A Brick for Venice - URBAN RADICALS
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A Brick for Venice, Venice, 2023

A BRICK FOR VENICE re-interprets the iconic forms of the beautiful Venetian chimneys, while exploring the potential of using dredged waste sediment from the Venetian canals and other waste by-products from the surrounding industrial areas, to create a low-carbon brick from and for Venice. This is of particular importance in a time of climate emergency and provides a vision for forming closed-loop systems in our built environment.

 

In 2023, brick is still a primary construction material, with around 1.5 trillion bricks produced globally every year, burning 375 million tonnes of coal. Around 87% of this production is clustered within Asia, which adds an extensive carbon footprint to the bricks as they are transported to the other continents.

A BRICK FOR VENICE re-thinks these outmoded manufacturing methods through the upcycling of local waste materials, in conjunction with a profoundly local production strategy, to drastically reduce the notional brick’s embodied emissions.

The pavilion offers a clear proof of concept that, when scaled up, strengthens the operational sustainability of Venice’s day-to-day maintenance, providing a closed-loop, circular-economy framework that’s undeniably critical if we are to attain a carbon neutral future.

 

Link to video here.

 

1
Concept sketch exploring forms inspired by the traditional Venetian chimneys.
2
The design is inspired from the beautiful geometries and bricklaying techniques of the 7000+ bespoke chimneys floating against the city's skyline. These forms remind us of an architectural language that is both of the place, as well as of travelling geometries from the far East. Venice depicts the cultural hybrids and fusions when interaction, exchange and trade marry. Image credit: Carpaccio’s Miracle of the Relic of the Holy Cross (c.1494).
3
Each time the canals of Venice are dredged, large volumes of mud are collected. This mud is disposed of on the shores of an uninhabited waste island. Spanning roughly 2km long, this manmade terrain reveals a less explored side of Venice. It prompts us to perceive Venice not only as a constructed city but as a larger context that encompasses marshlands, delicate ecologies and crucial industry and infrastructure that enable the rest of the city to operate.
4
Our visit to the island involved digging, collecting and tagging the first samples for preliminary testing and analysis.
5
Based on the findings from these initial studies and prototypes, the brick then incorporates secondary and recycled aggregates from the local region for rigidity. Finally, natural hemp fibre - a material that has been grown and produced for centuries throughout the Veneto region for the production of ropes and sails – is added for tensile strength.
6
The bricks were hand-made in Venice with compression and air drying rather than the more traditional kiln-firing, to further reduce their embodied carbon.
7
The big pinch from the master builder, defining the pavilion entrance.
8
The pavilion articulates simple construction principles and advances a vision for closed-loop systems rooted in reuse, longevity and locality.
9
Offcuts produced during the construction found their way back as a complete circle defining the pavilion entrance.

 

A Brick for Venice is a research project initiated by UR in collaboration with AKT II engineers and LOCAL WORKS STUDIO material designers. Funded by the Tyréns  Foundation, these research findings address complex issues surrounding the circular economy in our cities that, if implemented on a wider scale, could equate to large savings in world carbon emissions.

The temporary pavilion – which is exhibited as part of the European Cultural Centre’s ‘Time Space Existence’ programme during the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale – is the first proof of concept for this novel waste-based construction product, which has been tested, specified and is now available for construction.

A Brick for Venice

Type: Architecture

Location: Venice, Italy

Size: 2m2

For: European Cultural Centre, Tyrens foundation

Status: Completed 

Featured in: Archdaily, Design Museum (How to Build a Low-Carbon Home exhibition July 2023 – March 2024), Time Space Existence 2023, Domus, Monocle, DEZEEN SUSTAINABILITY AWARD LONGLIST

Collaborators: AKT II, Local Works Studio

With thanks to: Gaetano di Gregorio, Valerio Volpe, Andrea Siega, Venice Port Authority, Jacopo Vantini

Photography: Matteo Losurdo and Era Savvides

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1
Concept sketch exploring forms inspired by the traditional Venetian chimneys.
2
The design is inspired from the beautiful geometries and bricklaying techniques of the 7000+ bespoke chimneys floating against the city's skyline. These forms remind us of an architectural language that is both of the place, as well as of travelling geometries from the far East. Venice depicts the cultural hybrids and fusions when interaction, exchange and trade marry. Image credit: Carpaccio’s Miracle of the Relic of the Holy Cross (c.1494).
3
Each time the canals of Venice are dredged, large volumes of mud are collected. This mud is disposed of on the shores of an uninhabited waste island. Spanning roughly 2km long, this manmade terrain reveals a less explored side of Venice. It prompts us to perceive Venice not only as a constructed city but as a larger context that encompasses marshlands, delicate ecologies and crucial industry and infrastructure that enable the rest of the city to operate.
4
Our visit to the island involved digging, collecting and tagging the first samples for preliminary testing and analysis.
5
Based on the findings from these initial studies and prototypes, the brick then incorporates secondary and recycled aggregates from the local region for rigidity. Finally, natural hemp fibre - a material that has been grown and produced for centuries throughout the Veneto region for the production of ropes and sails – is added for tensile strength.
6
The bricks were hand-made in Venice with compression and air drying rather than the more traditional kiln-firing, to further reduce their embodied carbon.
7
The big pinch from the master builder, defining the pavilion entrance.
8
The pavilion articulates simple construction principles and advances a vision for closed-loop systems rooted in reuse, longevity and locality.
9
Offcuts produced during the construction found their way back as a complete circle defining the pavilion entrance.