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Architecture vocabulary · Materials and Construction

Brick

Meaning in architecture, with examples

/brɪk/nounCore term

In architecture, brick means: A small rectangular block of fired clay used to build walls; bricks are laid in mortar in regular patterns called bonds.

In Turkish: tuğla

How it is used

Bricks are laid, and the worker is a bricklayer. Architects specify brick colour, size, bond (such as stretcher bond or Flemish bond) and mortar joints. 'Exposed brick' is brick left visible as a finish, inside or outside.

Example sentences

  1. The new library uses the same red brick as the old factory next door.

  2. We kept the exposed brick walls in the café to show the building's history.

Common collocations

  • exposed brick
  • brick wall
  • lay bricks
  • brick bond
  • facing brick
  • masonryConstruction made of separate units such as stone, brick or concrete blocks laid in mortar; also the units themselves as a building material.
  • claddingThe outer layer of material fixed to a building's walls to protect it from the weather and give it its appearance, such as stone, metal panels, timber or ceramic.
  • lintelA horizontal beam of concrete, steel, stone or timber placed over a door or window opening to carry the wall above it.
  • load-bearing wallA wall that carries weight from the floors and roof above and transfers it down to the foundations, so it cannot be removed without adding another support.

More terms: Materials and Construction

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