Bricks and Blocks
Brittle Mass

Much of our work involves the use of masonry, either as a load bearing structural material, or as a cladding. The cavity wall, with its external skin of brickwork, has become the new vernacular. At its structural best with the inner skin of concrete block used for structural support in smaller buildings, or at worst as the whole used to clad a steel or concrete frame. A considerable array of gadgets are available for supporting these neo-vernacular brickwork skins, and for solving the inevitable architectural detailing problems. In the UK perhaps this type of construction has proved to be the most successful 'building system' of this century. The relative structural weakness of the 'thin' cavity wall has pushed us as designers into a philosophy of attempting to provide a diffuse system of supporting structure for such skins. For example, we try to design primary structural frames with close spacing supports to the external walls. This improves the performance of the masonry skin in supporting both wind loads and its own self weight, so minimising the size and number of hidden secondary structural components to be incorporated into the masonry.

Our frustration in dealing with the complexity of masonry cladding systems has created a interest in 'solid masonry' construction, which is perhaps a more traditional approach. Solid masonry has obvious structural advantages; the wind resistance of a masonry wall increases with the square of its thickness, allowing much greater structural capacity with no increase in overall wall thickness. Solid brickwork can also create architectural advantages, such as fine grained Flemish bonding, deep reveals around openings, and thermal mass. Modern spatial arrangements incorporating double height walls or narrow piers can be created without the expense of framed construction.

Inevitably we are also involved with remodelling and refurbishing of existing masonry buildings. A clear approach is needed for this type of work; one that uses systematic methods for assessing existing structures, and which fully understands the properties of the material, and the consequences of the introduction of different materials and structural forms. Interestingly comparison between the old and the new has taught us lessons and encouraged us to think harder about the possibilities of structural masonry.