CBP Architects congratulates Architectural Designer Alec Naktin, Assoc. AIA, who was selected as one of five winners of the Glen-Gery Architectural Shapes Collaboration Contest to design a custom brick. Alec and the other winners were recently invited to Glen Gery’s Mid-Atlantic plant to mold their custom bricks, which will go into production and can be specified on projects.
The contest invited designers from across the U.S. to imagine a single brick, no smaller than 3.625 x 3.625 x 2.25 inches and no larger than 11 x 11 x 2.75 inches, with two flat sides making the unit capable of being stacked.
Alec’s winning design, “The Prism” features a single, triangular cutout on the brick’s front face. This creates a variety of patterns when used in different bonds, from simple triangles that provide visual interest in a conventional running bond, to diamonds when laid side-by-side or in a soldier course, to bands of zigzags when alternating courses are laid upside-down. According to Alec, “The point of the prismatic cutout helps it shed water, ensuring none is pooled or trapped in the masonry, and the removal of material from the brick reduces its overall weight. The design lends itself well to contemporary construction techniques in which bricks are arranged in screens rather than solid veneers or monolithic bearing walls.”
Founded in 1890 in Wyomissing, Pa., Glen-Gery is one of the nation’s largest brick manufacturers.
See the winning brick designs