History of Brick

ASIA

   
  The oldest bricks were originally made from shaped mud before 7500 B.C. They were first found at Tell Aswad following by upper Tigris region and southeast Anatolia close to Diyarbakir. There were some recent findings at Jericho and Catal Huyuk dated between 7000 and 6395 B.C. The first sun-dried bricks were made in Mesopotamia (Iraq) in the ancient city of Ur in about 4000B.C. Besides Iraqian, ancient Egyptians and Indus Valley Civilization also used mud brick. This can be proven from the ruins of Buhen, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.

   In pre-modern China, brick-manufacturing was a lowly and unskilled artisan’s job. However, the kiln master was respected. The kiln master had to make sure the temperature inside the kiln stayed at a level which caused the clay to shimmer with molten gold colour or silver colour. Besides, he needed to know when to quench the kiln in order to produce the surface glaze. The laborers did the less skilled works.

Stages of brick production:

1     Mix water and clay

2    Trample the mixture into a thick paste by driving oxen over it

3     Scoop the paste into wooden frames standardized with roughly 42cm long,20cm wide and 10cm     thick.

4    Smooth the surfaces with wire-strung bow

5    Remove it from wooden frames

6    Print the fronts and backs with stamps to show the company and place of production

7    Load the kiln with fuel

8    Stack the bricks in the kiln

9    Remove it to cool while the kins were still hot

10.Bundle it into pallets for transportation

  
  Early traces of bricks in China were found at a ruin site in Xi’an dated about 3800 years ago. The earliest bricks made by fired process appeared about 3000 years ago in Western Zhou dynasty. The glazing techniques used for bricks was found in Song Dynasty.

EUROPE

  The history of bricks in Europe was begun in the 12^th century with the re-introduction of bricks from Nothern-Western Italy to Northern Germany. It was called brick Gothic which is a reduced style of Gothic Architecture flourished in Nothern Europe. Brick Gothic buildings built amost of bricks can be found in Denmark, Germany, Poland and Russia. During the Renaissance and Baroque, brickwork covered with plaster was popular but not visible brick walls. Only in the middle of 18^th century, visible brick walls regained some popularity.

  Bricks were often used due to speed and economy. The building of Britain’s Industrial Revolution were constructed of bricks and timber because of  the demand. In the 19^th century, locally made bricks were used in construction in Boston and New York in preference to the brownstones of New Jersey and Connecticut.

   In the beginning of 19^th century, the trend of building upwards for office emerged. Some early skyscrapers were made in masonry such as Monadnock Bulding in Chicago. Brick uses was brought back for high structures in the 1950s working by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Building Research Establishment in United Kingdom. This way produced 18 stories structures with bearing walls not thicker than a single brick and it was not fully developed due to the ease and speed in building using other materials. So, in the late 20^th century, brick was limited in building low or medium rise structures.