Polychrome Brick in Architecture and Design: Styles, Pairings, Precedents

Move over it to light it

Finish

Light

Closer

ReadingsIn use 1970 to 1995

WeightVery heavy

WarmthWarm

CostIn between

PermanenceLasts centuries

PrecisionIn between

CarbonModerate

Making one kilo releases about 0.26 kg of CO₂: fired brick in several clays.

It saysPostmodern irreverenceVictorian revivalOrnamental color

Best for: Postmodern architecture, Victorian restoration, Playful facades.

01The building that proves it

Keble College Chapel

William Butterfield · Oxford · 1876

Polychrome Brick here: red, white and blue brick in patterns across the whole college.

About the building ↗

02Try it on a board

Pick up to three materials to sit beside polychrome brick. The board shows the styles that use all of them, and writes a prompt you can take to an image or video generator.

Polychrome Brick Fired Brick

Styles that use all of themArchitectural Postmodernism

Setting

Scale

Light

Camera

Output

A house, on a dense urban street. Materials: polychrome brick that reads as postmodern irreverence, fired brick that reads as urban memory. Golden hour, warm raking light. Eye level from across the street, 35mm. Architectural photograph, medium format, no people, no text.

03The styles built on it

Architectural Postmodernism

04Questions

Which design styles use polychrome brick?

Architectural Postmodernism.

What goes well with polychrome brick?

Polychrome Brick pairs well with fired brick, ceramic mosaic and cast iron.

What does polychrome brick communicate?

Postmodern irreverence, Victorian revival and Ornamental color. It suits postmodern architecture, victorian restoration and playful facades.

What is the carbon footprint of polychrome brick?

Making one kilo of polychrome brick releases about 0.26 kg of CO₂, cradle to gate: fired brick in several clays.

05More masonry

Fired Brick Terracotta Tile Adobe Brick Ceramic Mosaic Glazed Faïence Roman Brick

Every materialOpen the materials sampler →

Marble Limestone Granite Travertine Basalt Sandstone Slate Structural Steel Cor-Ten Steel Titanium Copper Wrought Iron Anodized Aluminum Chrome Bronze Zinc Cladding Cast Iron Plate Glass Glass Block Leaded Art Glass Structural Glass ETFE Membrane Electrochromic Glazing Oak Teak Bamboo Cedar CLT Reclaimed Timber Birch Plywood Pine Fired Brick Terracotta Tile Adobe Brick Ceramic Mosaic Glazed Faïence Roman Brick Polychrome Brick Rammed Earth Hempcrete Clay Plaster Living Roof Substrate Exposed Concrete Board-Formed Concrete Polished Concrete Precast Concrete Panel Glass-Fibre Reinforced Concrete Sprayed Concrete Fibreglass Shell Carbon Fibre Composite Aluminium Composite Panel Tensile Fabric Perforated Steel Screen Polycarbonate Vitrolite Porcelain Enamel Panel