Brickworks Building Products The Gehry Collection

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  • 2015

  • Product
    Hardware and Building

Designed By:

  • Bowral Bricks

Commissioned By:

UTS

Designed In:

Australia

The Gehry Collection is a range of 5 specially designed and custom-made bricks manufactured at the Bowral Bricks factory in Bowra, creating a bespoke brick range to compliment the complex textured design of UTS building’s unique facade design.

The design allowed the bricks to be used in an unconventional manner and hence produce the undulating walls of the UTS Dr Chau Chak Wing Building. To achieve the design intended by Gehry, a brick had to be produced that was able to be laid in an undulating manner without the risk of it collapsing.

The combination of the unique shape of these bricks allowed for the walls to be laid in a way never seen before up to 26 degrees projecting either in or out from the vertical.


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  • CHALLENGE
  • SOLUTION

  • Bowral Bricks specially designed brick tie which used the brick rebate to tie back into the steel substrate. The unique shapes and brick tie was developed in collaboration with engineers and bricklayers to determine the most feasible solution to the Gehry design. Whilst the rebate allowed for the walls to be fastened to the substrate, the position of this rebate and finish on the brick face helped achieve the rugged sandstone and random appearance that was required. The use of a dry pressed brick in this project allowed for the flexibility of the unique shapes to be pressed as well as providing the additional benefits associated with dry pressed product such as higher absorption rates and exposure grade.

  • The brickwork engineering aspect of this project required several years of experimentation and development. Initial large-scale testing for resistance to earthquake, fire and wind loads was carried out in Guangzhou, China which was attended by both Bowral Bricks staff and bricklaying contractor Ray Favetti.