Facades are that part of the architectural design that gives each investment its individual character. It is they that create the atmosphere of places, becoming their business card. Aiming to combine the functionality of a building with its aesthetics, architects continue to surprise with their designs of modern, eye-catching facades. With the development of technology, facades have become more diverse - from classic plaster, glazing, exotic wood, stone or steel finishes to architectural concrete and a wide range of plastics. However, there is a material that architects have been reaching for for decades, and something unique is almost always created - clinker.
Three-layer walls made with clinker bricks are extremely functional structures. Thanks to the fact that the material is 100% natural, resistant to most weather conditions and mechanical damage, the facades are durable and do not require additional financial outlays over the years. An important advantage of ventilated three-layer walls is also very good thermal and acoustic insulation. In buildings designed with such technology it is easy to maintain the right microclimate - we feel good in them.
A common opinion is the high cost of such an investment. However, if we look at the subject a little more broadly, the balance can be a big surprise.
The cost of implementing a clinker brick facade includes not only the cost of the material itself, but also those associated with the selection of the contractor and the supplier of the suspension system. The more geometrically complex the facade, the higher the costs. However, the expenses incurred at this stage pay off during the operation of the building. The low absorbency of clinker means that the facade does not get dirty, and therefore there is no need to refresh it every few years. The thermal properties of the partition significantly reduce operating costs in later years - in particular, heating costs. For the investor, it is also not without significance that buildings with clinker facades are perceived as elegant and more prestigious.
Most of us associate clinker facades with buildings in the color commonly called "brick". Nothing could be further from the truth. Clinker bricks are available on our market in a wide range of colors and textures. We can obtain them using different grades of clays and firing techniques. Also, the geometry of the bricks available on the market varies greatly. This gives architects unlimited possibilities and they are increasingly using them.
Meteor student house, UAM Poznań - view of the interior elevation of the children's house
© PFEIFER Polska
An excellent example of the implementation of modern clinker facades, where bright brick was used, is the Meteor student house on the Morasko campus in Poznań.
Completed in 2023, the five-story building was made as an atrium, with a courtyard serving recreational and service functions. Large glazed connectors, passageways in the form of tunnels and the varied geometry of the individual elevations, combined with light brick broken with dark finishes, give the sprawling body of the dormitory a kind of lightness.
Meteor student house, UAM Poznań - view of the interior elevation of the childhood dormitory
© PFEIFER Polska
Such projects are a kind of test for the clinker façade suspension systems offered on our market. In this task, PFEIFER designed supports of almost every type - from simple starter supports, standard window lintels and ordinary expansion joints, to quite sophisticated overhangs, supports in expansion joints or their unusual locations.
Meteor student house, UAM Poznań - view of the interior elevation of the childhood house
© PFEIFER Polska
The system offered by PFEIFER has proven itself superbly here. The flexibility and variety of console types made it possible to realize every aspect and detail of the architectural design without the need for special solutions. It was also possible to meet the architects' requirements for aesthetics - the system remained invisible after the facade was completed.
Student house Meteor, UAM Poznań - passages to the children's house
© PFEIFER Polska
Ultimately, Meteor will house 400 people, for whom the building's interestingly designed and landscaped courtyard, highlighted by the warm material of the facades, will be an ideal place to spend free time.
XIII LO Sports Hall, Wroclaw - view of the facade
© PFEIFER Poland
The second example of a building with a rather bold solution in terms of clinker brick colors is the Sports Hall of the XIII High School on Haukego-Bosaka Street in Wroclaw. Here, too, PFEIFER Polska was the supplier of the system and design for the suspension of the clinker façade.
Supervised by the Board of Municipal Investments, the Hall building is an extension of the existing High School in the immediate vicinity. The two buildings are connected by a connecting link, which allows students to move between them without leaving the facility. This is a safe and practical solution.
Sports Hall of the 13th High School, Wroclaw - elevation view
© PFEIFER Poland
The volume of the building appears simple. The seven-story sports complex was designed on the basis of a rectangular block. The limitation for the architects were the tenement houses and compact buildings in this area of the city. However, there is something that does not allow you to pass by the building indifferently - the white color of the clinker brick used.
Sports Hall of the 13th High School, Wroclaw - view of the facade.
© PFEIFER Polska
The very bold design of the modern building located in the vicinity of historic buildings makes the sports hall seem to have been built here by mistake. The building does not relate to the architecture of its surroundings. The smooth surfaces of the clinker walls were made of white brick. The surface is locally disturbed by rather loosely spaced insets of a different texture - also in white. In the corner of one of the elevations a small spatial thread was placed.
All the architectural elements here have been carefully thought out, so that thanks to this contrast between the building and the surroundings, the object attracts the attention of passers-by.
This has been recognized by the Association of Polish Architects and awarded the prize in the category "Best Office, Education and Administration Building in 2023". Therefore, PFEIFER is all the more proud of this realization.
Sports Hall of the 13th High School, Wroclaw - view of the elevation
© PFEIFER Poland
The examples cited above are some of the many realizations using clinker bricks in recent years. The fashion for clinker facades is timeless, will never pass and will never grow old.
For more information, visit the company's PFEIFER Polska Sp. z o. o. page on the PdA portal.
