Bricks are Smart, but Architects Don't Listen

Рет қаралды 507,751

2 жыл бұрын

Will Quam of 'Brick of Chicago' takes us around the city to question architect Louis Kahn’s adage that all bricks are motivated to be arches. Here, in the Logan Square neighborhood, we find bricks of all sorts, that - in addition to arches - take on other configurations and metaphors to describe their qualities; textile bricks and diapering, brushstrokes of a painting, butter joints and glazes, soldiers and bullnoses. Will’s passion for bricks is infectious as he sets us straight in our biased assumptions. In the end, it is revealed how he is able to maintain such a close connection to this ubiquitous, overlooked, and often misunderstood building material. Visit 'Brick of Chicago' (www.brickofchicago.com) for tours by Will to learn more about bricks and follow his Instagram @brickofchicago for beautiful imagery that reframes how we view the city.
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Architecture with Stewart is a KZfaq journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
_About Me_
Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
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Design With Company: designwith.co
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture: arch.uic.edu/

Пікірлер: 1 000

@asingularbrick4758 2 жыл бұрын

Pretty partial to arches yeah

@stewarthicks 2 жыл бұрын

You heard it here folks!

@legion4698 2 жыл бұрын

yessir

@maxgoldstein6309 2 жыл бұрын

Arch PogChamp

@dokidoki777 2 жыл бұрын

I throw bricks and shatter them. Fear me.

@abrick3284 2 жыл бұрын

Me as well

@mattkaplan7047 2 жыл бұрын

I love the dry humor of how he's seemingly so desperate to convince you that bricks are not, in fact, sentient 🤣

@aarontoussaint8364 2 жыл бұрын

To me he seemed annoyed with stupid questions all the way until the end, which made the ending brilliant

@matheussanthiago9685 2 жыл бұрын

this feels like a monty python sketch fro beginning to end

@prancey227 2 жыл бұрын

The anti-anthropomorphizer

@michealball1896 2 жыл бұрын

The bricks defiantly do not talk. If you hear one speak please report too appature on site therapist, and remember bricks do not talk.

@labakrapscalio451 2 жыл бұрын

I did not. I was actually hoping to learn something about bricks

@blakewentley 2 жыл бұрын

"No, that's a new brick that's meant to look like commons. No, that's trash" Hell yeah, we out here roasting bricks

@irimac1806 2 жыл бұрын

But they already got roasted ;)

@trinitygrimes2011 2 жыл бұрын

@@irimac1806 Now they're twice baked.

@TheJanitorIsIn 2 жыл бұрын

Oven blasted that bitch

@lukesutton4135 2 жыл бұрын

I'm so high I'm brick, they said I wasn't alive but, I'm not that stone cold

@DeathnoteBB 2 жыл бұрын

In 200 years they’ll be historical and then who’s laughing? The bricks, probably

@WiihawkPL 2 жыл бұрын

i like how well this straddles the line between being serious and satire

@enemdisk6628 2 жыл бұрын

Metamodern

@RonWolfHowl 2 жыл бұрын

I need more of this in my life. Funny-ass shit that I walk away from with an ounce more culture

@westonmalone3205 2 жыл бұрын

With a sprinkling of aspburgers

@hayatsu_ 2 жыл бұрын

Informational Shitpost

@Platypi007 2 жыл бұрын

*pets building for an uncomfortably long time* "And this is someone's office." *slowly walks away*

@stewarthicks 2 жыл бұрын

So good.

@rajadhirajmaharaj 2 жыл бұрын

@@stewarthicks Throughout my civil engineering undergrad course, I used to get stoned with my friends on college campus and we used to do these kind of silly stuff. You reminded me of my college days. Thanks :)

@superbherb7947 2 жыл бұрын

That’s what depressed people do, right? kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ia-kedlzlbvUkmw.html

@baconwizard 2 жыл бұрын

@@rajadhirajmaharaj is that like… a past time for bricks?

@elijahtremblay8817 2 жыл бұрын

@@baconwizard as a fellow civil engineering undergrad, yes, yes it is.

@c0ttage 2 жыл бұрын

william continuing to emphasize the non-sentience of bricks while glorifying them for 10 mins is so precious

@notmaru 2 жыл бұрын

bricks are so beautiful specifically because of all the suffering they have to endure for us. quite touching video

@sssaaa9043 2 жыл бұрын

they are martyrs of our own desire

@kazikian 2 жыл бұрын

And they don’t burn catastrophically like composite cladding.

@KazmirRunik 2 жыл бұрын

Sometimes, I hit them just to see something beautiful 💀

@danielqueiroz6723 2 жыл бұрын

This guy klay they keep talking about has gone through so much 😔

@umbranight1628 2 жыл бұрын

Said the slavemaster

@TheArtificiallyIntelligent 2 жыл бұрын

My wife, a Chicagoan, walked in right after I started this and said, “What in the world are you watching? 🤷🏻‍♀️” She thought that you were purposefully making jokes throughout the two minutes that she sat through. However, I came to your defense and she says that she now understands that you were being serious the entire time.

@MrZaborskii 2 жыл бұрын

🤣

@klarathebat5619 2 жыл бұрын

When you put an engineer and an architect in a room: - "So do the bricks want to do that?" "It's clay Matthew, they don't want anything" - "I don't think they like that..." "Well I wouldn't BUT I'M HUMAN!"

@StephenRansom47 2 жыл бұрын

😂 I am a Tile-setter and have had this very talk with customers… Things do have a tendency to not doing certain things. Glass tile does not want to be glued to anything… they vibrate at such high frequency that it shakes itself loose. That’s why silicon is used successfully. 😂 We mechanics do talk to our material. Sometime they are the only thing to talk to. Construction can be lonely 😞

@dandywaysofliving 2 жыл бұрын

Maybe the materiel is speaking to you because you're there to listen? Maybe you're the one bearing witness to variables that would take people lifetimes and many perspectives to understand or a book. But Either way. You've seen into a corner that makes up an important part of reality. Homes are on the decline or maybe it's better to say buildings. But people can build but regulations nowadays make diy illegal so the alternative is homeless, rent, or struggling until you succeeded in getting A Home not The home.

@StephenRansom47 2 жыл бұрын

@@dandywaysofliving Yes, Indeed. I was a little miffed at this video till the end when the farce was lifted. 😊 We do have the ability to hear, with uncanny depth, into the world of rock and sand. In fact if one were to make the material aware of your intentions, the pieces will let you know theirs by any means they may muster. I have had tiles leave my hand by crazy means. Some that will not come out of the box and others that plummet to the floor and smash… all without explanation. The whole world is alive with intention and I now see why the Wind was given Deification.

@antoniocialfi77 2 жыл бұрын

When it doesn't work, u assume some colorful language is involved

@dandywaysofliving 2 жыл бұрын

@@StephenRansom47 I skateboard and I use 2 stones I found near a couples grave by the side of the road. I ride against traffic. I don't trust 20+ cars passing behind me with my only defense being my eyes behind my head (I have none) and the thin white strip of paint on the road. . We'll it's been 4 years now and I have forgotten em in parking lots, houses and bus stops but somehow. I always get em back. The last time I lost em I bet em. I didn't wanna lose em. But I forgot em by the bus stop. I decided fuck it new rocks. We'll I lost 1 of them new ones so I decided to see if the classics were still around. Yup. I have em and I'm happy. But I see them as blessings. I carry 2 stones I found near 2 graves on the side of the road. Probably bicyclist. But I read the names. The graves been removed but it was a couple. They died because the road said ride with with traffic. Basically saying. Yea trust them cars and strangers not to kill you when you have 30+ people passing u by. These stones have helped me and I love em. I use em for more wind resistance to propel me forward or as brakes as I roll down hill. When I'm bored they're maracas and sometimes I can communicate with the birds by clicking em. It's funny when I went to get em back. The birds knew and guarded my stones for me. When I showed up it was like they knew I was there for that reason. The universe is a funny place. Just being in this thread makes me wonder how much Power people have and how much the universe wants to see people smile. Yea shit might seem iffy but considering a comment left today might not be seen until 3 months from now or 10years makes u think how even right now. We hold infinite power. I know this is about tile and bricks but I stand by my reason. I considered 3d printing my stones in mass as a sellable item. But nah. I'll chill here and let the universe give everyone their own hope. Lol I'm just happy to experience others perspectives. Keep it going 😎🤟💫

@StephenRansom47 2 жыл бұрын

@@dandywaysofliving That’s a fantastic story and example of just what I am talking about. Who, or what, is empowering these events is irrelevant. Noticing that power is the event. Your thoughts and those of the fallen cyclists as well as those who placed the rocks, or stood near them in mourning … those mental forces give rise to extraordinary powers. I had done an illustration in the July before 9/11… the drawing had the Twin Towers in the background of a youth who’s tattoos show “The Class of 2001” being dragged underwater by an Anchor. It still haunts me. That same month three films also had interesting pre-cognition… The first Spider-Man movie, Final Fantasy - The Spirt Within and Metropolis. The world is filled with mystery… believing that, makes it so. Keep Seeing that. 👍

@alejandrovera2064 2 жыл бұрын

Last July, UNESCO declared a church by Architect Eladio Dieste, here in Uruguay, a world heritage site. Dieste has been called "master of brick"; his most emblematic works take this material to its maximum lightness in the creation of amazing structures. I like to think that he somehow knew how to make bricks be what they want and deserve to be.

@kagitsune 2 жыл бұрын

This was a beautiful Google search, thank you for pointing us his way.

@Kazini_ 2 жыл бұрын

Indeed, my fellow Uruguayan!

@enemdisk6628 2 жыл бұрын

Dieste is amazing. I dream of living in a brick house designed by him… what would it have been like?

@MrTorticolis 2 жыл бұрын

Grande Alejo por la recomendación. Su iglesia es una gran inspiración a la creatividad

@0ddSavant 2 жыл бұрын

Good looking out @Alejandro Vero, thanks!

@ronimuca 2 жыл бұрын

The beauty of traditional brick construction it’s that it tells the story of how the building was built. It adds the human scale to the building. This is what is lacking on “modern” brick design, where it’s just a veneer and they are put in a bunch, so it ends up looking or “feeling” fake.

@enemdisk6628 2 жыл бұрын

That is so underrated and true

@chrisdawkins3375 2 жыл бұрын

I think that 'modern' brick buildings can be good, but I understand what you mean. It takes an understanding of traditional brick construction to do it well, you can't just slap it on as a veneer and expect it to be good. Unfortunately that is what a lot of people do.

@danielled8665 2 жыл бұрын

But of course when describing how the bricks tell a story, we must remember that we don’t mean that literally. As, of course, these are bricks, and therefore not sentient. They can’t actually talk to you.

@HAZMOLZ 2 жыл бұрын

The idea of using brick for anything much over 5 storeys is strange to me (apart from old utilitarian / industrial / monolithic buildings like chimney towers). Bricks only make sense if they can be seen up close where the grain and craftsmanship of brick construction can be utilised and appreciated. Otherwise you might as well use glass and steel.

@blaster-zy7xx 2 жыл бұрын

As with talking to the dead, talking to bricks is easy. It's getting them to talk back that is the hard part.

@sirashley2355 2 жыл бұрын

I heard if you build s brick wall though it's like talking to your husband.

@andreeric3932 2 жыл бұрын

well good thing they dont talk back, imagine if they talked...

@lesvalernipi9871 2 жыл бұрын

I find that bricks tell me a lot.

@blaster-zy7xx 2 жыл бұрын

@@lesvalernipi9871 I'll bet you are fun at parties.

@lukesutton4135 2 жыл бұрын

All and all I'm just a nother brick in the wall

@maxgoldstein6309 2 жыл бұрын

They really just tricked me into learning about bricks for 10 minutes with comedy... well played gentlemen.. well played.

@stewarthicks 2 жыл бұрын

Gotcha

@aes53 2 жыл бұрын

“I cannot stress this enough. This in not an arch”.😀 When I was a kid, growing up in the South, my father was a traveling salesman who sold roofing products to small lumber yards in South Carolina. This was in the late 1950s. I would occasionally go with him and, yes, it was more than a little like walking into a Walker Evans photograph, though at the time I had no idea who Walker Evans was. One of the places he went was a brickyard. It was small operation this several small kilns and pallets of unfired bricks. The guy that owned it showed me around and at the end he gave me a raw unfired brick. I had it for many years, but, let’s face it, unfired brick aren’t that permanent.

@Crosshill 2 жыл бұрын

shouldve given you a wooden brick mold, those things are pretty popular recently for some reason

@tyjaham 2 жыл бұрын

All I remember from my masonry studio is the most common thing bricks say is "haha you thought"

@darkranger116 2 жыл бұрын

constantly insisting that an inanimate object has feelings while in the presence of a professional is by far one of the best things i've seen this year.

@kaliascythes2454 2 жыл бұрын

Really? You haven’t watched any politicians talking to professionals yet?

@mousearson9053 2 жыл бұрын

0:35 Denial 0:52 Was alive 2:53 Face 3:09 Arches alive? 3:33 Bargaining 4:29 Depression 5:31 The face in stones 5:56 Someone save them 7:23 Stressed 8:36 *No.* 9:18 Plot twist 9:58 He run

@stewarthicks 2 жыл бұрын

Haha thanks for this!

@rixplace1374 2 жыл бұрын

Finally,Finally someone who understands bricks and their silent conversations. I was born and raised for five years in aFLL Wright modified prarie style house ... The bricks I was told were called Roman style long and narrow.And that house had a dignified, no nonsense attitude about it, after it was finished about several hundred bricks were stacked in the rear yard, and my cousins and neighbor kids would use them to try and build walls We were never successful because we did not know the idea of a keystone at the top center and the use of mortar to bind the bricks and hold them level, We could get to four feet or so and collapse would happen. One day an older gent stopped to visit my grand pop saw what we were trying to do and explained we needed a keystone. With some cardboard boxes he showed how to make an arch form to hold bricks and when the key brick was installed the arch held

@es3359 2 жыл бұрын

Love bricks. Brick breed creativity, and give buildings a warmth and human scale that few other materials can muster. I wish that modern architecture could find more creativity with brickwork than I've currently seen. Fun video!

@iAmTheSquidThing 2 жыл бұрын

I love my brick.

@wirelesmike73 2 жыл бұрын

Agreed. It's a shame that it's not utilized in a more creative way in modern construction. I also find it disappointing that most brick today is only one layer thick, attached to a wooden structure underneath. It's used as nothing more than decoration, instead of being the walls that the interior is built to. I'm lucky enough to livein a older house with brick walls that are a foot thick. That's how brick is supposed to be used; to build a structure, not just adorne it.

@chriwehl7173 2 жыл бұрын

@@wirelesmike73 And those walls are... Resistant to a lot of things. I've seen brickwork bunkers. That shit literally needs to be detonated from the inside to be destroyed effectively. The outside is literally bomb proof

@andrewprahst2529 4 ай бұрын

@@wirelesmike73 I agree

@Ian07_ 2 жыл бұрын

"Argh, these architects don't wanna listen to me. It's like I'm talking to a brick wall."

@CardboardBots 2 жыл бұрын

Great job. Bricks just being bricks. Doin’ us a solid every day.

@stewarthicks 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks bricks

@michaeladams3762 2 жыл бұрын

@@stewarthicks the bricks can not hear your appreciation because they are made of clay and are not in fact, alive.

@jagged1725 2 жыл бұрын

@@michaeladams3762 i can dream

@telalilly536 2 жыл бұрын

my favorite piece of information is at 7:23 "I cannot stress this enough: This is not an arch"

@BenjamminFranklin. 2 жыл бұрын

There was a time in my town when the local government offered free red bricks too anyone opening a church. So you can find old buildings on different church areas that you can tell are the old church house because of the red bricks. There’s both a Catholic Church and a Buddhist temple close to each other that have old buildings made from those red bricks.

@marwaelkhouly8951 2 жыл бұрын

Where ?

@sgtjitters8980 2 жыл бұрын

@@marwaelkhouly8951 .

@melody3741 2 жыл бұрын

I don’t know why but this is so freaking cool to me.

@Katya_Lastochka 2 жыл бұрын

Strange that there were just bricks laying around. Perhaps there was an earthquake or fire that left brick buildings in ruins?

@crazydragy4233 2 жыл бұрын

@@Katya_Lastochka Could also do something with subsidisation. Perhaps there were a lot brick business and maybe demand had declined.

@christopherstephenjenksbsg4944 2 жыл бұрын

Loved this, not only for the information but for the humor! I grew up in a brick house in NYC. It was built as a church in 1831, but converted into a house just a few years later in 1842. The walls were laid up in English bond -- one row of headers alternating with one row of stretchers throughout. It was Greek Revival, so it didn't have arches of any sort -- just brownstone lintels over the windows and doors. It was a very austere but beautifully-proportioned building.

@lisakilmer2667 2 жыл бұрын

And I imagine it had a strong personality. Our house is almost 100, and has a strong personality. So, in a way, the bricks are talking!

@albertbatfinder5240 2 жыл бұрын

Beware the brick house with too much of a strong personality. We lived in a house that took it to the level of stubbornness, if not arrogance. Also, it would not listen to anyone, and positively bristled at constructive criticism. I felt it could be manipulative, especially on the weekends when friends came over. Yeah, I’ve got a lot of issues to work out over that house and it’s haughty bricks.

@christopherstephenjenksbsg4944 2 жыл бұрын

@@albertbatfinder5240 LOL! This may be so. But at least the Big Bad Wolf will never be able to blow your house down.

@fragout9575 2 жыл бұрын

Stewart's delivery and dead-pan tone makes him not only a comedic genius, but his attention to detail and love of architecture and architects makes people WANT to watch his videos!! If you haven't seen his "Leaks" video, you can absolutely see why I HAD to sub his channel!! I seriously wish he were one of my profs!!!

@alaskanuni 2 жыл бұрын

I like the dry sense of humor. I would love to see a tour of Chicago with you narrating interesting buildings.

@marcdefaoite 2 жыл бұрын

5:46 re Coins. The French word for 'corner' is 'coin' (IPA kwɛ̃) from the Latin 'cuneus'. A corner is masculine in French. (Probably more information than anyone needs or wants). Great video as always. Thanks.

@marcdefaoite 2 жыл бұрын

@Fremen yes, it does. Well spotted. In fact the French for 'wedge' is also 'coin'.

@albertbatfinder5240 2 жыл бұрын

I was wondering how he spelled it, coign or quoin, and never even considered coin! Quoin is a good one to remember for scrabble when your letter tray is unhealthy.

@G60syncro 2 жыл бұрын

@@marcdefaoite And when you think about it, a corner is just a 90* wedge!! Not useful for shimming or prying stuff apart, but a wedge nonetheless!!

@TheRealAristocrates 2 жыл бұрын

It's spelled quoin.

@marcdefaoite 2 жыл бұрын

@@TheRealAristocrates thanks. I learn a new English word today

@wadeguidry6675 2 жыл бұрын

Y'all have some lazy bricks up there in Chicago just sitting around. I put my bricks to work. Just yesterday I used 2 bricks to jack up my generator to drain the gas out , after I finally got my power back from hurricane Ida. I also have a couple of bricks holding a car up in my front yard. Yup, here in Louisiana we work lazy bricks.

@wildcodefox7313 2 жыл бұрын

Nah man, not all Chicagoian bricks are lazy. Used my bricks to jack up my car the other day because it's too low to fit my normal jack underneath without driving onto a hardened object like a brick

@wadeguidry6675 2 жыл бұрын

@@wildcodefox7313 my bad. I'm sure there are some good bricks everywhere.

@lisakilmer2667 2 жыл бұрын

When I saw the title I got excited that you might talk about how brick details explain things about buildings, like Time Team's Jonathan Foyle who can date a building by its brickwork. Instead I got a light-hearted tour of Chicago which was most enjoyable. I went to the College of William and Mary, which is composed universally of brick buildings. A large percentage of them, even the brand-new ones, are laid in Flemish bond with black-glazed headers, which creates a nice basketwork effect and ties in with the historic tourist district. In watching Time Team I learned that the recipe for the glaze for black headers has been lost, so maybe the bricks are laughing gently and talking in that way!

@MichaelPanin 2 жыл бұрын

I loved the quirky dynamics brought by the idea of "talking with bricks", but especially I loved the grand reveal at the end:)

@HermitianAdjoint 2 жыл бұрын

Hi, I'm a climber and especially in the recent pandemic I noticed that you guys are building buildings and bridges with all the wrong climbing difficulties. Most are build in a way that makes it way too hard to climb them and then there are some that are way to easy to climb. I would like to request that you, as a profession I mean, take better care of the climbing grades of your buildings and especially bridges (because climbing on bridges is not that problematic in a legal sense). I would really like to see some that are difficult but not too difficult. Maybe even have different routes for more or less advanced climbers. Maybe you could talk with the route setters in your local climbing gym about that? It would really improve the world. Thank you very much!

@CCRoselle 2 жыл бұрын

Try hooks on the underside of horizontal precast, a good workout. Also, check out Fred Dibnah and his use of advanced pro for brickwork: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fJZkl6p8lsXbiXU.html NB: Alex has nothing on Fred!

@HermitianAdjoint 2 жыл бұрын

@@CCRoselle I've seen Fred before. I'm scared to look when he's doing his acrobatics without a rope. 🙈

@ziasmailbox 2 жыл бұрын

Point noted sir, will use that in my architectural practice

@HermitianAdjoint 2 жыл бұрын

@@ziasmailbox Thank you, very kind of you! 👍 Where do you practice?

@ziasmailbox 2 жыл бұрын

@@HermitianAdjoint Patna , India . I have a small boutique firm.

@catfish552 2 жыл бұрын

Props to Will for playing along!

@kmylin2448 2 жыл бұрын

Hilarious. Also, it’s great to see someone younger who has a deep knowledge and passion about an old craft. That’s Will for sharing! Keep craft alive.

@EarendilTheBlessed 2 жыл бұрын

Right about 2:00, when he said the newer construction brick was trash. That's when I subscribbed! Great video thanks.

@0cer0 2 жыл бұрын

6:17 It really hurts me to see these bricks literally hanging in the air above the window openings. That's certainly not what they want.

@dawnv3436 2 жыл бұрын

You can see cracking :(

@T-Rod423 2 жыл бұрын

First off, I love your channel. One video was recommended to me and I ended up watching every second of your channel in the past week. Second, it always strikes me about bricks how cost (perhaps also weight and relative manufacture difficulty), in comparison to other materials, is their only negative feature. They create more jobs, they last longer, are gorgeous, and generally are nicer to throw through windows than chunks of vinyl siding.

@stewarthicks 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome! Thank you!

@brianflynn2791 2 жыл бұрын

What Belton said. Also; bricks are gorgeous, especially reclaimed bricks (there I said it). Also as well; Will Quam is hilarious and should have his own brick channel. I would love to take some of your classes Stewart, actually I would really enjoy a history-of bricks lecture from Will Quam if such a thing existed.

@CopenhagenDreaming 2 жыл бұрын

In some parts of the world bricks were actually an affordable building material, more so than wood... Denmark has a lot of clay, but not much in terms of great forests, so brick buildings were really the go-to option until the advent of affordable concrete for single-family homes. (And many Danes who don't understand the history of US home building find it odd that so many houses are made from wood; here that's mainly for temporary buildings or perhaps for a simple weekend home. Which is a bit stupid, because wood is obviously a great material, as are bricks.)

@T-Rod423 2 жыл бұрын

@@CopenhagenDreaming That’s really fascinating! I never knew that. It makes sense, though. Use what you have. Neat!

@CopenhagenDreaming 2 жыл бұрын

@@T-Rod423 Imported stuff is always going to cost more - And you literally just have to go across the border from Denmark to Sweden to see loads and loads of wooden buildings, simply because they have the large forests to supply the raw material. There's a reason buildings look different in different countries, and it's often quite prosaic. We couldn't build in marble or dressed stone in Denmark, because all we have is soil, clay and field stones. (And bits of wood, so we could do timber-framed buildings with panels of wattle and daub, and later bricks.) Vernacular building styles are fascinating because they tell us a story about what was available in an area a few hundred years ago. Ditto for cooking and really most parts of culture and tradition in various countries.

@coltonregal1797 2 жыл бұрын

I expected a video about the structural integrity of bricks. Instead I got this. I'm quite satisfied.

@gary4760 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you Stewart. Who knew that a story about bricks would make me homesick for Chicago. Next time you see brick, say hello for me.

@garethgriffiths1674 2 жыл бұрын

For the Baker House dormitory at MIT Aalto sent out his staff in search of defect bricks, giving the surface of the facades their notable brutalist finish. Arches? Those bricks didn't even want to be bricks!

@stewarthicks 2 жыл бұрын

Haha!

@bobbm1 2 жыл бұрын

nothing better than someone who has been immersed in his craft so deeply for so long that it has developed a seed of madness within him. only the best of craftspeople can hope to hear the whispers.

@MrSquirrelboy 2 жыл бұрын

That Will guy is a pretty awesome dude. I’ve met him before. He really knows his bricks.

@ahmedfuseinialhassan1034 2 жыл бұрын

Mr.Quam's continuous determination to let you understand bricks aren't human makes this video.

@kushalamin747 2 жыл бұрын

Thank You to all the events that lead to Stewart Hicks picking up this sense of humour and to become an architect and making this KZfaq Channel and gracing us mortals with these visual and audible journeys from looking at lost Architecture to talking to freaking bricks. I am sick of panel discussions and presentations that are available in abundance on KZfaq by Universities and Architects. Finally a dude goofing around with Architecture. Thank You again for this. Please O please more of this.

@stewarthicks 2 жыл бұрын

Wow, thank you for the endorsement! Glad you like what we're doing here...

@sampathsris 2 жыл бұрын

"They're no more cousins than... uh... I am a cousin of the brick". Golden!

@valdirbruxeljunior 2 жыл бұрын

I like how I can, from the comfort of my Amsterdam house, just look out the window to countless brick arches and no concrete slabs

@KayLee-lw5iv 2 жыл бұрын

The aesthetic of an alien being taught about brick architecture here is everything

@leaht3819 2 жыл бұрын

I’ve been on one of Will’s brick walking tours. I gained a huge respect for bricks from him. Great collab!!

@JeremySalterXIV 2 жыл бұрын

Great episode! Loved the humour. To our First Nations People all objects animate, and inanimate are believed to have a soul. If brick wants to be an arch, let it be an arch!

@francinebacone1455 2 жыл бұрын

Yassss, srsly. ...And what's with all the squares, eh? Never heard of a talking circle before? lol.

@splashpit 2 жыл бұрын

I’m 53 and always lived in an timber clad home until recently , I’ve always bought an fixer upper and what I’ve discovered is that your flexibility to change things are diminished without lots of work so l guess if done right the first time brick is timeless . I’m also in the decision part of choosing a brick for an extension and it is daunting the choice of brick on the market.

@davidottley2739 2 жыл бұрын

This was amazing! I had no idea how much I needed Will Quam and bricks in my life.

@garywheeler7039 2 жыл бұрын

As an architect, I can tell you that bricks say, they really can take the pressure. But, tension can just kill them. Also, they prefer lime mortar, it is forgiving and to some extent self sealing. And, allows bricks to be reused. By the way, the vertical scratches in the brick produce with daylight a kind of Rembrandt group of browns. A bad artist mixes the color brown and it looks like chocolate pudding, a Rembrandt type artist puts on the paint in bits such that it looks like tree bark or brownstone, with bits of color here and there mixed by the eye, matching nature. Reds and yellows and browns even blues and greens working together a bit like army camouflage patterns. In California here, oddly enough we sometimes put brick on the front of houses to make them more decorative, and to protect the stucco and wood walls from splashing irrigation water from near the foundation plantings. In Chicago I almost got the impression that all the old common buildings were made wholly of brick on the outside, and sometimes they would decorate the front a little by putting up wood trim and maybe even a bit of wood siding. Sort of the reverse of California. And the square corner thingies are pronounced "coins" but spelled quoins in a bizarre French spelling.

@alexm9148 2 жыл бұрын

It’s so cute the way you are talking about wishes and feelings of the bricks and equally cute the way that he responds to this misunderstanding of yours 🥰

@daviddodds30 2 жыл бұрын

Cute. I loved the refresher for basic brick vocabulary, though I wonder how future architecture professors will look back on the words we utter while trying to explain the design process in only the way an architect or a politician can. 🤔 Will they literally translate us, or maybe assign figurative interpretations and include their own future vocabulary, or will they analyze us in a way that is completely foreign to us? Either way, thanks to this video, they’ll still know about bricks. 🙃

@LJinx3 2 жыл бұрын

I feel like he’d love to come to London - so many interesting brick arches going on.... especially when a railway arch makes a turn - the underside looks like a ‘brick wave’

@emanuel2cool1 2 жыл бұрын

This was different in the best most amazing way possible. Thanks for sharing this was so much fun!

@clarence5211 2 жыл бұрын

thank you for bringing us more awareness of brick. i will be sure to be aware of my locals bricks, and ask them questions from now on

@patrick247two 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you. Your bricks have cast laughter on my day. Cheers from a brick in the NZ Brick Database. : )

@henrikthomsen1617 2 жыл бұрын

hilarious....actually here, as brick production is very energy consuming, most old house demolished by council, bricks r cleaned 4 reuse. New homes built by these 2nd hand can be very special and nice. Not cheap at all by very esthetic in appearance..

@nebsu_ 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for this video Stewart. I really enjoyed it :) Always nice to learn something new!

@bobDotJS 2 жыл бұрын

I like how the guy has to keep remembering that bricks don't feel things. I felt like he was reminding himself as he said that. Imagine being that passionate about bricks, what a cool guy!

@ambergardener5379 2 жыл бұрын

Huge fan of Louis and you, as an architecture student from Melbourne Australia I wish I had a teacher who could think as out of the box as you manage too. Great content very enjoyable and informative, thanks.

@dalebetterton5255 2 жыл бұрын

6:21 Shows a crack that would have been avoided if the design had incorporated arches instead of thin steel lentils.

@roscodogg 2 жыл бұрын

It's true- bricks ARE smart. I work in a brick manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania and the brick are smarter than some of my coworkers and have apparently outsmarted the high-end engineering that was used to design our production system😄

@renatoalcides5104 2 жыл бұрын

A master class! Anyone watching this video will never look at a brick the same way.

@thomasstorrs6345 2 жыл бұрын

There are videos of brick domes being built. Truly amazing stuff.

@phpART 2 жыл бұрын

my compliments for such amazing content! For sure you‘ll get lots of views, great filmmaking, very self-conscious and just fun to watch as a whole, while staying really simple. Put a smile on my face!

@stewarthicks 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!!

@staceyross1355 2 жыл бұрын

I had no idea what I'd find when I clicked this video, but I don't regret it.

@weaksause6878 2 жыл бұрын

No idea why the algorithms recommended this, but it was entertaining and informative

@reubenjelley3583 2 жыл бұрын

Love this so simple just on bricks, could you do this with other experts on design/ tech choices within maybe lintels, frames, arches, pavements/ curbs etc

@kyraskombinant 2 жыл бұрын

Architecture can/is humorous. Loved this video Stewart. Fun and really informative. Now I can point to different parts of a brick building, name them, and my wife will just look at me with a questioning look of "why did I marry this nerd.."

@gorga8618 2 жыл бұрын

Wow really cool video! Yet another thing to look out for while wandering around the city.

@kenty2831 Жыл бұрын

Keep up the good work, and your students are fortunate to have a professor explaining concepts in a compelling format. Writer, director, producer, explorer, historian, and architect, you are a talent!

@emilyemily9328 2 жыл бұрын

Your best yet! Funny and full of insights on the contribution of bricks to the beauty of buildings. Would be great to team up with a specialist on the design contributions of various other workers involved in bringing buildings to life-brick layers, wood workers, roofers, even plumbers and electricians.. Surely there must be feedback loops which have advanced architecture. Would love to see videos exploring this architecture ecosystem.

@HasheemHalim 2 жыл бұрын

so great to see the man behind that great account

@19chubb 2 жыл бұрын

Found to ur channel from the leak videos subscribed right away after the video, really like the subtle humor among all the information...

@MidnightSt 2 жыл бұрын

If I ever saw two guys outside of my office stroke my office wall and talk about it in an obviously interested way, I would run out to ask them to tell me everything they know about that wall.

@its_Freebs 2 жыл бұрын

Informative, strangely emotional romp through brick’s hidden relationships.

@LUKS1ful 2 жыл бұрын

The comedic tone for this video, it's just genius

@carstarsarstenstesenn 2 жыл бұрын

Brick of Chicago is one of my favorite instagram pages. love the humor! great video

@stewarthicks 2 жыл бұрын

Mine too

@dursty3226 2 жыл бұрын

i genuinely could NOT tell if the attitudes were satire or not, up until the very end. brilliant 👏 👏 👏

@johnyarbrough502 2 жыл бұрын

The bricks may not talk much but I'm pretty sure masons talk to the bricks. Even without talking, the bricks can tell us a great deal.

@ltlbuddha 2 жыл бұрын

OMG, I enjoy this channel, but did not expect to laugh so much. Thank you both!

@cloisterene 2 жыл бұрын

Coin = Corner ...Many years ago while working for the Forestry Service one summer, I helped clean out a small natural spring. I reached way down in the bottom and grabbed something that felt kind of interesting. It was a beautiful yellow brick with "Star" stamped on it.

@yseson_ 2 жыл бұрын

“They felt nothing “ _narrator leans in_ “Will taught me all sorts of torture practices for bricks” 😂

@roscodogg 2 жыл бұрын

He didn't mention another common method- wire cut. We actually use knives where I work but it's called that still... think of a big razor blade skimming the top/sides as it's extruded to give it a rough texture. I bet that hurts😆

@MelvinLim 2 жыл бұрын

Love this one. It’s hilarious yet educational.

@pennybentley8616 2 жыл бұрын

Next you should interview more terracotta! Loved this one.

@stewarthicks 2 жыл бұрын

great suggestion! thanks!

@Vigo327 2 жыл бұрын

First time viewer here. This video was NOT was i was expecting but I was entertained and learned things and now I forget what I was expecting anyway. Keep it up.

@justusbrown6204 2 жыл бұрын

Great mix of helpful facts about these beautiful creatures, and hilarious dry humor. Awesome video

@TristouMTL 2 жыл бұрын

You guys are so silly. And so much fun. I am convinced that every brick has a soul, so imagine them collectively! Arch-angels, they are, in fact.

@caseyahlbrandt-rains103 2 жыл бұрын

I love bricks!

@johnbroe 2 жыл бұрын

"This is someone's office." I fucking died, the dry subtle humor was brilliant.

@Tandemdesigns 2 жыл бұрын

I absolutely love this channel and this video in particular is so wonderfully dry. The tiny field mic...

@jjjackson5183 2 жыл бұрын

I bought a beautiful old brick house a few years back. I really enjoy the craftsmanship involved. Pretty sure some workers suffered a bit too as they built the house. Probably some of their DNA is now built into the house, too. Smashed finger here, a hair there.... I also have an arch. So far the bricks have not asked to change places.

@lungshenli 2 жыл бұрын

0. Step - I read the title and expect some technical discussion on. 1. Step - I see the intro and expect Stewart to host some nutjob who claims to have found a soul in the Bricks 2. Step - Over the course of the Video it is slowly revealed that Stewart is the nutjob who wants to find that soul in the Bricks after all. 3. Step - funny ending

@chiron14pl Жыл бұрын

As I walk in my neighborhood in Chicago I'm continually amazed with the decorative work done just with brick, well, a few stones and terracotta for accents, but mostly brick

@seanferguson5460 2 жыл бұрын

First I've seen of your channel but, man!, I loved this piece.

@yasseral-saadi6557 2 жыл бұрын

Great video! You should visit Hamburg, Germany one day. We have a lot of beautiful brick buildings. Some are even UNESCO world heritage sights. For example look up Chilehaus, Speicherstadt and Sprinkenhof. And actually the movement to build brick office buildings in Hamburg that were built between 1886 and 1938 were inspired by Chicago!

@stewarthicks 2 жыл бұрын

I'd love to!