Referencing brick

Two 2011 AIA Honor Awards for Architecture went to new buildings in Manhattan that specifically claim heightened sensitivity to their historic context by referencing brick, the prevalent material in the area.  The Barnard College Diana Center by Weiss / Manfredi is a multi-purpose glass building well-scaled to fit within its surroundings even with its hovering cantilevered shapes.  The claim for its respectful contextual nod comes from the orange vertical strips painted on the inside surface of the outer double panel window wall.  The thin to wide stripes look like a vertical blind that is slightly off its track.  The orange color – some would more generously call it brick or terra cotta – is also used as full colored panels giving a sort of air-brushed appearance to the exterior.

One Jackson Square by Kohn Pedersen Fox is a 35-unit luxury housing building in Greenwich Village across from the triangular-shaped park from which it takes its name.  Again, the building’s form is appropriate to the surroundings with the lower seven stories establishing a firm street presence and the upper six floors set back.  The project description claims the “predominantly masonry structures of the immediate surroundings, along with the park, are “played back” in the glazed façade, creating an intimacy of scale congruent with the local context through juxtaposition.”  What actually happens is that behind the curved glass curtain walls flanking the lobby entrance are thick, undulating, laminated and stained bamboo walls with rectangular horizontal cut-outs that have mirrored backs and are randomly located.  These gaps are meant to suggest brick.

Both projects were built in places that people care about intensely.  Asserting that the context was “intimate” and the historic urban fabric “intricate,” the architects responded with building sizes and shapes that aligned well with their proximate situation.  As anyone who lives or works within an historic district or a homeowners association review board neighborhood knows, controlling the heights, volumes and set-backs from public space of proposed structures is managed with numerical limitations.  Matching forms insures the new work does not overwhelm the existing, but that alone cannot secure positive results. Duplicating existing materials also does not guarantee appropriate outcomes because imitating past methods of construction in simplified interpretations is superficial.  Cutting-edge design for commercial buildings responding to sustainable mandates have little need for stone carvings, cast terra cotta panels, and complicated brick details.

Still, this doesn’t mean that glass buildings become welcome members of historic places by referencing commonly found materials through paint and cut-out shapes.  The power of Michael Arad’s 911 Memorial fountains comes from the objects that are the footprints of the World Trade Center’s twin towers, evoking feelings of loss and absence.  Negative form references positive form.  With materials, referencing color and shape alone misses most of inherent qualities.  Brick has earthy origins, achieves its hardness and finish from firing, and is human-scaled because it is laid by hand.  Emotional associations are carried by physical manifestations without which the result cannot help but be an empty sentiment.