a building. Industrialized countries made billions of bricks every year to build everything from houses, to factories, to office buildings.
I want to adress the factor of brick quality. Extruded bricks are of way higher quality and dimension in general. Back in the day regular field-burn bricks went into the walls not to be seen and a higher grade was placed on the outside. When I open a wall of mine they are all uniform (Reichsformat) but most of them look like a toddler could do them better. Today they are still graded (mostly depending on their position in the kiln) but even the lowest ones are nicer than the best field-burn bricks where. As why field-burn bricks are cheaper, a quick google search will show you.
Also a huge factor: Despite being energy intensive, bricks are often still made locally. They have imense shipment costs. Therefore the rising labor and energy cost in the last third of 20th century should also go into the equation.
I was involved in an interesting experience in cost of masonry/transport in Brazil. We were building a relatively large industrial plant in a remote location, for a multinational client. The drawings showed a block wall made from a standard module size block. All of the local block fabrication was artisanal, lacking any industrial fabrication facility. The contractor laid up a completely non-uniform wall with local block, and then parged the entire surface, and struck off faux mortar joints in an exact module dimension.to perfectly match the drawings. Apparently this was a common local practice, and the additional labor of the parging/striking was less than the cost to bring in uniform sized block...
Thank you for the deep dive into brick-making. It shows mechanization doesn't work to bring down costs if the pressure is on costs of home as a whole greater than the cost influence of any one component of it.
As far as pre-fabrication not being cost-effective, the problem there seems to be the limited size of roads, and hence, truck-beds. Larger pre-fabricated modules could be made, and even lifted by cranes into place, but the narrow truck-bed limits how big and efficient they can be, losing the advantage of building big, even entire, units, in a factory.
Our project seeks to build on the waterfront, and to use barges to transport pre-fabricated elements, a particular advantage in downtown NYC, where we seek to build, and where large truck traffic would be a nightmare. This bridge-build/multi-use skyscraper method will be unique for what aspires to be the largest building in the world.
I want to adress the factor of brick quality. Extruded bricks are of way higher quality and dimension in general. Back in the day regular field-burn bricks went into the walls not to be seen and a higher grade was placed on the outside. When I open a wall of mine they are all uniform (Reichsformat) but most of them look like a toddler could do them better. Today they are still graded (mostly depending on their position in the kiln) but even the lowest ones are nicer than the best field-burn bricks where. As why field-burn bricks are cheaper, a quick google search will show you.
Also a huge factor: Despite being energy intensive, bricks are often still made locally. They have imense shipment costs. Therefore the rising labor and energy cost in the last third of 20th century should also go into the equation.
This is very American, your first paragraph says that brick isnt used anymore. Most new houses in Australia are made with brick
I was involved in an interesting experience in cost of masonry/transport in Brazil. We were building a relatively large industrial plant in a remote location, for a multinational client. The drawings showed a block wall made from a standard module size block. All of the local block fabrication was artisanal, lacking any industrial fabrication facility. The contractor laid up a completely non-uniform wall with local block, and then parged the entire surface, and struck off faux mortar joints in an exact module dimension.to perfectly match the drawings. Apparently this was a common local practice, and the additional labor of the parging/striking was less than the cost to bring in uniform sized block...
Very nice. Seems to point towards onsite 3D printing being a solution, albeit with its own set of problems you’ve highlighted in the past.
Very interesting and well written essay. Not really sure what to think about this!
Thank you for the deep dive into brick-making. It shows mechanization doesn't work to bring down costs if the pressure is on costs of home as a whole greater than the cost influence of any one component of it.
As far as pre-fabrication not being cost-effective, the problem there seems to be the limited size of roads, and hence, truck-beds. Larger pre-fabricated modules could be made, and even lifted by cranes into place, but the narrow truck-bed limits how big and efficient they can be, losing the advantage of building big, even entire, units, in a factory.
Our project seeks to build on the waterfront, and to use barges to transport pre-fabricated elements, a particular advantage in downtown NYC, where we seek to build, and where large truck traffic would be a nightmare. This bridge-build/multi-use skyscraper method will be unique for what aspires to be the largest building in the world.
More details in this media article: http://bit.ly/BroadsheetRA1 or here: https://bit.ly/RiverArch-Hatcher