Uploaded on 2017-02-12 by Riccardo Brini

Italy, Bologna, Riccardo Brini: old bricks vs. new ones In Italy and in particular in some areas, such as Emilia Romagna, the classic brick of clay has always been one of the most used materials. Even for this the same city of Bologna is called "Red". This intensive use in the past was of course influenced by the large supply of clay material, functional cooking and processing which then would provide a strong material and especially in large quantities, for constructions. Nowadays however, given the narrowness of the city in both aesthetic and technical innovations in the name of uncontrolled "defense of the past" without a proper study of the constraints, it leads to new projects even with the brick that has to "pretend" to be the bearer going to create an external curtain (cases of bearing walls are now eradicated given the new earthquake standards). Globalization as well as the awareness of living in the present, however, has led to a few but interesting new attempts at constructive approach while remaining in the "brick". The photo that I propose is a building in Bologna, by contemporary connotations and bearing structure with beams and pillars but seeks to innovate the building system by proposing the use of a type of brick (clinker to be exact) of light color. This product comes from Germany where the base material is a type of feldspar that bakes at temperatures much higher than those clay classical, making vitrified. The choice therefore is not limited to a matter of aesthetics, dictated by the possibility induced by globalization, but also by a precise constructive question: the high firing temperature makes the material less porous, and more resistant to external disturbance phenomena, as well as more easily washable in case of graffiti, which is common in our cities.