BRIDGING BRICK BABYLON
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THINK BRICK - OPEN FACE AWARD WINNER

status: unbuilt

LOCATION: TULLAMARINE, VIC, AUSTRALIA

awards: THINK BRICK awards 2013 - OPEN FACE - WINNER

PUBLISHED: THINK BRICK AWARDS 2013

"What to do? Render is infiltrating the old brick suburbs with a false blanket of hope.

An option! - and I know such an archetype for the job!
- A 'bridge building', a beacon of hope fighting the good fight against all things rendered!

Brick is not dead after all!"

2013 brings a major dilemma! With new housing constantly growing, the once orange and red bricked communities are slowing losing their identities, which in turn is making way for a more popular confused "modern-ess" rendered box vernacular. A vernacular that has infiltrated many of Melbourne`s suburbs.
To make matters worse, there now seems to be a common understanding that "My old brick house looks more modern rendered" leaving many of the areas 70`s brick icons at risk of violation.

Carrick Drive is a small suburban street hovering over the Tullamarine Freeway - major trajectory between the airport and Melbourne CBD. Carrick Drive links two established, yet growing, communities of Tullamarine and Gladstone Park.

What to do? Render is infiltrating the old brick suburbs with a false blanket of hope.

An option! - and I know such an archetype for the job! - A 'bridge building', a beacon of hope - fighting the good fight against all things rendered!

Brick is not dead after all!

Two white modernist rendered boxes at each end of the bridge are formally and texturally fragmented. They dissolve across the facade making way for an expressive woven & curved brick patina celebrating two brick types sampled from houses from each side of the freeway.