Churches

Don Bosco Church, Maribor, Slovenia

Client: The Salesians of Don Bosco in Slovenia

Architect: Dans Arhitekti

Completed: 2015

Brick: D72 + custom brick in the same clay with white glaze

Photos: Miran Kambič

“We wanted the architecture to look modern while at the same time expressing something religious, historical, social and traditional. Brick helps because it is an eternally modern yet traditional building material.”

Dans Arhitekti

White-glazed brick laid in an ornamental pattern on a circular façade pays homage to historical building customs.

The architects wanted Don Bosco Church to look contemporary while architecturally expressing something religious, historical and traditional. “Brick helps because it is an eternally modern yet traditional building material,” say Dans Arhitekti.

The studio also drew inspiration from local building traditions: “Brick is common in Slovenia. For example, the haylofts in

Local tradition interpreted About Don Bosco Church

Dedicated to the Salesian Order, Don Bosco Church is located near the river Drava in Maribor in north-eastern Slovenia, the country’s second-largest city.

The project was the result of a competition won by Dans Arhitekti in 2007.

Surrounded by a small park, the complex consists of a rectangular, closed building on one level, with an inner courtyard inspired by organic forms. On entering the courtyard, with its beautiful old lime tree, the church itself suddenly becomes visible on the other side of the colonnade. Its rounded shape rises above the low the north-west of the country traditionally have picturesque, patterned brickwork. The gaps serve both aesthetic and practical functions, as they provide natural ventilation that helps preserve the hay.” part of the complex, offering a clear view of the coal-fied, golden brick façade.

For Don Bosco Church, the architects reinterpreted historical tradition by using white-glazed bricks instead of holes to form a regular pattern on the rounded façade. A cross made of glazed bricks signals the building’s function from a distance.

As the church is a place for spiritual contemplation, the interior is designed in such a way that the only exterior view is up toward the sky. According to the architects, the dramatic use of light is an essential feature of a church, and they employed varied effects to accentuate the curved nave.

Around the upper part of the rounded façade, an even pattern of white glazed brick with seven white crosses produces an ornamental effect.

Ordrup Church, Ordrup, Denmark

Architect: Hans J. Holm

Completed: 1876, consecrated 1878

Client: Ordrup Sogns Menighedsråd

Architect: Sven Felding

Brick: Ongoing replacement of terracotta elements at the main entrance

Old pillars, new base

150-year-old terracotta elements are being replaced as they start to crumble.

Bricks last a long time, but exposed ones – like the ones on the pillars and their bases flankin the entrance to Ordrup Church – may slowly deteriorate after 140–150 years.

The Custom Brick Department at Petersen Tegl is involved in a range of newbuild and renovation projects, often producing bricks in complicated shapes, like the ones on the bases of the two pillars in Ordrup.

Whenever it is commissioned to replace a richly ornamental old brick, Petersen Tegl removes the original and takes a 3D scan of it. Based on the resulting image, it produces a plastic or wooden model 8–10% bigger than the original. This model is used to cast a plaster mould, after which work with the clay begins.

High-quality clay is pressed slowly and carefully into the mould to avoid air pockets forming. Once the entire mould has been filed, a cavity is carved in it to ensure that the clay dries evenly.

The plaster takes a few hours to draw water out of the clay, which then loosens, and the mould is removed. For large objects as big as the ones on the bases of the Ordrup Church pillars, the total drying time can be four to six weeks.

Shrinkage of about 8–10% is the norm during the drying process, so the brick ends up roughly the same size as the original. The high quality of the clay means that it only shrinks by 1–2% during firin – that is also factored into the process.

About Ordrup Church

Ordrup Church, about 8 km north of Copenhagen, was designed by Hans J. Holm, a leading national romantic architect, and consecrated in 1878.

Historicism, also known as eclecticism, is an umbrella term for a current in European architecture that sought to recreate and imitate older styles. It flourishe in Europe in the period 1820–1900, in Denmark mainly 1850–1910, and churches were built in the style until 1940. With its two monumental, west-facing towers, Ordrup Church is a prime example of a historicist interpretation of the Romantic style.

It is made of red brick with relatively simple patterned brickwork under the eaves and around the windows. The pillars in moulded terracotta brick flan the windows and main door.

A few years ago, water began leaking through the corroded slate slabs used along with copper to clad the roof of the two towers. A major restoration project completed in 2020 restored the towers to the original 1878 look. The church’s ceramic tiles are also replaced on an ad hoc basis.

Grundtvig’s Church, Copenhagen, Denmark

Architect: P.V. Jensen-Klint, Kaare Klint

Completed: 1940, building initiated: 1913

Repairs to the façade, including the replacement of bricks in buttresses

Client: Bispebjerg Sogns Menighedsråd

Architect: Bertelsen & Scheving, since 2022 Over Byen Arkitekter

Brick: Handmade custom bricks in blue German clay

Photos: Anders Sune Berg

Matching bricks on iconic façades

The unique landmark Grundtvig’s Church, built in 1940, requires occasional repairs for which Petersen Tegl regularly supplies custom bricks made of German clay.

Bertelsen & Scheving Arkitekter have been replacing damaged bricks on the façades of Grundtvig’s Church for many years. In 2018, they replaced covering bricks on the north façade’s buttresses. Following technical analyses of the bricks, the architects asked Petersen Tegl to experiment with clay types and firing. They opted for a German clay, which the firing pocess imbues with shades of gold, green and red, just like the original bricks on the church. The bricks were then handmade in wooden moulds and lightly weathered with black oxide and ochre to match the patinated church.

Underground chapel, Grundtvig’s Church, Copenhagen, Denmark

Architect: Toyberg-Frandzen

Completed: 2005

Brick: Handmade bricks in blue German clay used for walls and floo

Photos: Anders Sune Berg

Tone retained

New bricks identical in colour to the original ones were developed for an underground addition to Grundtvig’s Church

In 2005, an underground chapel and service room designed by the architects ToybergFrandzen was added to the north side of Grundtvig’s Church.

The almost square chapel has a tiled floo and walls and a white plastered ceiling. The tiles were custom-made in the same German clay used for the bricks on the façades and measure 120 x 240 mm. A small basin made of German travertine has been installed in one corner of the room. It is in a niche with fronts in patterned brickwork made of the same tiles as the floo.

About Grundtvig’s Church

Looking out over Copenhagen from the top of Bispebjerg Bakke, Grundtvig’s Church still exudes the same presence and dignity as it did upon completion in 1940. Architects from all over the world make pilgrimages to this unique and deeply impressive edifice Designed by P.V. Jensen-Klint, the church was built as a memorial to the renowned minister, poet and educator Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig.

Its design was inspired by the crenelated roofs of medieval Danish village churches, combined with Gothic columns and pointed arches. With an interior length of 76 metres, 22-metre-high vaulted ceilings and a 49-metre-high spire, this strictly geometric church has the cavernous feel of a cathedral.

The choice of materials matches its architectural stringency. Around six million light-yellow, hand-moulded bricks were used on the façades and the interior, including the columns and floors Inside, the bricks are sanded down to create a homogeneous, silky surface that softly reflect the light. The massive brickwork is laid in a Flemish bond, stopping pattern effects from forming on the wall.

St Paul’s Church, Copenhagen, Denmark

Completed: 1877

Restoration project: 2017

Client: Sankt Pauls Sogn Menighedsråd

Architect: Toyberg-Frandzen

Contractor and master builder: Guldmann Dam – Pre/nor

Brick: Custom format bricks, including custom-glazing, developed in collaboration with the architects

Photos: Anders Sune Berg

The art of unsuccessful glazing

Petersen Tegl imitated historical glazing methods to endow new tiles with an authentically aged look.

During the major restoration of the spire of St Paul’s Church, completed a few years ago, Petersen Tegl hand-produced 6,300 curved bricks. Of these, 4,900 were delivered untreated, and the remaining 1,400 had to match the original, glazed bricks that still clad two-thirds of the spire.

“It would have been easy enough to make a green glaze in various shades, but then we would never have been able to recreate the look of the original, which shimmers between shades of green and brown because of the imprecise way people worked in those days. They used to dip the bricks in a copper oxide mixture but didn’t constantly stir it, so particles fell to the bottom. In addition, the non-uniform dosage of the pigment meant that, after firing some bricks had an almost transparent glaze that let the red brick shine through, resulting in a brownish effect.

To produce something similar, we copied the old method using different concentrations of copper oxide. To create further variation, we stacked the bricks in the oven differently each time,” explains Erich Mick, Head of the Custom Brick Department at Petersen Tegl.

The bricklayers used what is, in effect, an oversized pair of drawing compasses to position the rows precisely.

Long-term problems with damp meant the top rows of brick on the 140-year-old spire were ripe for replacement.

About St Paul’s Church

St Paul’s Church in Copenhagen was designed by architect J.E. Gnutzmann and built in 1872–77 in the North Italian/Romanesque red-brick style. The church spire had been in a state of disrepair for several years, and the brickwork had started to crumble. Restoration work, including the production of new bricks, commenced in 2015.

Analysis of the spire – the only brick one in the city – revealed that the interior was extremely damp. Previous restoration work had involved inserting a thick layer of ‘sacrificia plaster’ to absorb the damp, but the lack of natural ventilation meant that moisture was trapped inside the spire and the brickwork was disintegrating. A total of 53 rows of bricks, over six metres in height, were carefully removed until the team reached the undamaged part of the spire.

The spire’s brick cladding consists of curved tiles laid in a scalloped pattern, comprising seven rows of unglazed brick and fiv glazed. The bricklaying itself proved challenging and required the use of an oversized pair of compasses to position the rows precisely so that the new spire is the same height as the old one. In addition, to provide adequate ventilation, seven granite pipes were bricked into the top rows.

Art

Bibliotheca – Archaeological Library, Kivik, Sweden

Client: Kivik Art Centre

Artist: Ulla Viotti

Completed: 2019

Brick, exterior: K55 DNF, interior columns in custom D55. Custom bricks, books made in custom clay, 2000 pcs.

Photos: Mads Frederik

Brick novels

This work by sculptor Ulla Viotti is a beautiful synthesis of two of her passions – books and fied clay.

Bibliotheca – Archaeological Library is a work by the Swedish sculptor Ulla Viotti at the Kivik Art Centre in Scania. As the title suggests, the work explores the idea of the library as a repository of memory but also references sacred sites such as the columbarium or mausoleum. It is one of a series of brick monuments by Viotti based on architectural archetypes such as towers, pyramids, cones, sarcophagi, walls and gates.

Located on a sloping glade in a wooded area, Bibliotheca forms a circular wall that rises out of the tall grass. The exterior is made of hard-fied, tempered D55, which shimmers from whitish-grey to black. Courses of headers divide the exterior into horizontal layers and underline its cylindrical shape, while a trim of moulded bricks at the top of the wall creates a soft finish

Inside, rhythmically spaced pillars of rounded, custom-made D55 frame stacks of ‘books’ in a lighter shade of grey.

The spines of some of the books are engraved with either the names of Nordic writers associated with Scania or short quotes, such as the following from Cicero: “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

“No other building material undergoes such a scale-dependent metamorphosis – from monolith (at a distance) through deeply textured volume (closer) to the ceramic qualities of individual bricks (up close).”

Professor Thomas Bo Jensen, architect

About Kivik Art Centre

Set in the beautiful surroundings of Österlen, Scania, Kivik Art Centre explores the interface between sculpture, architecture and nature.

The centre was founded in 2006–2007 as an open-air exhibition space and meeting place for creatives. It was inaugurated with a series of minimalist concrete spaces by the Norwegian architects Snøhetta and has since expanded to include significan works by David Chipperfield Antony Gormley, Matti Suuronen, Gert Wingårdh, Sol LeWitt and, most recently, Ulla Viotti, whose work is the firs to use brick at the centre.

In line with its founding ideas, Kivik Art Centre offers exciting and visionary interactions between the landscape and the works within it.

Yu‘un, private gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Client: Takeo Obayashi

Architect: Tadao Ando

Courtyards, decoration: Olafur Eliasson

Completed: 2008

Brick: Quasi bricks, platinum glazed, developed by artist Olafur Eliasson in collaboration with architect and artist Einar Thorsteinn

Photos: Tomoki Imai

Shimmering platinum glaze

Handmade, glazed bricks transform a contemporary gallery’s atrium walls into a work of art.

The builder and owner of Yu’un, a private modern art gallery in Tokyo, along with architect Tadao Ando, commissioned artist Olafur Eliasson to transform the atrium of the building into a work of art.

Eliasson opted to clad the walls with a rhombus-shaped, 12-sided Quasi brick that can be rotated into six different positions. Its ability to form complex but random patterns gives Quasi an unpredictable and intricate quality. This unusual brick was originally developed in collaboration with architect and artist Einar Thorsteinn.

Eliasson wanted the bricks in Yu’un to be clad in platinum. Petersen Tegl rose to the challenge, glazing thousands of handmade bricks. The deeply enthralling result comprises shimmering, reflecive surfaces that seem to change with the light constantly.

The 12-sided brick is challenging in terms of form and production technigue. For example, several types of firin are necessary before coating the brick with platinum and firin it one last time.

About Yu’un

The Japanese word ‘Yu’un’, meaning ‘heavenly sanctuary’, was the name bestowed upon this new building in a quiet neighbourhood of Tokyo. The client – builder and art collector Takeo Obayashi – wanted to combine his art collection, a guest house and a tea ceremony room under one roof, and commissioned architect Tadao Ando for the project. Off-green opal glass façades endow the building with a delicate and unassuming presence. Inside, visitors are naturally guided through alternating sequences of rooms, which provide an optimal backdrop to the artworks.

Trekroner Church, Roskilde, Denmark

Client: Himmelev Parish Council

Architect: Rørbæk and Møller

Floor: Henrik Plenge Jakobsen

Completed: 2018

Brick: Handmade, pentagonal clinker, 50 mm thick, made of German clay

Photos: Anders Sune Berg

Ground-breaking geometry

The artist behind the floor design in he modern church derived his inspiration from the discovery by three mathematicians of a new type of pentagon.

When artist Henrik Plenge Jakobsen was commissioned to design a floo for the new Trekroner Church, he knew right away that he wanted to use a natural material, preferably Danish, and that concrete was out of the question. He had previously worked with Petersen Tegl on the floo in the Traffi Tower in Copenhagen. It made sense to work with the brickworks in Broager again, and the company was happy to oblige.

The inspiration for the floo design came when Jacobsen read about a new type of pentagon that can be joined up to form surfaces. The discovery was made by three mathematicians – Casey Mann, Jennifer McLoud and David Von Derau – at Washington University, Seattle.

Jacobsen turned their concept into a reality. The pentagonal clinkers are made of German blue clay, imbued with a paleyellow hue by the firin process. The surface pattern was achieved by producing the pentagonal clinkers in two variants – one the mirror image of the other. They are 50 mm thick and laid in 15 mm wet mortar joints.

Jakobsen is satisfie with the result. “In functional terms, a clinker floo is a huge advantage for the indoor environment, and the visual impact fully lived up to my expectations. Apart from the cross, we avoided Christian iconography in the church. The idea is for churchgoers to lose themselves in the ornamentation, for example on the floo, in a meditative state. Laying a tile floo in a modern church is a beautiful and fiting continuation of a tradition that has endured for millennia.”

About Trekroner Church

The previous church was simply too small to cope with population growth in the area. A bigger one was needed, and it was designed by the architects Rørbæk and Møller and completed in 2018.

Trekroner Church has an organic shape and is made of concrete cast in situ in over 200 moulds. The large amount of skylight plays an important role in the church, which has almost no windows. Daylight spreads seamlessly and gradually through the nave, helping to generate a special, intimate atmosphere.

The architects and client agreed right from the outset to integrate art into the project, as has been the tradition in church buildings throughout history.

The artist Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, who also acted as project manager and consultant, designed the main door, windows made of thin-cut agate and the alter cross coated in palladium. He was also responsible for the handmade Petersen Tegl floo tiles. The other artists involved were Lea Porsager, who designed and made the baptismal font in South African sodalite, and Alexander Tovborg, who was responsible for the oak altar.

‘Interspecies Campus’, artwork at Roskilde University, Denmark

Artist: SUPERFLEX in close collaboration with KWY.studio

Client: The Danish Building and Property Agency for Roskilde University

Completed: 2022

Brick: Hand-moulded brick in six different geometrical shapes, German clay

Photos: Anders Sune Berg

Purposeful art inspired by coral

Pink sculptures in handmade brick put climate change centre stage.

The Superfle group of artists chose Petersen Tegl to develop a special brick for a work of art commissioned by Roskilde University Campus (RUC). It comprises a series of circular structures called ‘Interspecies Campus’. The custom product is called ‘Superbricks’.

German clay was used, resulting in a bright yellow shade when the bricks were fied. A total of 12 different handmade variations were produced with six different geometric shapes and two different surfaces. The surfaces are either with or without sand on the sides, endowing the bricks with a distinct rough look and feel.

The bricks are made by pressing the clay down and into a wooden mould, all in a single movement. Just before this, pink slurry is spread over the brick by hand. No two pairs of hands work quite the same, so the manual process leaves different yellow spots on every brick wherever the slurry has not quite covered them completely.

The bricks are fied and oxidised in a gas kiln. The air used during this part of the process results in the yellow hue. When they are removed from the moulds, the bricks are left to dry for four days and then fied for five

About ’Interspecies Campus’

Created by the artist group Superflex ‘Interspecies Campus’ is the name of a work of art inaugurated at Roskilde University in May 2022. ‘Interspecies Campus’ consists of eight sculptures dotted around RUC. They are created of ‘superbricks’ developed for the project by the artists in cooperation with Petersen Tegl.

Like much of Superflexs work, the piece directs attention to the global climate crisis, Bjørnstjerne Christiansen, one of the artists and founders of Superfle explains:

“The sculptures symbolise a future in which sea levels are rising. They are designed to be fish-frienly and attractive for algae. Working with marine biologists, we know that pink attracts the coral polyps that are essential for reefs to thrive, hence the choice of colour.

The pink structures extend throughout the campus, creating new paths for us to walk on and new directions for our thinking. We were inspired by the infrastructure provided by marine coral reefs. We wanted people to be able to weave their way through the individual elements of the sculptures, which sprout from a sandstone ground reminiscent of the seabed.”

Traffic ower East, Copenhagen, Denmark

Client: Banedanmark

Architects: Tranberg Arkitekter

Art: Henrik Plenge Jakobsen

Completed: 2015

Brick, façades: D48

Floor: Handmade, triangular clinkers created in German blue and red clay

Photos: Anders Sune Berg

Tiles evoke Africa associations

The artwork ‘Africa Control’ consists of handmade floor iles serving as a human element and at the same time providing a good indoor climate.

The artist Henrik Plenge Jakobsen designed Traffi Tower East’s decorative elements, seamlessly integrating them into the architecture. The entire ground floo is covered with handmade, triangular red and yellow tiles arranged in a beautiful pattern. The rustic idiom contributes to the warm atmosphere, which is a far cry from a conventional offic building. His artistic input includes a Foucault’s pendulum, which hangs from the roof and continually circles a slightly raised plinth, also paved in beautiful, handmade tiles. Jakobsen explains:

“A traffi tower symbolises the journey as a phenomenon. This is where Africa comes into the picture, as both a remote destination and a wellspring of inspiration for patterns like the ones I have created. Right now, Africa is experiencing massive economic growth – it is the continent of tomorrow. Hence the title Africa Control.“

“Brick is a basic material”, Plenge Jakobsen continues. “I have a great veneration for fied clay, and it is far too rarely deployed. It seemed only natural to continue using brick on the inside of the building. The tower’s shape and the materials used on the exterior both have associations with the Middle Ages, especially the beautifully patterned tiled floor of medieval churches and banqueting halls, which have survived hundreds of years of wear and tear.”

The Foucault’s pendulum in the atrium, which takes 26 hours to draw its circle, also symbolises a journey. It’s a good example of an installation that adds to –rather than detracts from – its beautiful surroundings. The pendulum, a bronze coconut, is another African feature.

About Traffic ower East

As of 2021, all rail and road traffi in Denmark is monitored from Traffi Tower East in Copenhagen and Traffi Tower West in Fredericia – both designed by Tranberg Architects and built in dark-red, hardfied D48. In Copenhagen, the bricks’ myriad hues are reflecte in the rusty pylons, railway tracks and surrounding brick buildings.

The architects’ choice of façade materials refers to the classic Danish red brick railway stations, which often have patterned brickwork. The towers also had to express robustness and solidity, something that brick does very well.

“It was important that the brickwork didn’t resemble an extra outer shell but looked as if it had emerged from the soil. This required a hard-fied brick like D48. Equally, it was important to let the brick surface determine the whole architectural idiom.

The façade consists of patterned brickwork with recessed headers, as well as sections with perforated, interlaced brickwork that shield the windows behind it from sunlight,” explains Christian Tranberg.

Index by technique

Copyright © 2022 Petersen Tegl A/S

Publisher: Petersen Tegl A/S

Editors: Ida Præstegaard, MA in architecture

Annette Petersen, MA in architecture

Text: Ida Præstegaard, MA in architecture

Translation: Citadel Translations Ltd.

Design: Zangenberg Design - ZD1432

Print: Strandbygaard

Repro: Ehrhorn Hummerston

Print run: 5,000

ISBN 978-87-971240-1-7

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