Types of bricks and their use

Types of bricks and their use, as a beautiful and flexible element in the hands of the architect, create beautiful and lasting works in every architecture and give the spirit of originality and life to today’s building. Brick, which has been used for a long time, creates a sense of nostalgia in the viewer. The physical and chemical properties of brick, on the one hand, and its easy production and compatibility with the nature of this land, on the other hand, have prepared the ground for its extensive use in Iranian architecture.

Advantages of brick

The type of bricks differs depending on the type of furnace, the composition of the clay soil, the heat level of the furnace, and its distance and proximity to the heat center, and as a result, the place of their use is also different depending on their type.

welded brick

which has been heated more than other types and has been in the vicinity of fire, loses its ability to absorb water, and as a result, it is used in the foot or in the stairs (where there is a lot of foot traffic). Of this type of brick, there are two welds, which are harder than welded bricks. (Using welded brick in places that are in contact with water; it is suitable, and lime-sand coating is applied on the welded brick)

baked brick

which was called a reservoir. This brick was completely baked and the color was milk and sugar, and it was used for all brick works.

Baked raw brick

which has seen less heat in the furnace, its color is red and it is closer to clay in terms of resistance. This brick was used for (cheap) water buildings such as water tanks; which had to be wrapped with lime or sorghum mortars. What is known as brick today is a phenomenon obtained from the transformation of clay.

Heating mud clay and hardening it is the first method of preparing clay, which dates back to the years before the 6th millennium BC. The oldest hand-made clay obtained belongs to Ganj Dera.

Making clay and baking bricks was invented by the Babylonians. Concretely, brick is a Babylonian word and it was the name of the clays on which laws and charters were written, the oldest brick tablet dates back to the era of Sargon (2400 years BC). Brick is one of the oldest building materials, which, according to some archaeologists, dates back to ten thousand years ago.

Brick facade and architecture

Signs of the production and consumption of bricks in India have been obtained, which indicates a history of six thousand years of bricks in that country.

The art of using bricks has gone from Western Asia to the West, Egypt and then to Rome and to the East of India and China. In the 4th century, Europeans began to use bricks, but after a while it fell out of favor and its re-spread from It was the 12th century AD by the Italians, historical records indicate that the inhabitants of Khuzestan or Mesopotamia were the first peoples who got hold of bricks and probably saw their first experiences on the floor of their ovens and remembered the cooking and hardening of clay under fire. .

The lack of stone and wood materials needed by the people of these areas caused soil to be used as the most important building element. Before the arrival of the Medes and Persians, the history of Iran was almost exclusive to the history of Elam. .

The important and major works of them that remain in Iran are: The ancient site of Susa, the works of Haft Tepe, the ancient city of Chaghazanbil and the reliefs of Ilamio… In Iran, the remains of pottery and brick kilns have been found in Susa and Silk Kashan, which date back to the 4th millennium BC.

Brickwork methods

Brick has been discovered in the works before Elam, mostly in “Acropolis Hill”.

At the highest point of this hill, in the beginning of this century, French explorers built a strong fort using bricks and old materials for the residence and establishment of their delegation. (Fort of the French) the main building of Chaghazanbil “ziggurat” which is built of raw clay and brick top; It was originally five floors, which has been damaged over time; And in the excavations, only the remaining three floors of it were brought out from under the soil and then restored and restored. In the Chaghazanbil temple, we also come across bricks that were installed as inscriptions on the wall. The materials of this building are ordinary raw clay and baked bricks. used in the facade of the building and bricks inside the building.

The Medes established their first kingdom after the Elamites in this land in the 7th century BC. Material architecture includes two parts:

Rock architecture

Typical architecture

Typical architecture

It is located in places such as Noushijan Malair Hill, Hegmatane Hill, Baba Khan, Godin Tepe, etc. In general, the brick making industry evolved in the pre-Achaemenid period in Iran, and in the Achaemenid period, in addition to clay, all kinds of bricks, including glazed bricks, were used in buildings; Their design and molding shows the mastery and skill of the architects and builders of this period.

The bricks used in the construction of Pasargad, Persepolis and Susa, regardless of their variety, are so interesting in terms of accuracy in the combination of primary materials and resistance to accidents that they have remained intact after several centuries. During the Achaemenid era, it was very common to bake engraved and embossed glazed bricks; which has been used to decorate palaces.

Many glazed tiles have been obtained from Susa and Persepolis. The use of bricks was very popular in ancient Iran, especially in the Sassanid era and in the pre-Islamic era. It is possible to mention the use of bricks in huge buildings such as Taq Kasri and Dokhtar Bridges. In the Sassanid era, the combination of stone and brick was used for building skeletons and in some cases for facades.

Using brick as the main material in building work

The inhabitants of the plateau of Iran have used mud, stone and wood as the main materials in the construction of buildings, but the main reliance was on mud in most parts of this land. Iranians have had a special bond with water and soil for a long time. Iranian plateau, which is a tropical and almost dry region with strong winds, so the Iranian artist has mainly used bricks to build the building.

The main reasons for using bricks in the Iranian plateau

Limiting the use of wood in areas of this land. lack of stone The problem of using stone due to heat transfer in tropical regions, its ease of use and high ability to implement and use brick in all parts of the building, especially its high efficiency in erecting wide and long roofs, the abundance of raw materials and the simplicity of brick preparation, its cost-effectiveness The wide use of brick shows two important technical points regarding the climate of this land:

The coefficient of expansion and contraction of brick against the cold is such that it prevents cracks in the building.

Compared to other materials, brick has the ability to store thermal energy, and as a result, the transfer of thermal fluctuations from the external environment to the interior through a brick wall is not severe, and without the intervention of heating and cooling devices, more pleasant conditions and atmosphere can be provided.

As a decorative element, brick has the ability to blend with all the elements of an architecture or to show off as a single decorative element. But in the case that it has only a decorative aspect, it is an additional load that is connected to the main structure of the building; Like hanging muqrans. In another case, it can be the agent for transmitting tensile and compressive forces, while maintaining decorative aspects; which includes domes – types of covers – walls – columns and arches. In this case, the domes themselves are also covered by earrings; They transfer power.

the dome

The dome of Nizam al-Mulk and the dome of Taj al-Mulk of Isfahan Jame Mosque are masterpieces of the Islamic era, where the brick with its stunning power has the full power of a decorative element. The 40-column nave of this mosque is a collection of more than 50 types of dome arches in which brick shows its richness as a structural factor and a decorative element.

Dome of Nizam al-Mulk

Taj-ul-Mulk dome of Isfahan Jame Mosque

earrings

The earring is an element that was used before Islam to facilitate the construction of a dome, but in the course of its evolution in Islamic architecture, it takes on a decorative aspect. A clear example of it can be seen in the square hall of Ardestan Grand Mosque (Seljuq period) and Qazvin Grand Mosque (early 6th century AH), which is decorated with brick lozenges. Taqcheh and arches are considered a type of decoration in the history of Islamic architectural art. It can be accepted that the earring as an architectural element has always maintained its decorative aspect; Because from the very beginning, it has suggested the existence of a niche. And from the beginning of the 9th century onwards, the earring is decorated with other decorations such as tiles and stucco.

Ardestan Grand Mosque square hall

Hall of Isfahan Jame Mosque

Muqrans

It is one of the decorative elements in architecture. The moqrans available in Iran fall into three groups:

The moqrans have come forward, whose materials are mostly from the main building materials (brick) and their strength is high.

Muqrans are placed on top of each other, which are made from the main building materials along with other compounds such as stone and plaster.

Suspended moqrans are formed by gluing different materials such as plaster, pottery and tiles.