Thoughts on this? Do you think this could make traditional architecture more appealing again?
The US mostly stopped making structural brick buildings around WWII. It is still used sometimes as a decorative facade, but without corbeling, arches, or any kind of features.
Concrete block, steel frames and cast concrete pretty much replaced it.
Unfortunate, really. Brick/stone doesn’t only look more pleasing and is better for the environment (like said in the video), but it generally also lasts longer compared to concrete.
No one is building anything with non-structural masonry. At least not in North America. It wouldn't even pass code in many jurisdictions and comes with a ton of problems. Moisture, and protection from water is very difficult as brick is porous and unreinforced masonry is a total non-starter any place where there might be earthquakes. That's why whenever you see brick these days its a cladding not a structural material. That's been the case basically since the turn of the 20th century.
There is really also no shortage of buildings using brick as a cladding even today especially in certain parts of the US. College campus buildings, apartment buildings in places like NYC and Philadelphia, even run of the mill strip malls often have brick clad facades. This is especially true in the South, Midwest and Northeast.
Also these techniques and similar are used all the time for traditional buildings. There seems to be this thought that unless we built things the way we did 200 years ago, it can't be done which is just not true. We have laser cutters and CNC machines and ways to fabricate that would've been unheard of. Many of those revivalist buildings like the Robert AM Stern ones in NYC have a ton of prefabricated parts. That's how Franklin & Murray College at Yale which opened a few years ago was done.
Yes, everything here in the USA is made out of concrete because architects don't care that it's one of the largest carbon polluters on the planet. They pretend to care, but they know they'll all be dead when the chickens finally come home to roost. Not to mention only the upfront cost is cheaper for glass and steel. It's still more expensive and use more energy in the long term. So it's only "cheaper" now, but the true cost, the greater cost, is being passed on to future generations.
This idea is not unheard here in Europe. A friend of mine is on the same business in Burgundy.
he could easily be wrong, the future is unpredicatable
Actually, it's brick laying that makes is more expensive, not the brick itself.
Which is already getting automated
That would be great!
What's kinda funny is that traditional buildings are still being built, but when they're well done people don't realize they're new. They think they're old.
I have no problem with this. If they had this tech in ancient Rome I'm 100% certain that they would have used it, so who cares? Only the purists care, but outside of only building residential for the filthy rich, traditional architecture will never come back if the purists are in charge.
That startup definitely looks promising in making brick ornamentation more accessible with the use of robots. But I also find it interesting that according to that one guy at the end, brick as a building material won’t have a future because it is still more expensive compared to modern alternatives.
Now I don’t know if that’s because the US doesn’t have many rivers/lacks clay, because I am fairly certain that in EU the majority of new buildings already do use brick. They just lack the ornaments like shown in the video. Kinda makes me hope the startup expands to EU as well, where brick already seems more popular.