Launching Brickworks' latest book: Materiality 2021
Last week I was in esteemed company when I was invited to launch Brickworks’ latest publication here in Perth; Cameron Bruhn did the honours in Brisbane and Katelin Butler hosted the event in Melbourne.
Over here in The West, Brickworks hosted an intimate long table lunch at its King Street Studio for a select group of architects whose projects feature in the book and others who are creating innovative and inspiring projects using bricks and blocks.
The Calile Hotel in Brisbane by Richards & Spence Architects features in Brickworks’ new book: Materiality 2021. Photography by Sean Fennessy.
The new book is called Materiality 2021 and it features four projects from Western Australia: two are retrofits of historic buildings and two are brand new structures. This small selection admirably demonstrates brick’s versatility and enduring appeal.
The Old Synagogue by Arcadia reimagines a landmark site in Fremantle as four distinct yet connected food and beverage venues. The synagogue itself now houses a restaurant, while a new basement space resembles a speakeasy bar and the corner-front storefront retains connections and engagement with South Terrace.
Key to the success of this project was the intention to establish a clear demarcation between old and new – one where heritage bricks and new textured and patterned blockwork complement each other, and are overrun by landscape that will eventually fill in the leftover spaces in-between.
The Applecross House by iredale pedersen hook architects overlooks the Swan River and enjoys views to the city. Bricks were chosen for this new family home for several key reasons:
to endure over time;
to evoke a sense of permanence; and
to convey a sense that the house had long existed on this site.
The brick mass is simultaneously heavy and light; one storey is hung from the upper level and the cranked columns on the east boundary. At a finer level brick patterning slips and slides continuing the sense of movement.
We may see further explorations of these ideas and the similar materials on Adrian’s own new house, currently nearing completion on a smaller City Beach site?
Next up is the Midland Campus, Curtin University by Lyons + Silver Thomas Hanley, which is located in the heart of Midland’s historic rail workshops precinct. This project formed a key component of the MRA’s Midland master plan to transform the area into a medical and education hub.
Bricks were chosen to reflect the distinctive architecture of the nearby heritage workshops, as well as Curtin’s original brick and brutalist concrete campus in the pine forest at Bentley.
In this new campus, the combination of detailed corbelling, brick brise soleil, and textured perpend brick to the upper and lower reaches helps to create a façade that plays with light and shadow to mitigate Perth’s harsh sun.
The final WA project is the Living Edge Showroom by Taylor Robinson Chaney Broderick Architects. This project reimagined a 1900s warehouse – which had operated as a sewing machine repair factory up until 2017 – into an elegant backdrop for high-end furniture and design objects, arranged over three levels.
The project commenced when Fred and Jody Chaney teamed up with the building’s new owners to restore it; and then Living Edge agreed to occupy the entire building and engaged HASSELL to undertake the interior fit out with Jonathan Lake taking the lead.
Once the stripping back process commenced, it became apparent that the simple elemental qualities of the original structure should be celebrated in this latest iteration. TRCB therefore aimed to achieve visual and spatial clarity by retaining exposed brickwork, timber floors and roof structures, and inserting new steel-framed doors and windows.
Bricks and blocks may be sometimes referred to as humble materials, but as each these projects show, there are infinite ways to arrange them; a wide range of colours and textures to choose from, and bricks and blocks can be used to create everything from utilitarian structures - such as the Edwardian warehouse-turned-high-end showroom, to the highly detailed and nuanced Midland Campus, with its various treatments that inform the atmosphere and mood of the building, both inside and out.
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe hinted at the multitudes that can be found in these humble materials when he said:
“Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins.”
That quote appears prominently - opposite the title page – in this new book.
For me it is surpassed by another quote from a famous architect, who was also a virtuoso in his use of bricks. I’m talking of course about Louis Kahn, the subject of a 2017 biography by Wendy Lesser, which is called You Say to Brick: The Life of Louis Kahn.
I found reference to Kahn’s favourite quote in an article by Oliver Wainwright, the Guardian architecture critic in the UK, about a new exhibition in 2013. In that piece, Wainwright called Louis Kahn “the brick whisperer”.
Wainwright wrote:
“Believing his materials had a stubborn sense of their own destiny was one of the many quirks of this oddball architect” and he relayed the well-known anecdote that describes Kahn conversing with his materials:
“Louis Kahn used to tell his students: if you are ever stuck for inspiration, ask your materials for advice. "You say to a brick, 'What do you want, brick?' And brick says to you, 'I like an arch.' And you say to brick, 'Look, I want one, too, but arches are expensive and I can use a concrete lintel.' And then you say: 'What do you think of that, brick?' Brick says: 'I like an arch.'"
I think that being able to somehow tap into that “sense of stubborn destiny” in materials is one of the qualities or characteristics that sets architecture apart from other people who practice design and construction.
This is a question that lies at the centre of my communications practice, and I’m always trying to articulate those attributes that differentiate architecture from other design and construction services, partly to identify the value that architects bring to projects and places, and also to clearly communicate the unexpected delight or unanticipated value they help to unlock for their clients.
In his foreword to this book, Stephen Varady succinctly captures another important characteristic that sets architects apart. He writes:
“The best architects know how to create projects that do far more than they were supposed to, giving more to their occupants than was asked for. They know how to give something more to the broader community that hadn’t been requested, and ultimately, they know how to conceive of things that others have not yet imagined.”
The Gaudi-esque columns of the Unhistoric townhouse by System Architects Photography by Giles Ashford Photography.
The projects in the book describe the range and versatility of bricks and blocks, which can be used to create flat, solid and impermeable load bearing walls, or delicate screens and curved and patterned surfaces, which highlight the allure of changing light conditions and shadow play.
In Materiality 2021, we can see projects with:
twisting columns – such as the Lipton Thayer brick house by Brooks and Scarpa with Studio Dwell;
crisp detailing such as the stepped brick motif around the windows and doors at 116 University place by Morris Adjmi Architects; and
The seemingly unbridled creativity of the Gaudi-esque Unhistoric townhouse by System Architects.
We can also see from the book that bricks are equally at home:
on the beachfront – as evidenced by Neeson Murcutt Neille’s Kempsey Crescent Head SLSC project;
perched on a sandstone outcrop – see SJB’s Pavilion St;
in the bush - Steendijk’s Bellbird Retreat; and
in a back lane in the inner city - see Austin Maynard’s Brickface.
Pavilion Street by SJB sits on top of a sandstone outcrop. Photography by Brett Boardman.
St Marys Chapel by Baldasso Cortese. Photography by Peter Clarke.
And bricks and blocks can be used to create buildings as varied as:
apartments – such as Darling Square North by Tzannes;
a chapel - the St Marys project by Baldasso Cortese: and
major university buildings (Monash University Teaching and Learning Building by John Wardle - who incidentally is speaking at the Perth Town Hall tonight – yet another example of fine local brickwork!).
Bricks and blocks are available in an impressive array of colours that generate different moods:
such as the cool grey blockwork walls of Highbury Grove, by Ritz and Ghogassian;
the sharp and sophisticated black form of 9 Ivy Lane, by Honed architecture and design;
the warm and inviting chocolate tones of Barkers Road townhouses by KUD; and
the dark to light gradation of Carmel Place by nArchitects.
Looking at this extensive collection of projects – and all of the ways they showcase bricks is certainly inspirational to me, a non-architect – and it’s opened my eyes to new possibilities.
I was also struck by the themes and concerns that architects explored in the essays at the back of the book, many of which centre on sustainability and the need to reduce our impact on the planet and its finite resources, going forward.
For example, Megan Baynes explores the possibility of retrofitting brick homes for a climate-changed future in “Meaningful work, algorithms and the beauty of typology”
We can almost smell the smoke and see the haze while reading Neil Durbach’s Fire Alarm, a freeform watery musing from his kayak on Sydney Harbour, penned during last summer’s bushfires;
Architect and demolition contractor (now that’s an unusual pairing!) Damien Chwalisz examines on the longevity and durability of bricks in “How many lives in a brick?”,
In the essay “Only what is necessary” Clare Kennedy examines the work of the late Indian architect Laurie Baker; and
Brian Steendijk’s contribution is called “Capturing the zeitgeist: sustainability or just a question of balance?”.
These explorations of issues that all arise from our current climate emergency predicament – and which consider how to reduce our collective carbon footprint AND adapt our homes and buildings to become more resilient as weather patterns change – are likely to become more prominent and pronounced among architects and their clients, in future.
I think that architects have an extraordinary opportunity to show leadership here, because as a community we haven’t yet sufficient grappled with the need to measure and reduce embodied carbon in new projects; and we haven’t yet got a clear path for retrofitting and reusing existing buildings – and these are areas of expertise where architects naturally excel. It’s up to you to carve out that territory and claim it though, because no other profession or discipline is going to hand it to you on a platter.
It’s encouraging to see that Brickworks is tackling this issue with the upcoming launch of Climate Active certified carbon neutral clay bricks and pavers, which will be manufactured at certain facilities in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and WA.
The local manufacturing sites are Bellevue and Cardup, and Brickworks clients can make an application for complimentary carbon offsetting across the Australian-made brick and pavers range.
Brickworks will review applications for projects that demonstrate Environmentally Sustainable Design principles, and which deliver minimum impact on the environment both initially and over the long term.
When this Climate Active carbon neutral offer is launched, Brickworks will also provide a project based carbon footprint calculator, to measure and reduce embodied energy at the design stage. It will also continue to offer its industry leading 100 year product warranty.
More details will be made available soon, and you can contact your local representative to confirm a specific product and project.
I’d like to thank Darlene de Jong, the Brickworks BDM in Western Australia, for inviting me to launch this impressive publication, and hope that readers will enjoy exploring Materiality 2021 as much as I did. It is bound to provide architects with inspiration for your next creative endeavour.
You can request a free copy of Materiality 2021 from the Brickworks website at www.brickworks.com.au/publications