Quote:
Originally Posted by jonny24
Seamless brick face happens on building that are structural brick. (multiple layers of brick that ARE the building).
We no longer build like that. The structure is wood, steel, or poured concrete, and the brick is just an attractive and durable cladding. But because different materials expand differently, the brick façade requires expansion joints. Most commonly this is at every floor, so that no floor has to carry an excessive load of brick. The brick sits on shelf angle that ties back to the structure.
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I was about to post this, actually. It's less that people don't "know" how to build double-brick masonry anymore; The trades will learn how to build with whatever the market demands. It's that we have better and cheaper methods of construction than they did at the turn of the century.
Structural brick looks gorgeous and ages very well as long as it's maintained. If developers were willing to pay for it, we'd probably see some on new builds for aesthetic purposes, but unfortunately the goal is to make as much as possible and spend as little as necessary. With regards to the prefab brick cladding, at least it doesn't extend up beyond the second level. I've seen buildings where they'll cover 8 or 9 stories with the stuff and it looks incredibly ugly.