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news feature
‘Brick is back in fashion’
Lee Marley, MD of Lee Marley Brickwork
phase of Berkeley Homes’ 4,000 home Kidbrooke Village development and a playful residential block at Brentford Lock West by Duggan & Morris and contractor Wilmott Dixon. However it was the high-rise planned by Allies and Morrison for Nine Elms in London which was the real eye-opener among his selection– rising over 20 stories to provide a Manhattan- style brick monolith. Murray revealed that while at 2008
Venice Bienalle influential British archi- tects including Tony Fretton had caused controversy by championing brick design with traditional influences it was now bearing fruit with a plethora of successful schemes in the capital. He said this was also driven by the GLA’s most recent London Plan, which “discouraged iconic architecture, instead looking to create great background buildings that weath- ered well and had longevity.”
Murray celebrated the “clarity of
detailing” in many resulting low-rise London brick-skinned buildings, but pondered with brick supply still an issue, “who knows what will happen if we actu- ally started building the 60,000 homes we need per year, whether in brick or brick slips?” Lee Marley, MD of Lee Marley
Brickwork said the firm’s current job list of 40 live projects (mainly in London) was a clear demonstration that “brick is back in fashion.” However, he added this was not without its challenges – “schemes are getting bigger, people want it done quicker but to the same high quality standard.” He discussed logistical challenges on
urban sites and also gave examples of how brick craftsmanship was still being demanded and unusual aesthetic briefs were common such as the seemingly
random gradated elevations on the Trafalgar Place development at London’s Elephant & Castle. Alex Gordon, associate director at
architect Jestico+Whiles, presented a major regeneration project in Leeds showcasing brick’s relevance to provide a link to the past as well as provide crisp modern architecture. The Homes and Communities Agency scheme is turning the Victorian industrial area of Holbeck in the city centre into an “urban village” where new commercial and residential buildings mingle with listed buildings creating a dynamic quarter with new public squares planned around three his- toric brick towers. Gordon said the project “used brick in a muscular and simple way” and showed how it exploited the potential of brick detailing to express and reinforce visual elements within the elevations.
The Turnmill Building, Shoreditch: a brick celebration Alexis Harrison, Associate, Arup
This award-winning, iconic brickwork building incorporates 75,500 ft2
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space including offices, restaurants and retail. Its seemingly simple brick and lime mortar exterior hides a multitude of complex details, and fits into the playful yet historic architectural character of its surround- ings, providing an attractive gateway to Clerkenwell. Arup’s materials expertise helped
ensure that this huge but gentle structure with its elegant and distinctive brick facade fulfilled the vision of both the client and architect. Arup provided specialist brickwork materials advice to the design team, for what proved to be a challenging brief. The architect’s elevations and digital
renders showed an apparently massive, load-bearing masonry facade with deep openings carved into it. However, at a macro scale, the brick samples and
materials palette suggested something gentler – with large, light-filled openings, framed in slender layers of soft yellowy clay bricks sandwiched in creamy lime mortar. The narrow brickwork piers and
spandrels are combined with unusually deep cills, reveals and soffits. Cunning technical and visual tricks have been used to give the appearance of horizon- tal bands of solid masonry. The majority of bricks are hand
set, but brick-faced precast units are seamlessly combined with hand-set units to provide the ‘floating bricks’ that form the window soffits. Wide spans occur between structural columns to allow the glazed openings for the street level restaurants, meaning that cleverly disguised vertical movement joints had to cut through the spandrels to deal with slab edge deflections and other movements. Arup’s close collaboration with the
architect and other consultants throughout project was essential to the success of the facade. This included providing detailed tender documents to the specialist brickwork contractor to provide certainty of developed solutions, reduce costs and ensure the architect's vision and the client's expectations were not compromised.
© Hufton+Crow
www.architectsdatafile.co.uk
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