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Just Another Brick In The Wall: First Years Visit Ibstock
First years headed to the Ibstock brick factory in Bristol in anticipation for our final and biggest project of the year, Hearth.
By Ella Thorns, Peilin Liao, K Thin Zar Min and Zibo Zhang
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When we first got told we were going to a brick factory it’s easy to say some of us were less than excited. All we could imagine was a pile of bricks in a dirty old warehouse, not quite the glitz and glamour we had expected. But are you really an architecture student if you don’t get over excited at such meagre materials? The literal building blocks of civilisation.
Cattybrook1 was one of the first brick factories in England 200 years ago and it is still as popular as ever with waiting times as long as six weeks for an order. You can tell just how passionate the staff are which is seen in their products. The shear scale of production was incredible, in Bristol alone 200,000 bricks are made in a day and travel on average only 62 miles to reach their new life.
As we wandered around in our high vis jackets feeling very important, we were in awe as thousands of bricks every hour were cut, shaped, fired and wrapped, ready to become a part of somebody’s home or office.
Machinery, so perfectly timed, hypnotised us as it worked together to produce Ibstock’s own gold brick from clay quarried just metres away.
After exploring the factory, we were given further insight into the vast variety of bricks available, from blue bricks to hand crafted curved bricks specially commissioned. Our understanding was deepened into how, as architects, we can design a building to celebrate the simple brick and use them to their full potential.
Sample bricks are now a regular sight in the studio, brought back as souvenirs. Never have I seen so many faces lift when they are told they can pick a brick to bring home. The tabletops are scattered with them acting as desk tidies and storage for the many pens us architects love so much as testement of our final project based around the humble brick.