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Brick Response: Simon Gould What factors tend to lead you to use bricksinaproject? The quality and richness of the finished product that we andthe client aspiretoo; the project location and built context; and the budget. Ipersonally love using bricks to make places because they bringsomuch playful opportunity to aproject. It is quite extraordinarythat aproduct with astandardmodule of 215x65 x102.5mm can be used to give formtosuch avarietyofbuildings and places. What can bricks offer in termsof creativity? My early memories of massive industrial structures and civic buildings in the West Midlands have informed my view that brick has limitless opportunities. From heavy,moody volumes to delicate, refined structures, one can use brick to create allmanner of different surfaces, walls, floors and roofs. Bricks arenot justred – from their raw claystate through the firing process to the finished article thereare many opportunities for them to be made into atotally different type of product. Also, bricks can be stacked and bondedina multitude of ways, and one mustn’t forget the all-important mortar that completes the palette. Which brick projects by Mitchell Eley Gouldhave pleasedyou most? King’s College library –wewere asked by the Taunton schoolto build alibraryasanextension to a grade-twolistedbuilding of locally quarriedstone. We were facedwith the challenge of complementing and enhancing the built setting, but thequarry had long since closed. We thereforedecided to use amix of five different bricks, one of which was aklinkerbrick that had beenstamped on and distorted beforebeing fired. Afat,flush mortar joint made the individual elements read as acohesivewhole. Initially therewas some doubt as to whether theproposed blend of materials would work, but five years on thebuilding is full of character and charms its users. Kingswood Classroom Buildingis located in Bath conservationarea, and theplanning officer requested that Bath stone be used. We argued that another prominent materialin the city was slate, andthat long slate-coloured blocks would be appropriate for the walls.They agreed, and we identified black Fireborn bricks for the purpose, with anarrow5mm mortar jointto create amorerefined surface. The end product is adark, engineered facade that plays in acompelling manner offthe neighbouring soft Bath stone. Which projects by other architects have impressed or influenced? SigurdLewerentz and AlvarAalto createdverydifferent buildings but both made brick structures of character and charm, along with raw spatialqualities that inspire. Is brick amaterial of thefuture? Of course.Bricks have beenused for hundreds of years to create the places that we inhabit andIbelieve we will continuetouse bricks for many moreyears to come Simon Gould Director at architect Mitchell EleyGould, which he joinedin2007 after studying at the universities of Bath and Cambridge,and working withMJP and FCB Studios. MuchofGould’s work is in education, placemaking andhousing, andcurrentprojects include an animal welfare centre in Gloucester.Heis atutorand teachingfellow at Bathand an external examiner at theUniversity of the West of England. Above Mitchell Eley Gould’s library at King’sCollege, Taunton (2011);Sigurd Lewerentz’s St Peter’s Church,Klippan (1966). 46 •IBSTOCK <strong>DESIGN</strong> •AUTUMN 2016
Oval Quarter/Myatts Fields housing by PRP Architects (photo: RichardChivers) To sign up foryour personal copyof<strong>DESIGN</strong> magazine, please e-mail design@ibstock.co.uk indicating if you would prefer to receiveaprinted or digital copy
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