With the housing market continuing to grow, architects and specifiers are increasingly looking for ways to create stand-out design and enhance the kerb appeal of their builds. As a result, the UK’s largest brickmaker, Ibstock, is seeing a rise in demand across its innovative glazed brick range.
Ibstock’s portfolio features real ceramic glazes in a huge variety of colours, sizes and finishes – such as frosted, gloss and satin. By using glazed brick, specifiers are able to use depth and colour to create impressive façades and add innovative and striking design elements to any build.
Suitable for most masonry applications and elevations, Ibstock’s glazed range has already been applied to a host of striking commercial and residential builds across the UK.
Creating colourful spaces
One building project to realise the design potential of glazed bricks is Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. Used to create an exciting and colourful design, whilst seamlessly integrating new and existing buildings, the architect specified the innovative glazed slip for the creation of a series of ‘lecture pods’ – a number of modern and welcoming areas for students to relax or study between lectures, which have been strategically placed to break up the façade.
A number of internal circular walls were installed to create the new lecture pods before the rainbow assortment of glazed slips in blue, red, orange, yellow and grey were applied. Against a contrast of timber cladding, the bricks delivered a fresh and modern finish to enhance the building’s environment.
As well as its ease of use, a major advantage of glazed brick is its ability to speed up construction without sacrificing visual appeal. For example, to minimise on-site construction at Anglia Ruskin University, the circular walls were built using blockwork before being clad with the glazed slips, which removed the need for traditional brickwork.
Adding distinction
Ibstock’s glazed range has also been used to great effect in the regeneration of the Acton Housing Scheme in Ealing, West London. The latest phase of the development involved creating an elegant gateway to South Acton, which is comprised of 8 to 10 storey residential blocks arranged around a south facing courtyard.
To break up the perceived mass of the buildings, the architect used large panels of glazed brickwork to create a striking façade in a palette of sky blue, white and a bespoke pale mint. The use of the large panels of glazed brick creates simple yet effective variations between the residential blocks.
To provide a comprehensive overview of the design possibilities achievable through the use of glazed brick, Ibstock recently launched its new edition of ‘Design’ magazine, which is dedicated to this exciting range.
Andrew Halstead-Smith, Group Marketing Manager at Ibstock, comments: “As demonstrated through the success of these two very different projects, the glazed range responds to the need to set buildings apart and achieve striking designs by offering specifiers a varied and vibrant selection of brick solutions. The wide choice of colours and finishes, coupled with the ease of installation, means those tasked with creating stand-out design can do so with minimum effort.”
To obtain the latest issue of Design or find out more about the range of glazed bricks available, visit www.ibstock.com.
