Bricks Now & Then: The Oldest Man-Made Building

The use and popularity of this building material has not feigned one bit over the millennia, and is even gaining even popularity today.

Bricks are the only non-natural building material that can look back at several thousand years of history. And as Mies van der Rhohe stated: “Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins”. Buildings made of this fabric from very different epochs and cultures all over the world are always astonishing, and the world’s best architects have explored the qualities of brickwork. A key characteristic for its success has alwaysbeen easy planning through the standardization of produc-tion and the resulting harmonized construction process. Amazing constructive qualities, inexpensive and at the same time environmentally friendly production as well as its longevity are among the qualities that are particularly valued today. In this volume, historical and contemporary brick edifices are featured showing the wide range of pos-sible applications and design possibilities.