Conceptual Design

Brazilian Brick Design

As part of design explorations during our time as an Honor’s project, a prototype was designed and built of a bench that was meant for the TU/e campus. Even though it was never placed, this concept highlights a lot of important aspects for Utemaru.

The most prominent trait of this concept was its Claustra design. A claustra is a brick-laying technique also referred to as the Brazilian bond, due to its origin. It is recognised by openings in the masonry, which are created by bricks that are laid only with their ends on the underlying bricks. There were a couple of intentions behind the decision to use this method. Firstly, this would allow for good air flow inside the structure, allowing any animals that would find refuge inside to have fresh air and reducing the risk of bad odors getting trapped. Additionally, it would reduce the overall weight and brutalistic look of the design, making it easier to integrate into the futuristic-looking campus of the Eindhoven University of Technology.

To construct the prototype of the would-be bench, some bricks from another project that was conducted at the University were used. This and the fact that the claustra technique does not permanently alter the bricks aided our circularity goal. In this way, we were able to reuse a material with history and turn it into something that, at the end of its lifetime, would be able to be disassembled and reused.

Other interesting details about this concept were the holes that were drilled in some of the bricks to allow for different insects to find a home, and the large sitting area to promote socialization on campus. These and other details came from the research that was done on what both humans, plants, and animals on campus needed to thrive and rebuild the ecosystem.

In the end, although this prototype was partially built but never successfully placed, it was a great way to explore and validate many of the ideas that would become essential to Utemaru’s future designs. Looking back, it’s certainly an essential learning opportunity that has positively shaped our modern furniture.