Memories Of Brick

2024 Author: David Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 02:26

The marshland north of Hengshui City in Hebei Province used to be a dumping site for the surrounding industries. On its border, from the side of the city, there was a Hoffmann kiln for baking bricks: it was gradually abandoned, because such production was banned as unsustainable at the state level, and then demolished - as dilapidated and threatening to collapse.

Художественный центр «Кирпичная башня» Фото © Zhi Geng

Nowadays, a botanical garden has been created on the site of the dump, and the location of the stove has been chosen for the construction of an exhibition hall for the exhibition of plants, ceramics and works of floristry. Bureau Interval Architects in its project decided to pay tribute to the past of the site - both in material and structure of the building.

The supporting structure of the new art center is made of concrete, but brick was chosen as the main material, and a different method of masonry, including openwork, enlivens the facades and provides the interior with light and air. This is especially noticeable on the walls of an observation tower of almost 40 meters in height: it should resemble a furnace tube. According to the authors of the project, many of their fellow citizens often wanted to climb such pipes - now these desires can be easily realized, there are four sites at different levels at the disposal of visitors.

The building itself took the outline of the plan and the use of vaults from the Hoffmann ring kiln. But instead of a hermetic industrial building, we are now talking about a public building, so the border between the interior and the premises is blurred by openings, and the ceilings are interrupted by light wells. There is a landscaped terrace on the roof.