Eladio Dieste brick work. Old bus terminal in Salto.

A few month ago, during a trip around Punta del Este area I came along a very interesting and almost forgotten craft and trade. Brick making.  At the cross point of ruta 104 and ruta 9 I stopped and watched how they do it. Every few 100meters one can find working craft sites or abandoned sites or the building results of this local (all around San Carlos) trade.

  Brick kiln near San Carlos, Uruguay.

Early brick making.

The earliest bricks in this world were dried bricks, meaning they were formed from clay bearing earth or mud and dried (usually in the sun) until they were strong enough for use. The oldest discovered bricks, originally made from shaped mud and dating before 7500 BC. Ceramic, or fired bricks were used as early as 3000 BC.

                    Engravings of brick making in ancient Egyptian times and in Germany around the 1500’s.

Early civilizations around the Mediterranean adopted the use of fired bricks, including the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The Roman legions built large brick structures throughout the Roman Empire, stamping the bricks with the seal of the legion.

      Since the Middle Ages the steps of brick making are almost the same. Mixing the clay by horse power, forming the clay in molds and finally fire drying in large kilns. They still use the same methods in the Uruguayan San Carlos area.

During the Early Middle Ages the use of bricks in construction became popular in Northern Europe, after being introduced there from Northern-Western Italy. An independent style of brick architecture, known as brick Gothic (similar to Gothic architecture) flourished in places that lacked indigenous sources of rocks. Examples of this architectural style can be found in modern-day Denmark, Germany, Poland, and Russia.

  Malbork Castle, worlds largest brick build castle.

The castle was built between 1274 and 1300 in Marienburg, Prussia (now Malbork, Poland) by the Teutonic Knights, a German Roman Catholic religious order of crusaders, in a form of an Ordensburg fortress. The Order named it Marienburg (Mary’s Castle). The town which grew around it was also named Marienburg.

  Inside Malbork (Marienburg) Castle, the Iron Soldiers. Notice the fantastic brick work. Click on pics to supersize.

How bricks are being made.

This short clay brick making guideline will show you how to make clay bricks in simple steps. When I talked to the people brick making in San Carlos they confirmed that the method is the same for hundreds of years.

1. Soil testing:

  Bricks stacked for air drying, takes ca. 4-6 weeks.

One need to test the soil from which one plan to prepare the brick. The proportion of sand to clay in the soil should not be more than 50% (minimum 30%). But how to test that? A simple method is to mix 10 teaspoons of the soil to a glass of clean water, stir it completely, and keep it overnight. You will see two clear layers of clay and sand. From the size of each layer you can find out the proportion.

2. Prepare the mold:

    Double mold for usual size bricks.

Wooden (ideally beech wood) planks and nails are used to prepare brick molds. There are excising hundreds of sizes and shapes, depending on personal taste and requirement. Its possible to make make molds for single brick as well as multiple bricks.

3. Prepare the clay:

  Preparing the clay, in the background.

One digs the required amount of soil and ship it to the brick making site. Then they test if the soils need to be mixed with some additional amount of sand. Remember the sand plays an important role for removing the brick from the mold. The mixing of a sufficient amount of water to the soil is important to make it clay. This kind of mixing is done by hand and shovel, bigger amounts they have done with horses, now one uses a tractor.

    Look at this handmade, old style, wheel barrow.

The clay should be solid enough to hold its shape, but at the same time it should be liquid enough to fill in the mold. This stage mostly decides about the place where people make bricks, closest to the source of soil and sand. Preparing the clay is, with firering, an important part of craftsmanship and experience.

4. Make the raw brick:

  Making the raw bricks, means moulding the bricks.

Then they pour the prepared clay into the mold and let it set for half an hour. After that it should easily come out from the mold as raw brick.

5. Sun drying:

         In San Carlos they use a combined method to dry bricks. First a few days sun drying and then a few days fire drying in a kiln oven.

Raw brick should be kept on dry sand in the sun for drying. This is an important step for making adobe brick. The brick should be left until all the exposed edges become white. After that they turn them on their edges. This whole process may take at least three weeks, if the weather supports the process. The final moisture content of the adobe clay brick will be around 10-15%. At this point, the adobe bricks will be ready to use.

6. Fire Drying:

    Brick kiln to fire the bricks. Fire holes opened and closed and kiln just breaking off.

In case one uses to make fired red clay bricks, its needed to cure the brick in an oven (called kiln) under 1800 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1000 degrees Celsius) temperature for seven more days. This method is needed in colder countries where you can’t count on permanent secure sunshine. And – one needs long experience to do it right.

    Collecting the fired bricks out of the kiln.  See how interesting they stack the bricks.

  Different brick qualities for sale from „San Carlos Brickworks“. They sell on Mercadolibre for about 450,—500,– peso per 100 bricks.

Brick artist Brad Spencer.

American artist Brad Spencer works with bricks to produce eye-catching, figurative sculptures. Each piece of work in the sculptor’s growing collection is an intriguing look at a common medium used in an unconventional way.

  Spencer brick art.

The fact that bricks are typically an architectural material whose visual shapes rarely extend beyond anything more than a boxy wall makes them all the more attention-grabbing.

Spencer brick art.

Spencer says of his material of choice: „Brick sculpture can be dated back to ancient Babylon but remains a fresh and interesting enhancement to any building, wall or environment.

Spencer brick art.

The brick medium has all the same characteristics of durability and low maintenance as a brick building, blends well in settings where other brick construction is present, looks good with landscaping and has a familiarity which is comforting to people.“

  Another example of brick art, made by a Japanese artist. This brick Mercedes weights over 6,5 tons and was sold to a collector for 90.000,–$US.

Uruguayan Brick Art.

      Fantastic examples of Uruguayan brick building. Left, the Intendencia Municipal de Montevideo (on Avenida 18 de Julio). Also called Palacio Municipal, the construction began in 1935 and inaugurated on July 16, 1941 . Right, a fantastic historic brick building in Colonia del Sacramento from the early 1800’s. Notice the double length size of bricks above the windows and door. As always, click on pictures to supersize.

       And this is Uruguayan brick art of the finest. The famous Eladio Dieste church in Atlantida Norte. Read my article about it under Category Atlantida, article „Must See – An Innovative Brick Artist“.

Brick Monuments around the world.

Many many brick buildings are produced around the world. But Northern Europe is at least an important center of this ancient and artistical  architecture. Within Germany many of the worlds leading brick buildings. Look at a few of them.

        The whole inner city of the Hanseatic city of Luebeck, Germany is one brick architecture from as early as the 12th century. Above the Holstentor and the Townhall. The whole inner city is listed as a World Heritage Site.

    Many of the buildings are made from glazed bricks, which is very difficult and expensive to produce. Such kind is unknown in Uruguay. Also, most of the old brick works have so named „Master-stones“, to show who’s masterwork the building is. Or they have still some Romanian Legion signs burned into the bricks.

                                The highest brick build church tower in the world belongs to St. Martins church in Landshut, Germany. The largest brick build bridge in the world is to find in the Goetzschtal, Germany. Click on pics.

                  Some of the largest brick buildings in the world are the old power plant in Vockerode and the Chilehaus in Hamburg, Germany.

          The world largest church Dom, brick made, is the „Cupola Santa Maria del Fiore“ in Florence, Italy. Right  the largest brick building ensemble in the world, the Speicherstadt (storehouse city) in Hamburg, Germany.

        Old tobacco warehouse in Stanley, England reputedly one of the world’s largest brick built structure. And right the worlds largest church building, St. Mary’s, in Gdansk, Poland, former Danzig, Germany, a Hanseatic City. Danzig or Gdansk now, is like Luebeck one of the old (Hanseatic) brick city’s.

  Finally again a „brick building“ from San Carlos Brickworks, seen in Las Vegas, Uruguay.  Typical local parrilla, the Uruguayan „giant outdoor grill“. Hope you enjoyed my „brick excurse“. Much more will come !!