I have explored that brick is a material used in masses within Digbeth, which in recent years has become part of an unadventurous circular economy. With the waste material being used as an aggregate, such as hardcore and temporary roads. What I find depressing is that something that was once ‘beautiful’, serving details and presence to a facade is now mixed with less inventive materials such as a fence post as part of a compacted base. I explored the significance of masonry, through recognising its value of aesthetics and embodied energy. I Focused on the permanence that masonry materials hold. In an aim to celebrate the aggregate and find a form that allows authenticity true to the material. Book 1 concluded with the aim to propose a community hub that celebrates brick and ‘lets brick be brick’.
