38-Summer-09

Herzog & de Meuron’s Ordos 100 architects

O’Donnell & Tuomey’s Timberyard in Dublin

Edward Cullinan and Levitt Bernstein in Brent

Bruno Fioretti Marquez’ Berlin-Köpenick library

Restoring Frank Lloyd Wright’s brick buildings

Why, where and how of movement jointsSUMMER 2009

BRICK

BULLETIN

Outer limitsFor sheer inventiveness theOrdos project, in which 100of the world’s most promisingyoung architects have beeninvited to design villas in theMongolian desert, promisesto be one of the most bizarreyet exciting ventures of recentyears (pp12-17). Intriguingly,many have opted to build inlocal brick and their plansreveal a striking synthesis oftradition and creativity.

Jayne Rolfe

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

2 • BB SUMMER 09 BB SUMMER 09 • 3

Contents4 NEWS

Projects from Duisburg to Norwich viaEast Grinstead; plus Brick Awards 2009

6 PROJECTSO’Donnell & Tuomey in Dublin,Cullinan and Levitt Bernstein in Brent,de Leeuw van Zanten in Meppel, BFMin Berlin and Arkitema in Copenhagen

12 PROFILEUp-and-coming architects design in brickfor the Ordos 100 project, mastermindedby Herzog & de Meuron in Mongolia

18 PRECEDENTFrank Lloyd Wright’s brick showcases atJohnson Wax and the Robie House

22 TECHNICALWhy, where and how of movement joints

Brick Bulletin Summer 2009Executive editor: Jayne Rolfet: 020 7323 7030 e: [email protected] Development Association, The BuildingCentre, 26 Store Street, London, WC1E 7BT

The BDA represents manufacturers of claybrick 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 itsnumerous publications and over the phone.

Published by the BDA ©2009. Editorial and design: Architecture Today plc.

FrontispieceO’Donnell & TuomeyArchitects’ Timberyard development in Dublin.Photo: Dennis Gilbert.CoverOrdos 100 project by DRDH Architects.Back coverNeues Museum, Berlin, renovated by DavidChipperfield Architects. Photo: Johannes Kramer.

BDA member companiesBlockleys Brick t +44 (0)1952 251933 www.michelmersh.comBovingdon 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.michelmersh.comChartwell 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.michelmersh.comFreshfield Lane Brickworks t +44 (0)1825 790350 www.flb.uk.comFurness 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.ukLagan Brick t +353 (0)42 9667317 www.laganbrick.comMichelmersh Brick & Tile t +44 (0)1794 368506 www.michelmersh.comNormanton Brick t +44 (0)1924 892142Northcot 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.ukWm C Reade of Aldeburgh t +44 (0)1728 452982 [email protected] Brick Co t +44 (0)1665 574229 [email protected] Brick & Tile t +44 (0)1420 488489 www.towerbrickandtile.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

BRICK BULLETIN SUMMER 09


NEWS

Visionary centre for eye surgery

Toh Shimazaki Architects has designed apioneering new centre for eye surgery onHazelden Farm in East Grinstead. The project, which is due to complete later thismonth, includes two operating theatres,consultation and test rooms, offices,

seminar spaces and various public areas.Intended to reflect rural farm structures,while also complementing nearby residen-tial buildings, the design makes extensiveuse of local materials. Both the massing andlayered brickwork are staggered to evokethe exposed strata of the jagged sandstonefrom which they emerge. The brick is

sourced from local clay, with two tones ofthe same brick used to create a plinth. Thebricks are from the same kiln, but fired atdifferent temperatures due to their locationwithin the kiln. The brick wall head (eaveslevel) and interface between the two bricktones moves up and down along the adja-cent volumes to echo the roof strata.

Lego villas go under the hammer

In a departure from their usual line of work,Gareth Hoskins Architects (above), gm+ad(above left), RMJM (left), Michael GilmourAssociates, and Aedas (below) have designedLego villas to raise money for the NationalAutistic Society Scotland. The designs weredisplayed at the Scottish Design Awardsnominations exhibition, before being sold at a charity auction (photos: Mark Seager).

Barking regeneration to go ahead

A major regeneration scheme in Barking,Essex, by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architectsfor the London Thames Gateway Develop-ment Corporation, has gained planningapproval. Situated adjacent to the RiverRoding, the Creative Industries Quarterincludes 220 residential units, studios for localartists and community facilities. The newbuild elements are combined with existingindustrial structures, including a nineteenth-century malthouse and granary, to form apublic space at the heart of the scheme. A handmade brick selected from a darkerpalette of brown and grey has been chosenfor the blocks immediately adjacent to thegranary and malthouse. White and glazedwhite bricks will be used for the outer blocks,maximising light reflection from the river.

Sheppard Robson’s Open Academy

Norfolk’s first City Academy, the £20mSheppard Robson-designed Open Academyin Norwich, has started on site. The 9000square metre scheme is characterised by two interlocking forms: a cedar-clad drumhousing the main teaching spaces, and a rectangular brick sports hall. Located at the junction of the two volumes, above

Book early for the Brick Awards

Anticipation is already growing for the2009 Brick Awards, which will be presentedat London’s Marriott Grosvenor SquareHotel on 4 November. There are 13 awardssplit into three categories: housing, build-ing and landscape, and technical and craft.There is also the supreme award – theBDA Building of the Year, judged to be thebest overall project from the 13 award winners. Entries for each category will bejudged on design, choice of brick, brickdetailing and craftsmanship. The judgingpanel will be chaired by Bob Allies of Allies & Morrison Architects. To book tick-ets and/or tables at the awards please contact Lucy Bond on 07958 755921 or [email protected](details: www.brick.org.uk).

Ortner & Ortner in Duisburg

Austrian practice Ortner & Ortner hasdesigned a major extension to Germany’slargest archive building, situated in the portof Duisburg. Dating from the 1930s, theexisting listed building will be supplement-ed with a 70 metre high brick archive tower. The structure will accommodate some 150 kilometres of shelving together with an events hall in the gable. Located adjacent to the existing archive will be an undulating six-storey brick building comprising reading rooms, offices and additional archive space. The scheme isintended as a cultural landmark for theentire Ruhr area and is set to feature prominently in the Essen European Capitalof Culture programme next year.

Black brick for Hanover Square

Squire & Partners has designed a £26mmixed-use development for a prestigioussite on the south-east corner of HanoverSquare in London’s Mayfair. The 8460square metre scheme replaces an existing1960s building and comprises residential,office and retail accommodation. Largelyconstructed from black brick, the facadesare punctuated with deep window revealslined in white marble, with additional solarshading provided by vertical bronze fins.The 50mm brick, laid in flemish bond withlime mortar, is from a region of Hollandrenowned for its rich brown chocolate-coloured clay, as opposed to purple/brownor blue. Black bricks draw on the history ofa small number of Georgian buildings in

London, such as at Bedford Square and StJames’s Square. The use of traditional limemortar is intended to minimise movementexpression to a single vertical joint. Due to start on site in the autumn, the projecthas been designed with sustainability inmind and is expected to provide an 18 per cent saving in carbon dioxide emis-sions when compared against the current2006 Building Regulations.

the main entrance, is a glass box contain-ing the learning resource centre. A warmred brick was chosen for the hall to com-plement the Norfolk vernacular and tocontrast with the cedar cladding, which will weather to a silver-grey colour overtime. The initial proposal was for a smooth-faced red engineering brick to strengthenthe contrast with the timber cladding.However, as the design process developed

the client expressed a preference for a softer looking brick. Sample panels werebuilt on site using the two alternatives, andemploying a range of mortar colours andjoint types set against other materials fromthe palette. In the final specification amulti-faced handmade-effect brick wasselected. The intention is to use a lime-coloured mortar, incorporating recessedjoints to accentuate the brick courses.

BB SUMMER 09 • 7

The Timberyard development is a socialhousing scheme of 47 dwellings and a street-level community facility in the historicLiberties area of Dublin. The project was gen-erated by the construction of the Coombe by-pass. A backland site that had been used as atimber yard was opened up and, from anurban perspective, a new street frontage wasneeded to heal the wounds caused by theroad engineering operation. The design cen-tres on a new public space that creates a senseof place within the residential enclave.

The 3,800 square metre scheme mediatesbetween the six-storey scale that is envisagedfor new developments along the new CorkStreet corridor and the smaller scale of theexisting houses behind the site. The newbuildings are constructed in brick, the mate-rial used in both the historic and newer hous-ing in the area, with hardwood windows andscreens to terraces and roof gardens. Thewindows are offset from each other to workwith the complexity of the residential accom-modation within, and to emphasise the conti-nuity of the brick surface. The walls are mod-ulated with recessed porches and terracesand projecting bay windows to give a depthand complexity to the building’s edge and aninterface between the private world of thehouse and the neighbourhood.

O’Donnell & Tuomey:Dublin Timberyard socialhousing

6 • BB SUMMER 09

Credits Architect: O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects;design team: Sheila O’Donnell, John Tuomey, JeanaGearty (project architect), Cian Deegan, Gary Watkin,Harriet Browne, Sam Laffin, Thomas Pickert; qs: CyrilSweett; structural engineer: Downes Associates; servicesengineer: Buro Happold; main contractor: TownlinkConstruction; client: Dublin City Council; photography:Dennis Gilbert.

PROJECTS

BB SUMMER 09 • 98 • BB SUMMER 09

End of the road

London tweed

Stonebridge revival:Edward CullinanArchitects in Brent

Based in the Dutch provincial town ofMeppel, architect De Leeuw Van Zanten hasresponded to an unusual brief arising froma local urban restructuring scheme. A nar-row alley had to be widened to make way fora new ring road, resulting in the demolitionof a butcher’s shop. The architect wasappointed to find a solution for the blankwall that would dominate the new street.

Site investigations indicated that the exist-ing brick building was vital to the structuralstability of its neighbours. Added to this, thedesign team felt that the memories associatedwith the shop should not simply be allowed todisappear. The solution was reduce the widthof the existing building to just 700mm, providing support for the adjacent dwellingsin the form of a ‘book end’. The new edificehas its own front door and number. The open-ings in the side wall are reminscent of the for-mer premises and are now used as a displayspace for the adjacent reprographics shop.

Granville New Homes is the second phase ofBrent Council’s South Kilburn Master Plan. Itcomprises 110 one-, two-, three- and four-bed-room flats and maisonettes, as well as a pock-et park and community youth facility. Thematerial concept employs brick slips to create a pronounced weft and weave – like a‘robust tweed jacket’ – which on closerinspection reveals a softer, brighter lining.Brick also relates to the local terrace typolo-gy and provides a human scale. The archi-tect says the brick cladding system enabledthe interface between different materials tobe detailed as a ‘thin edge’, thereby rein-forcing the original fabric concept. It alsoensured that the brick mix could be precise-ly dictated, resulting in the desired effect.

Designed by Edward Cullinan Architects,the Stonebridge Hillside Hub is a £15.8mmixed-use building, which marks the finalphase of the regeneration of the once noto-rious 1960s Stonebridge estate in north-westLondon. The building is split into two wingsjoined by a central section. The upper floorsof the two blocks comprise a combination ofshared ownership and privately ownedapartments. Below the apartments, in thewest wing, is a three-storey health centre.Located in the east wing is a small supermar-ket with a two-storey car park at the rear.Between the two wings is a three-storey

Dutch practice de Leeuw vanZanten has designed an ultra-slim masonry structure in Meppel.

A residential scheme by LevittBernstein employs brick slips to create a ‘woven’ facade effect.

Skillful brick detailing is used toarticulate a landmark mixed-usebuilding in north-west London.

Credits Photos: Tim Crocker.

The brickwork is kept clean and simple byminimising the number of special bricksrequired. The building’s numerous curvedsections of wall are set out to radii which can beachieved using standard bricks. Header bricksare used at the health centre entrance toachieve a tighter curve more elegantly. Onlythree ‘specials’ were specified: a sill brick usedunder windows, and on the balcony upstands,

The design of the brickwork is intended togive a sense of depth, solidity and gravitas tothe facades. This is achieved by recessing thewindows by two brick-widths, incorporating abespoke brick sill, and topping any openingswith brick-faced concrete lintels keyed intothe brickwork on either side. The lintels areused above the windows and above the point-ed balconies of the two white brick prows.

community centre and a private landscapedgarden at the rear.

The health centre is clad in a high qualitywhite brick, the surface of which is embeddedwith tiny shards of silicate to give texture andsparkle. Crucially, the bricks have a porosity ofonly two per cent, ensuring that water and dirtare not easily absorbed. It is also importantthat the bricks are resistant to graffiti.

Credits Architect: Edward Cullinan Architects; structure:Fife Belcher Grimsey & Partners; : m&e: MLM ConsultingEngineers; landscape architect: Whitelaw Turkington; planning consultant: Terence O'Rourke; project manager:Calford Seaden Partnership; contractor: RydonConstruction; developer: Hyde Housing Association,Hillside Housing Trust, In Place, Real; top photo: In Place.

a reversible brick used at the ‘points’ on theprow, and a tiny bullnose used on top of theprows at the tip of the balcony upstand.

Credits Photos: Christiaan de Bruijne.

BB SUMMER 09 • 11

BFM Architekten: Berlin-Köpenick library

Arkitema plans Copenhagen’s expansion

10 • BB SUMMER 09

Ansicht Außen

Horizontalschnitt am Sturz

Horizontalschnitt am Fenster

Mauerwerk, massiv 64 cm

Dämmung seitl. im BereichSonnenschutzkastendurchgehend 5,5cm

Bilderrahmen

Sonnenschutzkasten

Aluminium-Abdeckleiste

Behang

Fensterbank

Bilderrahmen

Mauerwerk, massiv 64 cm

Vertikalschnitt

Dämmung:

The form of the new library at the AltenMarkt in Berlin-Köpenick is defined by boththe urban character of this historic districtand the spacious waterscape of the nearbyriver. The building adopts the footprint of aperimeter block that once occupied the site,and the diversity of the roofscape and industri-al imprint of the factory buildings along theriver. The north side articulates the

streetscape and establishes a visual connectionto the river and the west facade reconstitutesthe historical plan of the old market place. Anadjacent school building now accommodatesthe library administration, where interven-tions are limited to a new core. A transparentlink between the two buildings contains lend-ing areas while the new brick volume containsthe public spaces.

The library building consists of four ele-ments, each employing an appropriate mate-rial with its own language: external walls arebrick, the roof is structured in timber, theinterior spaces are concrete and the furnitureis mdf. To meet thermal standards the load-bearing brickwork is 640mm thick, irregularlybonded in the Altes Reichsformat comprisingfive headers and like the adjacent school. The

north facade is 510mm thick, with four head-ers and 160mm of insulation. This mass of thewalls is made legible by setting the windows, inthree different sizes, on the inner face, andtheir placement suggests the multi-storeyreading rooms within. The openings are linedwith timber surrounds that frame views of theriver and the city centre. Internally the brick,concrete and timber elements are coated in a

Credits Architect: Bruno Fioretti Marquez Architektenwith Nele Dechmann; Piero Bruno, Josè GutierrezMarquez, Donatella Fioretti, Nele Dechmann, Anna Saeger, Giovanni Gabai; construction manager:Häffner & Zenk Planungsgesellschaft; engineer:Studio C Rüdiger Ihle; services: Winter Ingenieure; structure: Müller-BBM; client: Bezirksamt Treptow-Köpenick;

thin layer of warm white paint so that all thesurfaces are unified but distinguishable.

The Sluseholmen development inCopenhagen comprises 1,000 dwellings oneight islands, with large and small ‘town hous-es’ standing side by side to form continuousblocks. Working with Amsterdam-basedSjoerd Soeters, local architect Arkitema hasbeen responsible for the masterplan andshared spaces. Arkitema also developed the

shell structures and drew up the codes gov-erning the proportions, materials andcolours, providing a starting-point for the 17different architects who were invited todesign facades. Many are clad in brick, notleast as brickwork is a traditional craft typicalof the Copenhagen district, and the goal wasto create a new town that nonethelessemployed familiar materials. In addition, sug-gests Arkitema, brick is a high quality materi-al that performs well over time both in termsof function and aesthetics. The modularnature of brick, its colour, the way it is shapedand fired and the colour of mortar allowed itto be used to give different visual effects.

640mm wall

Insulation

Insulation around blind casingFrame

Solar blind casingAluminium trim

Blind

Cill

Frame

Solid brick wall

ArchitektProjekt BFM ArchitektenHerr Marquez

Plantitel:

10999 BerlinF: 030 616 57829

Erkelenzdamm 59-61T: 030 616 5780

Um- und Neubau Mittelpunktbibliothek Köpenick Alter Markt 2

SK

IZZ

E

Hinweis: Die Skizzen sind maßstabslos und dienen nur zum Verständnis

Rohbauöffnung der Standardfenster in Süd-/ West-/ Ostfassade

The Ordos Desert sits on a plateau in the south of theInner Mongolian Autonomous Region of thePeople’s Republic of China. Ringed by mountainsand the Yellow River it is hot in the summer, sub-zeroin the winter and mostly dry year-round. Sand andinfertile soil allow a few nomadic Mongol herders toscratch a living, but it’s underneath that the realmoney lies. The area is rich in coal and in recent yearseconomic growth has run at 40 per cent. The popula-tion is booming too, and Kangbashi – the new region-al capital begun a few years ago – is expected to hithalf a million people next year.

It is there that a local coal baron, Cai Jiang, hasbegun construction of 100 villas designed by 100architects from 27 countries. The architects areinvolved at the behest of Jacques Herzog and Pierrede Meuron, who were initially offered the job them-selves, and are under the curatorial supervision ofHerzog & de Meuron’s Birds Nest Stadium collabora-tor, artist-dissident Ai Wei Wei.

Given a site in the Mongolian desert andfree rein, many of the 100 architecturalpractices selected by Herzog & de Meuronto create the Ordos development opted forbrick construction – with a difference.


PROFILEo The set-up has inevitably produced some verystrange-looking buildings: one is dug into theground, another floats above it on a forest of poles,another takes the form of a green hill. Many of theyoung architects have highly evolved theoretical posi-tions – most also teach – but thus far have had littlechance to build. Here, they have been let off theleash. Ai Wei Wei’s masterplan imposes few restric-tions in terms of form, colour or materials – thoughlocal construction products were recommended –and while these 1000 square metre villas will comewith swimming pools, wine cellars and servants’ quar-ters as standard, there is little specificity in the briefabout who might live in them or the architecturalqualities of the spaces.

The 100 architects were flown to the desert earlylast year, having been approached out of the blue andgiven just days to decide whether to take on the proj-ect. For those whose practice is premised on responseto some existing condition – social or architectural –

Top left Villa designed by DRDH Architects (London) for Plot 69. From afar, it is understood as a simple,compact, brick volume, seen in the round. Closer to, the building is understood as a number of moreintricate layers. At its base, the brickwork of the construction expresses the mass of the material and thethickness of the wall. Above, a change in brick bond and a corresponding step in section suggest a lighten-ing of load while revealing the brick face as a skin, supporting only itself. In places this transforms into adelicate fretwork of open joints. A bronze frame subdivides the surface of the wall into a series of panelsand provides a counterpoint to the loose-jointed, handmade bricks. The frame undertakes the real taskof tying the facade and forming lintels while suggesting a visual approximation both of the structural con-crete frame and the arrangement of the interior volumes. DRDH was established in 2000 by DavidHowarth and Daniel Rosbottom, who is also head of the school of architecture at Kingston University. Left Villa designed by Babel Architectures/Sharon Rotbard (Tel Aviv) for Plot 90. The programme is dividedinto two distinct volumes: a big villa for the owner and a small one for a servant. In order to preserve thenotion of the villas as distinct, and in order to reduce the neighbourhood's visual density, all of the commonand space-consuming elements of the programme are located below ground. The villa is composed of twobrick-skinned cubes above ground, a concrete flat surface (camouflage carpet) and an underground levelwith common spaces and courtyards. The colours of the owner’s and servant’s villas were determined bythe fact that in China, grey brick is twice as expensive as red. In both cubes, all the rooms (floors, walls andceilings) are covered with brick in the corresponding colours. Sharon Rotbard is an architect, author andsenior lecturer at the architecture department in the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem. He is also a founder ofBabel publishers, an independent press in Israel. Above left Ordos 100 masterplan by Ai Wei Wei’s FAKE Design (Beijing). The 197 hectare project is locatedin the Ordos Cultural Creative Industry Park.Above Villa designed by HHF Architects (Basel) for Plot 51. Constructed in concrete and brick, with theexterior untreated and interiors painted white, the villa makes a subtle comment on the individualism pro-moted by the Ordos design process – the roof is modelled to act as an embossed inscription of the letters‘HHF’ (although this ‘logo’ can only be read from the air). The outer shell is of exposed brickwork within aconcrete frame. Rainwater is carried from the roof in downpipes located between concrete pilaster strips.HHF architects was founded in 2003 by Tilo Herlach, Simon Hartmann and Simon Frommenwiler, all ofwhom teach at either ETH or MIT. The practice has worked in China, the USA, Germany, Mexico and Italy aswell as Switzerland.

embodied by brick. But the material is also employedwith quite different intentions. It is being put to usein projects with double-curved walls and inclinedplanes by New Yorkers Preston Scott Cohen andMultiplicities, for example, while the villa designedby Barcelona-based F451Arquitectos has an in-situconcrete frame with facades made of a double layerof black brick. The outer layer is constructed fromreinforced brick that transitions from vertical toslightly tilted in a series of ruled surfaces; the verti-cal interior layer responds to the different pro-grammes of the rooms. Services are concealed inthe spaces between.

Also evident is a strong interest in the decorativepossibilities of brick, from simple enjoyment ofcolour and texture, to its use in textile-like screensand in moulded surfaces. And for a project that wascarried out very quickly, and for a modest fee, manycontributing architects have done an impressive


there was little to go on. The ex-urban site itself wasa sea of sand dunes, and while several projectsexplored the courtyard house type, others fell backon the idea of the yurt . Instead, many have looked ata traditional Chinese construction material – brick –as a way of rooting their projects, as well as takingadvantage of what is locally available for reasons ofcost and sustainability.

Both of the British architects selected to build atOrdos took that route: Simon Conder has elected tobuild his first brick house at Ordos, a scheme com-prising three red brick towers, and DRDH Architects’treatment of its grey brick facades aims to ‘echo theproportions and rhythms of tradition whilst simulta-neously registering the abstractions of modernity.’

The London-based architects refer to the idea of aclassical villa as a ‘compact and ordered figure placedbetween city and landscape’, with all of its associatedsolidity, orthogonality and repetition – qualities

Opposite, top Villa designed by Luca Selva Architects (Basel) for Plot 5. Thedesign intention is to transform the specific landscape of the plot into architec-ture. The construction is a grey brick skin over a concrete frame with redbricks as fillings.Opposite, middle Villa designed by MOS (New York) for Plot 7. The proposalis based on a traditional courtyard house typology combined with parametricsolar chimneys, allowing for passive cooling in the summer and passive heatingin the winter. Opposite, bottom Villa designed by Productora (Mexico City) for Plot 2. A‘solid’ brick volume is cut diagonally into slices, creating a series of autonomousvolumes with different sizes and characteristics. On the ground floor thesestrips are connected by wide passages. Above, sleeping accomodation is inseparate blocks. ‘From different angles,’ suggest the architects, ‘the building pres-ents itself as a brick fortress, as a rhythm of separate elements or as asequence of glazed surfaces’.Left Villa designed by Slade Architecture (New York) for Plot 31. At differentpoints the brick facade wraps smoothly, pulls apart to create light portals orrotates on its own axis, creating a continuous patterned skin of changing opac-ity and texture. The shifting geometries of the bricks are generated by thegeometries of the walls. These geometries ripple out from the corners, nor-malizing themselves to the surface of the plane as they move away from thegenerating corner. The corner bricks create interlocking ‘zip’ connections.Above Villa designed by nArchitects (New York) for Plot 89. The villa com-prises an Inner House – a compact, ‘essential’ core – and an Outer House,which provides a protective enclosure and a series of interconnected sky-litspaces, including gardens. The rooms of Inner House are lined with warmwoods, stone, glass and plaster, while the materials of the Outer House arerougher: brick floor, painted brick walls on the interior, and an exterior sur-faced in various brick textures.

nort

h

east

sout

h

east

sout

h

wes

t

nort

h

wes

t

+ 7.38

+ 6.12

+ 8.64

+ 7.86

+ 10.26

+ 9.66

+ 8.64

+ 7.38

1.68 / 1.32

1.20 / 1.98

1.56 / 1.98

1.20 / 1.98

1.68 / 1.32

84 / 1.02

84 / 1.02

84 / 1.02

2.64 / 2.04

1.68 / 1.32

2.64 / 2.04

1.68 / 1.32

1.56 / 1.98

1.56 / 1.98

2.64 / 2.04

1.56 / 1.98

1.68 / 1.32

2.64 / 2.04

2.64 / 2.04

1.68 / 1.32

84 / 1.02 96 /1.20

1.20 / 96

1.20 / 96

1.56 / 1.98 96 /1.20

1.56 / 1.98

1.20 / 96

96 /1.20

1.20 / 96

1.20 / 96

84 / 1.02

84 / 1.02

1.20 / 96

1.68 / 1.32

1.20 / 9696 /1.20

1.68 / 1.32

1.20 / 96

1.56 / 1.98

1.68 / 1.32

1.56 / 1.98

84 / 1.02

2.64 / 2.04

1.20 / 96

84 / 1.02

1.68 / 1.32

96 /1.20

84 / 1.02

1.20 / 96

+ 46.8

+ 62.01

+ 66.9

+ 83.7

02.1 / 69

+ 21.6

1

48 / 20.1

02. / 69

65.1 / 89.1

+ 68.7

65.1 / 89.1

65.1 / 89.1

02.1 / 69

48 / 20.1

02.1 / 69

48 / 20.1

65.1 / 89.1

48 / 20.1

48 / 20.1

02.1 / 69

65.1 / 89.1

65.1 / 89.1

48 / 20.1

02.1 / 69

65.1 / 89.1

*longitudinal section L2 1:50* L2

L1 L2 L3

Q1

Q2

Q3

35 courtyard 1+ 2.45

section

section L2 1:50* L2


amount of work on their detailing. Ghent-based Jande Vylder Architects, for example, has restricted itselfto using only whole bricks in a scheme that seesexternal walls and roof as well as internal walls, floorsand ceilings constructed from brick. Likewise,nArchitects has detailed over twenty different bondsand patterns for its textured brickwork.

Ordos 100 is a unique and fascinating enterprise,even if it does raise concerns ranging from the ‘polit-ical’ (why does a communist state with a one-childpolicy need seven-bedroom houses with servants’quarters?) to the merely architectural: the plots wereassigned by lottery and that, combined with thechoice of architects, ensures that the only coherenceat Ordos is in its diversity. But for all that, it is anexceptional laboratory for architecture – not least, itseems, for those young architects from Europe, Asiaand the Americas interested in extending the lan-guage and constructional possibilities of brick.

Above Villa designed by F451arquitectura (Barcelona, Spain) for Plot 61.The proposal ‘embraces the local tradition of understanding the exterior aspart of the domestic space,’ say the architects. ‘We have responded to thedesert conditions from the site with a form that remains compact.Reducing exposure to the unprotected exterior and introducing perfora-tions and protected outdoor spaces allow for better control of theexchange between exterior and interior. Each of the main spaces has apatio with southern orientation that will collect the best sun exposurewhile protecting from the winds.’Left Villa designed by Bachelard Wagner (Basel, Switzerland) for Plot 60. Right Villa designed by Jan de Vylder Architecten (Ghent, Belgium) for Plot1. The design combines a number of influences, most significantly the ideaof textile in the Mongolian yurt (for which brick stands in) and the clus-tered composition of Flemish farm buildings, as well as the work of Luytens,Lewerentz, Christopher Alexander and others. Chinese bricks measuring 55by 115 by 240mm, laid in Flemish bond, are used for walls, roofs, ceilings,floors and even as ‘washed pebbles’ in the courtyards. Blue bricks are usedoutside, and red ones inside. Blue brick roofs are separated from the wallsby a single course of red bricks. Wiring is chased into the brickwork andleft exposed. No cut bricks are used, so angles are achieved by shiftingbricks, giving a slightly rough aesthetic also developed in the use of mortar.Top right Villa designed by Estudio Barozzi Veiga (Barcelona, Spain) for Plot 9 . ‘In contrast with the rough open space of the surroundings,’ say the architects, ‘the plan of the house is a pure form, a perfect square. The building appears like a monolithic cube, raised from the earth as anarchaic stone, shaped by the strength of the wind.’ The monolithic appear-ance of the house is emphasised by the use of traditional grey Chinesebricks. Estudio Barozzi Veiga was formed in 2004 by Fabrizio Barozzi andAlberto Veiga.

Never one to shy away from self-promotion, there’s littledoubt that Frank Lloyd Wright would have been thrilled tohear that the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation has agreed tolicense model kits of the Guggenheim and Fallingwater toLego. And if the trajectory of many an architect was deter-mined by a formative experience of either Lego orMeccano, maybe future generations will now develop sympa-thy for the brick. Despite restless experimentation with arange of materials, Wright designed in brick throughout hisprolific career and regarded his finest works as the brick-built Cheney and Robie houses, the Imperial Hotel and theJohnson Wax headquarters.

The Johnson Administration Center (1936-39) and the 14-storey Research and Development Tower (1947) in Racine,Wisconsin, are considered among Wright’s masterpieces, notleast for the Great Workroom with its slender mushroom

Two of Frank Lloyd Wright’smost celebrated brick buildings –the Johnson Wax headquartersand the Robie House – have beenrestored in recent years.


structural columns and its innovative glass tube windows. From the outset Wright had envisaged Johnson Wax as a

masonry building and he initially favoured a grey-greenbrick. However, his friend and contractor Ben Wiltscheckand client Herbert Johnson rejected the local Racine brickfactory that produced them, doubting its ability to supplysufficient bricks to a consistent colour standard. Wiltscheckobtained a number of samples from other factories andWright eventually selected the characteristic hard-edgedmaroon-orange brick, made by the Streator Brick Companyin Illinois, that he dubbed Cherokee Red, a colour that hesubsequently used in many other buildings. Some 200 differ-ent brick shapes were fired for the project, with the horizon-tal mortar joints raked out to emphasise the building’sstreamlined forms. Despite protestations from the client,Wright’s wish to have both exterior and interior walls in

PRECEDENT

Wright directions brick prevailed, and he devised a wall system comprising tworows of bricks, keyed on the inner faces, infilled with three-inch cork boards, steel reinforcement and concrete (withcopper ties added to satisfy the building authority), creatingwhat Wright described as a monolithic structure. For themost part the structure wore well, but some crackingoccured over the years causing further internal damage andin 2007 a restoration was begun to restore the affected areasand clean the brickwork.

Meanwhile the Robie House, built 100 years ago in OakPark, Illinois, is being restored to its original condition bythe Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust. Soot, dirt andpollutants had accumulated over the decades and thesewere removed using a specially-formulated poultice. Theexposed surface of mortar was also chiselled out. Ad hocrepointing with cement mortar harder than the original

Johnson Wax, Racine, Wisconsin (1936-47)Considered by some historians to be the most pro-found work of art produced in the USA, Johnson Waxis perhaps the closest Wright came to producing aGesamtkunstwerk, in which he designed every detail ofthe project, down to the furniture, much of whichremains in use today. According to Kenneth Frampton,‘The Johnson Wax Administration Building is the apoth-eosis of Wright's lifelong desire to transform the work-place into a sacramental structure. This much is patentlyevident from his rendering of the office cafeteria as atheatrical space and from his efforts, as in the LarkinBuilding, to incorporate a pipe organ within the mezza-nine overlooking the workroom. While Johnson totallyrejected the organ, Wright still conceived of hishypostyle hall as "an interpretation of modern busi-ness… as inspiring to live and work in as any cathedralever was to worship in." Despite this Nietzscheanpromise of redemption… the Administration Buildingremains a characteristically modern work, above all in itspostulation of an introspective world.’

Credits Photos: Peter Cook.

BB SUMMER 09 • 2120 • BB SUMMER 09

had caused damage to some areas of brickwork during thecold winter freeze/thaw cycle and bricks that were badlydamaged were removed and replaced with originals thathad been salvaged.

Repointing was carried out with lime putty mortar,matched in colour to the original, which has the ability toabsorb expansion of the brickwork. As in the original, theconcave horizontal joints emphasise the clean lines of theelevations while preventing rainwater from pooling; thevertical mortar joints, colour matched to the originalbricks, are finished with flush joints, also enhancing thehorizontal striated, homogenous appearance of the inter-locking volumes of the building.

Wright had obtained the original Roman-style bricks,longer and narrower than standard bricks at 300mm longby 40mm thick, from a brickworks in St Louis. Afterpainstaking research the restoration team tracked down abrickworks in Ohio which could match the colour and tex-ture of these original iron-spotted, coal-fired bricks. Theblackened specks were created by adding a small amountof iron to the clay, which burns during firing. The Ohiobrickworks still had some beehive kilns, as had been usedto fire the original bricks, but these had long been convert-ed from coal to gas. However, after a series of trials, an

accurate colour match was achieved in the gas-fired kilns.There were technical problems however in manufacturingbricks as shallow in depth as the original bricks, but this wasachieved by cutting the so-called Norman-size brick pro-duced by the selected supplier in half using cutting equip-ment that would maintain the sharp edges essential to theoverall appearance of the building.

The 2.5 metre high wall surrounding the Robie Housegarage has been rebuilt using the new bricks. The wallaround the garage court was reduced in height between1925 and the 1950s, and there were insufficient originalbricks to fully rebuild it. Earlier in the restoration the wallwas dismantled, the original bricks and limestone were setaside, and a new foundation poured. Both original andrestoration bricks were used to rebuild the wall, with origi-nal bricks on the south-facing 58th Street elevation andnew bricks inside facing the courtyard.

With the exterior restoration now complete, the RobieHouse has been returned to something like its originalappearance for the first time since it was completed. Theemphatic horizontal lines and the return of the originalochre colour to the eaves highlight the warm tones andclean angles of the restored glazing, while the cleaned andrepointed brickwork looks as good as new.

Robie House, Oak Park, 1908-10The restoration masterplan was based on historical documents and photos and acomplete analysis of the building; a panel of restoration architects and Wright scholarsthen reviewed the plan to establish priorities. The exterior restoration (2002-03)began by arresting water infiltration and repairing termite-damaged areas. Major ele-ments included repairing water damage, replastering deteriorated soffits, masonryrepairs, replacement of damaged brick and limestone, stabilisation and remaking bal-conies, and conservation of 22 art glass doors and windows. The wiring was updatedand a new water supply, a climate management system, fire detection and a dry sprin-kler system installed. Interior restoration is nearly completed in the servants’ wing,kitchen and dining room as well as the guest bedroom, guest bathroom, central stairhallway, third-floor bedrooms and bathroom. Rooms remaining to be restored includethe living room, upper entry hall, ground-floor entry hall, powder room, coat closet,playroom and billiard room. Interior restoration includes recreating interior finishesand paint colours, conserving historic plaster and custom-matching missing plaster,conserving the original wood floors and conserving 118 artglass windows and sashes.The restoration of missing building elements entails custom fabrication of 70 brasslight fixtures, reconstruction of built-in cabinets and buffets, replacement of missinghardware, fabrication of bathroom fixtures and installation of period pieces such astelephones, a stove and kitchen sink. Five custom-made carpets also need to berecreated. Hard landscaping to be completed includes installation of drainage and sitelighting. The landscaping will emphasize the relationship Wright created between thebuilding and nature. Three large elm trees will be planted to recreate the appearanceof the site in 1910, and the built-in flower boxes will be planted to recreate theappearance of the exterior as portrayed in the Wasmuth Portfolio plate of 1910.

Further details/credits www.wrightplus.org/robiehouse/robiehouse.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robie_House

‘’I definitely wanted it fireproof, and unlike the sort ofthing prevalent in the homes of that period. The ideabehind most of those houses was kind of a conglomer-ation of architecture on the outside and they wereabsolutely cut-up inside. I wanted sunlight in my livingroom in the morning before I went to work, and Iwanted to be able to look out and down the street tomy neighbours without having them invade my privacy. Icertainly didn’t want a lot of junk – a lot of fabrics,draperies, and whatnot, or old-fashioned roller shadeswith the brass fittings on the ends – in my line of vision,gathering dust and interfering with window washing. Nosir. I didn’t want any wide trim on the doorways or win-dows. I wanted it narrow, to bring in a wider window,to give me more llight.’Frederick Robie (1958)

38-Summer-09

Documents

Transcript of 38-Summer-09