Parametric Brick Facade

A technology which enables bricks to be set and mortared using a robot has been developed at the ETH in Zurich and successfully tested on numerous small projects. The brick facing, which will replace the existing concrete block facade of a major department store which is showing the signs of time, profits from the use of robotics and in preference to a spatial brick construction. The limited material/technical properties of the stone can be supported (borne) by means of compression and three-dimensional molding. In close cooperation with the architect such a form was created, this fulfilled the architect’s diverse requirements for an expressive design on the one hand and also complied with the structural specifications. The type of stone chosen for this project is characterized by a particularly high rigidity and consistent quality. The stones are mortared together one below the other in order to transmit tensile forces, for example, from wind loads.