Using two brick colors from Yankee Hill Brick set at varying depths, the west building on the Farm Credit Services of America corporate campus is an abstract view of the Midwest landscape from the hypothetical vantage of a drone. Why a drone? Drones occupy an expanding role in the practice of precision agriculture, itself a product of high tech tools and a rapid pace of innovation. The different depths of brick provide an ever-changing pattern of shadows throughout the day. Visualizing the facade treatment in this way is a nod to the ever-changing face of agriculture and the innovativeness of its practitioners.

In our last post we talked about three design details in brick that are increasingly finding their way into structures with contemporary styles. While those details contribute to striking, innovative, modern designs, brick can always be counted on for familiar — but no less striking — traditional design details as well. Below are three well known brick masonry details that never fail to please.

Fired clay brick has greater design flexibility than virtually any other facade material, serving traditional and contemporary styles equally well. Its flexibility is enhanced by its application to a variety of aesthetic details, some long-used and predictably elegant and others that bring an unexpected twist to modern designs.

Here are three details finding popularity in contemporary designs:

There is a visual effect literally baked into some varieties of fired clay brick that is so subtle you may not even be aware it’s there. But that doesn’t mean it’s not working. It plays on your subconscious, telling you there’s something going on with this wall that’s different than other brick facades, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. It’s depth, and shadow, and complexity…but you can’t name it.

Brick manufacturers have a name for it: flashing.

Fired clay brick is extremely durable, routinely demanding little in maintenance over the course of centuries. As a wall system, brick masonry and all of its associated components are also very durable, but over time (usually many decades, at least) the mortar binding the individual brick units together on a facade may come to need some attention.

The process of removing defective mortar from between masonry units and replacing it with fresh mortar is called “repointing” or “tuckpointing.” Sounds straightforward enough, right? But, the thought of repointing is often intimidating to people, especially with regard to historic structures. There seems to be a mystery surrounding the process — as if the correct (and affordable) way to do it is somehow unknowable.

Here are five little known facts about repointing, the answers to which may bring you some ease if you are ever called to facilitate a repointing project.

Are you fluent in brick? Brick masonry is one of the oldest and most broadly used construction methods known to man, and it has its own fascinating vernacular. As a designer or builder of structures, you ought to be able to speak the language.

Want to test your knowledge? Here’s just the “B” section from the Brick Industry Association’s Glossary of Terms Relating to Brick Construction: Back filling; Backup; Batter; Bed joint; Belt course; Blocking; Bond; Bond beam; Bond course; Bonder; Breaking joints. How many of those can you define, specifically in the context of brick masonry design and construction? Are you batting over .500?

If you did well with the “B’s,” try your hand at the following 10 terms that even have experienced masons scratching their heads: