something tells me you should try to get some details from
the Best stores done by SITE back in the seventies/eighties.

i feel as though you could cut holes in the glass..but the cost
would be prohibitive..and replacing the glass ever would be a
chore. couldn't you put the brick in front of the glass? using
relieving angles or pinning the brick off the glass?

hmmm...good question.

i suppose you could laser cut a hole in the glass, but that would seriously compromise its internal structural integrity. clear acrylic seems more likely, but for cost reasons would never fly outside of a school setting. i have a feeling you could create the same effect by manipulating the vertical layering of the wall section rather than going to the hassle of actually inserting brick in glass which really just seems sort of odd.

I know what your saying about the price and i agree, but id like to achieve it none the less. Im looking to have a wall move from Brick to glass then back to brick. Its for a univeristy project of an Architecture Foundation, i want to imply this building makes architecture more transparent and accessable.

I was also thinking about a wood cladding but this wouldnt suit the context of heavy stone, brick and rendered buildings.

Do you think the idea is interesting or just plain sucky? lol

Thanks for the posts people.

O

P.S.Sorry there was no photoshop water and bricks Tumbleweed!!!

You could cast bricks into glass

This reminds me of something I remember seeing in 10x10. It was a roof that was a combination of glass block and brick, I THINK, but I could be wrong....

Maybe somebody knows what I'm talking about and can bring it up..

Yeah a gigantic cast resin wall...

In response to JAFIDLER, you suggest manipulating the vertical layering of the bricks, could you expand on this point if at all possible?

I have looked for the BEST stores but cant sem to find images anywhere. Damn!

Thanks

O

I will look out the 10x10 book, thanks. Hmmm a giant resin wall, just trying to think of alternatives but not somthing that is just superficial like the sticking of them to the glass, as i think thats just abit to false, but thanks for the idea

Thanks

O

they have glass bricks, I know a firm who used them on a house. pretty cool. You can get them in transparent, translucent and colored.... dont ask me where though. But I know they exist.

you can also cast a panel of glass, or use float glass (regular 'window pane' glass) and cut a hole in it (or cast a void to accept the brick in it). You would then need to have the glass tempered.

Do you want the glass to have a thickness to it or be as thin as possible???

Also, is this a real project or a studio project??? Cast glass gets really expensive really fast depending on the size. The cost is in the annealing of the glass (the slow reduction of temperature which stops the build up of any crazy types of stress in the glass). The larger the glass, the longer it takes...

Kahn: Brick, what do you want to be.

Brick: lots of things, only please dear god do not try to support me with glazing.

oh, and Im not talking about those glass blocks used in dentists offices and bathrooms and such, often referred to as glass bricks.
These look like masonry bricks..... only they are glass....I wish I knew where they come from..... hmmmm

Its a studio project so cost doesnt come into it just yet. Id like the glass to have a thickness, as it needs to be structural im guessing. Ans as mentioned before, the cutting out would create a weak point wouldnt it? Or if the brick was cast into the glass when the panel was made then would that make a difference?

By the way ive found the aforementioned BEST stores

http://www.siteenvirodesign.com/proj.best.php

take alook if you havent seen them

Thanks

O

I'm not a big fan of brick or any other type of masonry being used in a way in which it floats above lighter materials or is not in some way reconnected to the base of the building by believable arches or columns. All too many suburban office buildings have continuous ribbon windows at each floor with horizontal masonry in between. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Neither do situations where brick walls are cantilevered. That being said, lars mentioned the work of SITE on Best stores and I do think the use of floating masonry on some of their projects was convincing but still pretty gimmicky.

oh, i hadn't given it a lot of thought, but i was thinking by gradually stepping back the brick you may be able to create the appearance of either the brick or glass appearing more prominantly within the plane of the wall. i guess my point was there they may be easier ways that better work within the properties of the materials to achieve a similar effect. i tend to agree with SuperHeavy.

I want the materials to enphasise the stitching of materisl back together, so when i was fiddling about i thought that brick work can look like stitching, in lines, dotted etc, so thought of this idea. I get what you saying Bryan4arch, i appreciate your opinion and welcome more!

thanks

O

JAFIDLER thats the look i was going for, not just a pane of glass with bricks inserted, sorry if i didnt describe clearly. Its a gradule process but i also see what Superheavy says, apt name me thinks! I'll post a pic or somthing if i decide to run with it and do the ele's for the building.

Keep the thoughts and ideas coming tho, all valid and good to read.

Thanks

O

oziman

what you want to do is the following....

1) determine what size you want you panels to be, as well as where you will want your bricks to be

2) create a mold (out of steel or graphite) that reflects the above mentioned sizes and patterns. The mold will have positives at the locations where the bricks will go (to create voids when cast)

3) then fill the mold with molten glass.

4) temper and then anneal the glass



once the glass cools, you should be fine. Put the bricks in the glass and call it a day

What many people dont realize is that glass has the same compressive strength as concrete. This is why tempering makes glass so strong. When you temper glass, it actually puts the glass into a state of compression, maximizing this qualtity of the glass.



If you need more advice, let me know...I used to be a glass blower

MDLER - Thanks a lot for the info, thats a massive help, enables me to visualize the process, brilliant!

So what do you do now, since you've left that trade? Im assuming architecture of some kind.

thanks

O

tumbles,

we can hang out at the glory hole together


I am an archinect

why don't you look at the work that Offfice DA. They work a lot with masonry walls that transform and change levels of opacity....
as for trying to put the bricks and the glass together...it sounds like a overly literal way of going about it. have you thought about cast stone or concrete as a way to get material weight with more plasticity? then the dematerialization rematerialization is informed by both patterning and structural dynamics. basicallly as much as everyone would like to be a support element, one really needs to be careful about how it is used and the environment it will need to deal with (did you ever hear about EOM's umbrella project in culver city that had over 95% glass breakage during installation because of the structural issues of slumped glass and pinned connections.)

Ah ha cool!

Some say they are better then watering holes...

FUTUREBOY- Thanks for that link, they have some done some great projects thats for sure and there is definatley inspiration there, i like the casa la roca project for its ideas for solid to transparent!!!

Any other thoughts on architects?

thanks

O