Fired clay brick has greater design flexibility than virtually any other facade material, serving traditional and contemporary styles equally well. Its flexibility is enhanced by its application to a variety of aesthetic details, some long-used and predictably elegant and others that bring an unexpected twist to modern designs.

Here are three details finding popularity in contemporary designs:

There is a visual effect literally baked into some varieties of fired clay brick that is so subtle you may not even be aware it’s there. But that doesn’t mean it’s not working. It plays on your subconscious, telling you there’s something going on with this wall that’s different than other brick facades, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. It’s depth, and shadow, and complexity…but you can’t name it.

Brick manufacturers have a name for it: flashing.

Fired clay brick is extremely durable, routinely demanding little in maintenance over the course of centuries. As a wall system, brick masonry and all of its associated components are also very durable, but over time (usually many decades, at least) the mortar binding the individual brick units together on a facade may come to need some attention.

The process of removing defective mortar from between masonry units and replacing it with fresh mortar is called “repointing” or “tuckpointing.” Sounds straightforward enough, right? But, the thought of repointing is often intimidating to people, especially with regard to historic structures. There seems to be a mystery surrounding the process — as if the correct (and affordable) way to do it is somehow unknowable.

Here are five little known facts about repointing, the answers to which may bring you some ease if you are ever called to facilitate a repointing project.

Are you fluent in brick? Brick masonry is one of the oldest and most broadly used construction methods known to man, and it has its own fascinating vernacular. As a designer or builder of structures, you ought to be able to speak the language.

Want to test your knowledge? Here’s just the “B” section from the Brick Industry Association’s Glossary of Terms Relating to Brick Construction: Back filling; Backup; Batter; Bed joint; Belt course; Blocking; Bond; Bond beam; Bond course; Bonder; Breaking joints. How many of those can you define, specifically in the context of brick masonry design and construction? Are you batting over .500?

If you did well with the “B’s,” try your hand at the following 10 terms that even have experienced masons scratching their heads:

Most brick contain cores — holes in the interior of the brick units that became commonplace when manufacturers embraced extruding rather than molding brick. Cores reduce the mass of the brick and make production, shipping, and installation more efficient, generally without diminishment of brick’s many beneficial physical properties.

“Ah,” you say, “so brick with cores are hollow brick.” If only it were that easy. Even “solid brick”, by industry standards, usually contain cores, leaving one to wonder what on earth is meant by “hollow brick.” What it really comes down to is the degree of hollow-ness.

Brick and glass aren’t always thought of as perfect partners. After all, brick has been around for thousands of years and is a frequent staple in traditional designs, while glass-walled structures are relatively young in comparison and tend to be associated with contemporary architecture. But designers at Perkins Eastman extracted the maximum benefit — and style — available from both materials in creating the Center for Advanced Medicine and Surgery.