Correlated Media LLC’s inaugural project is a pro bono design for a pet memorial wall located at an animal shelter in Albuquerque, NM. Historically, masonry construction has relied on the dimensional consistency antd ease of reproduction inherent in the symmetrical six sided polyhedron we know as the common brick. However, despite this primitive geometry, architects from Brunelleschi to Gramazio and Kohler have used standardized masonry units to produce amazing formal complexity through the innovation of increasingly sophisticated methods for managing construction. In other words, because the simplicity of the traditional brick allows for a multitude of orientations and adjacencies, increases in formal complexity have always closely followed increases in the complexity of construction. Our project aims to reverse this trend.
Using digital modeling and fabrication techniques, we were able to design a custom masonry unit that simultaneously allows for complexity of form and simplicity of construction. This is achieved by strategically managing and minimizing the number of orientations and adjacencies possible with the custom brick, effectively transferring the complexity usually present in construction to the geometry of the unit itself. In our initial design studies we have explored a mono-directional unit that can flipped from front to back to achieve different curvatures. As curvature is modified with each progressive course, a large variation in form can be achieved in response to programatic considerations such as enclosure or seating.