Clay brick has been the go-to choice for beautiful, durable, functional buildings for centuries, but we in the Brick Industry tend to start from the outside as we list brick’s many virtues. When it comes to old brick buildings with thick, load-bearing perimeter walls that expose brick to the interior spaces, we say, “Oh, and it looks great on the inside, too.”

When it comes to the Spears School of Business, project architect Rand Elliott invokes first century Roman architect Vitruvius who asserted that great architecture contains firmness, commodity, and delight. In other words, it is “sturdy, useful and beautiful.” That description applies equally to the Spears building at Oklahoma State University and it’s chief building material, clay brick.

A brick building needs to be designed and built with brick in mind from the beginning, right? Surprisingly, not so! Retrofitting clay brick to a previously non-brick building is a real, and often overlooked, possibility for delivering the ultimate face lift to a structure.

Our access to the photo collections of the national Brick Industry Association and our member brick manufacturers from all over the U.S. gives us the opportunity to share images of excellent designs in brick that you’ve likely never seen before.

The submittal deadline for the nation’s premier awards program recognizing excellence in the use of clay brick is coming up on October 31. Seems like the perfect time for an FAQ…

How do you design a modern high rise residential building to fit into a traditional, old world neighborhood? You put the versatility of brick in the hands of skilled architects and designers, that’s how.

ODA New York was faced with that challenge at 371 Broadway in Manhattan’s historic Tribeca neighborhood. Seizing on Tribeca’s prominent cast iron craftsmanship, ODA used custom-made brick shapes from Sioux City Brick in a basket weave pattern as an expression of the neighborhood’s past.