Technology: A Building Material with a Rich Tradition - Using Brick in Custom Solutions
Brick is one of the oldest known building materials. Bricks of fired clay were first used in 3000 BCE as building material. Lighter in weight and more adaptable than stone - and easier to handle - bricks have spread across the globe and are the basis for fascinating icons of architectural history: from the dome of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople erected in the thin bricks typical of the Byzantine era, in which the thickness of the joint in some cases surpasses that of the brick, to the Gothic St. Martinskirche in Landshut, completed in 1500, with its 130-metre-high, masonry tower - the world's tallest load-bearing-brick structure. On account of its excellent building physics properties, durability and, last but not least, sensual qualities, brick is always up to date. In addition to clinker bricks and facing bricks, with which even today traditional surfaces can be achieved, ceramic tile plates - which are manufactured in a newly developed process - offer a freedom of design that had not yet been possible.
