What may be the use the survey book? Curiously, in an age where most information on a project may be available online, this genre of book, that collects together a series of disparate buildings and organises them under one rubric, be it a typological similarity, a geographical/ locational similarity or (as in this case) a similarity in the nature of material being used, has seen a steep rise.
Could this be because in the plethora of information that we receive daily, we expect the book to provide us with some kind of stability—an anchor, or an index to help us navigate through the glut of images that we receive daily?
The survey book becomes the curated gateway to the world of architecture—the editors cull through the millions of images floating about in the world and make for us a carefully selected series of examples that informs and entertains us. The quality of the book is hinged on the argumentative quality of the curation, and the examples being used to elucidate the argument.
‘100 Contemporary Brick Buildings’ clearly belongs to such a genre of books. The use of such a book is then to suggest possibilities and references to designers who may want to browse the potentials of utilising brick in their buildings, or as a coffee table adornment displaying the gorgeous and exquisite possibilities (and there are many) of brick in architecture.
The book begins with a cursory introduction that surveys the history of brick buildings around the world, before throwing us straight into various contemporary examples, to suggest perhaps, that although brick buildings have been around since civilisation began, the material is far from being irrelevant to the contemporary world.
The examples chosen range from the single-family homes, institutional buildings, museums, rural schools, and many more built all around the world. The expressive characteristic of brick, to conjure up a ‘return’ of sort to a simpler relationship with nature, does seem to shape many of the buildings chosen in the book. The heaviness of masonry, the redness of earth, its ability to weather and take on patina evokes the presence of history. This is especially so for the many single-family homes chosen to be showcased.
Sometimes, this heaviness is juxtaposed against the lightness of glass to create an uncanny floating effect as in the Living-Garden House by KWK Promes, where brick is used to evoke a traditional home, but is placed on a surface of glass that reflects the landscape around. This juxtaposition of lightness and heaviness is also seen in many of the institution buildings chosen, like the juxtaposition of the fortress-like external shell with the glazed internal streets of the St Edwards University by Alejandra Aravena/ Elemental.
The book aims for an internationalism by choosing examples from all over the world, although this is weighed down by a strong European emphasis. Over 50 of the buildings and almost half of the practices chosen are European.
From the African continent, the book finds space for nine projects. These include the Kahere Eila Poultry Farming School in Guinea by Heikkinen-Komonen, or Dominikus Stark’s Nyaza Education Centre, Rwanda, among others. Most of these are small institutions built for rural communities by architects from Europe. Even Diebedo Francis Kere, three of whose works are featured in the book is currently based in Berlin. The only exception is the work of Peter Rice in South Africa.
Brick, in the European context has a very particular history, resonance and meaning. In fact, it is these resonances that shape many of the strategies used by the architects chosen to insert new interventions within older city fabrics, as in the Kolumba Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne by Peter Zumthor.
One wonders what happens when this framework is used to survey architecture from around the world. Do we superimpose our desires from the location upon it, or are we able to place the material in the meanings that it has within its context? In other words, is there an orientalist tendency within architectural discourse that superimposes a certain expectation upon the other?
One of the agendas of a book like ‘100 Brick Buildings’ is to establish a canon of practices and languages of architecture that it validates. What happens when this canon is based on practices that overwhelmingly inhabit a particular kind of landscape?
In the book, the examples from Africa stand out as exceptions. Usually very rudimentary in their construction technique, they are often elaborations on what are seen as local construction techniques. The plans are invariably simple, consisting of a series of rooms loosely linked by semi-open spaces. These buildings are also exceptional in the way that they are presented, being some of the few that are often photographed with people from the communities that they cater to.
The only example from India that finds its way into the book, in fact, is the flamboyant house by iStudio—a young, Mumbai-based practice. Here brick is foregrounded in an expressive series of vaults and arches reminiscent of the work of Nari Gandhi: the affective nature of the material being evoked as a return to the primordial cave.
Each example chosen in ‘100 Brick Buildings’ is introduced by a biography of the firm, followed by a project explained through a short descriptive text and large captioned photographs. In this handsomely designed and produced book from Taschen, brick is seen in all its forms—as patterned surfaces, as heavy masonry or lightweight screens, as a load-bearing element, and as a undulating skin.
Although, one wishes that there were a little more information about the materiality and method of construction in the text or the drawings, the book is an interesting and illuminating survey of the aesthetic strategies and concerns of contemporary architecture.
‘100 Contemporary Brick Buildings’ (Ed. Philip Jodidio), hardcover, 2 vols. in slipcase, 24 x 30.5 cm, 648 pages. Available at Taschen.