What do the Great Wall of China, Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, and Boston Medical Center’s new cancer care facility all have in common? They all feature one of humanity’s oldest manufactured products: the humble brick. “Brick is a longstanding material whose performance attributes have been proven time and again for centuries,” says Stephen Sears, senior director of marketing and communications for the Brick Industry Association (BIA), Reston, Va.
After reading this article, you should be able to:
- Understand the fundamental considerations affecting the selection of brick materials for commercial and institutional facility construction.
- Describe the various attributes of bricks and the terminology of brick construction and detailing.
- Describe the basic mechanisms of brick enclosure performance and the restoration of historic and older brick structures.