Practice style transcendence with brick
/Lately we’ve been posting photos on our Instagram feed of brick buildings with a decidedly traditional look. Not historic buildings, mind you, but new brick structures that embrace a definable style — or at least a familiar feel — from the past. The use of brick itself is often a significant part of conveying these building’s “traditional-ness” (we used the hashtag #oldschoolbrick for a reason). But, brick’s adaptability to a variety of old and new looks is what has made it the premier building material for centuries even as preferences change and styles come and go.
Labeling something as contemporary architecture is fraught with potential debate, since the term itself points to the lack of a definition for the architecture of the 21st Century more than it describes a single style. What is clear, though, is that fired clay brick remains a major presence in the 21st Century designer’s palette, and we’d love to show you some examples.
In the gallery below you’ll notice how designers have creatively used brick’s myriad combinations of textures, colors, and sizes to achieve the look they were after. In more traditional designs, bond patterns and design details are repeated so commonly that they are given names like “soldier course” and “Flemish bond”, but 21st Century architects have applied brick in ways that defy any label — just like contemporary architecture itself.
Call it contemporary architecture or simply #newschoolbrick. Whatever the style, brick makes these innovative, visionary structures beautiful!
