Back in brick – residential projects with a hard edge

Brick is one of the oldest, most durable and most versatile building materials used around the world, with different colours, textures and haptic qualities making it adaptable to almost any context.

In Hannover, Max Dudler uses the humble brick to create a robust, regular façade for ‘Hainbase’, a student residential building in Hainholz. Reflecting the uniform nature of the compact homes inside, the building's alternating window niches add a sense of playfulness while the purple-brown brick matches the city's traditional clinker architecture. Despite the project's size – the building's 13 floors tower over the surrounding five-storey neighbourhood – its stepped profile and use of local materials help blend it into the area.

In the French city of Nantes, RAUM has designed Block 5B in a newly regenerated area of the city adjacent to a major rail line. The block contains a mid-rise workshop and offices, and a high-rise tower with a multi-storey car park sandwiched between them. The parking garage features a red-dyed concrete façade, while the two other structures are covered with red brick, creating a subtle interplay of textures and colours. The smaller block includes a solid brick facade and brick screens, while the tower features a more lightweight rainscreen cladding.

In Sydney haben DKO Architecture und Breathe Architecture einen geschwungenen Wohnblock namens Arkadia fertiggestellt, dessen Gemeinschaftsbereiche im Erdgeschoss und auf dem Dach mit Grün bepflanzt sind. Braune, orangefarbene und honigfarbene Ziegel verweisen auf die Geschichte des Ortes, der einst als Fabrik der NSW Brickworks Company diente. Ein bogenförmiger Durchgang durch das Gebäude schafft Verbindungen innerhalb der Nachbarschaft, unterstreicht aber auch die gewundene Form von Arkadia.

In Dezful, western Iran, Chapireh Residential Build from Bio-Design Architects shows a different way of working with brick. Here, a seven-storey, slender, timber-clad block with wraparound balconies uses precisely stacked bricks to create decorative balustrades and lattice brick screens to protect the inside from glare and heat. The light-yellow brick blocks are stacked and expressed individually, giving the building a carefully crafted, yet contemporary appearance, while the use of this traditional material brings a consistency with the city's vernacular architecture.

© Architonic