close up of protruding red Corium brick tiles and buff Corium brick tiles in a pattern

How can 3D design features elevate facade schemes?

The ultimate ambition of an architect – and the ultimate test of a building product’s design versatility – is creating something that has never been seen before. This can be achieved through combining traditions and new trends, and reshaping not just the look of a building, but people’s experience of it.

Wienerberger’s Corium material open up this exploratory, experimental space in which architects can redefine the possibilities of facade design. A simple building structure can be aesthetically elevated through intelligent and expressive application of architectural cladding products

A trend we’ve seen in past projects featuring Corium brick tile cladding has been the inclusion of three-dimensional elements or sculpture to build a truly unique facade scheme. We’ve chosen two of our favourite projects to serve as inspiration for how Wienerberger Facades products can be used to create innovative and memorable architecture.

Branching Out

Let’s start out small by taking a closer look at how 3D wall cladding can be used on just one area of a building facade to create a piece of bespoke statement art.

This multi-dimensional tree artwork was designed by H3 Architects for Markham Place, a residential and commercial development in the Ashfield suburb of Sydney, Australia. With Corium brick cladding supplied by PGH Bricks & Pavers, YTO Construction were able to construct a tree design that would have been difficult to achieve with traditional masonry.

Against a clean canvas of white brick cladding tiles in a stack bond, Corium tiles in a range of bright shades and sizes were used to form the tree, with darker tones giving the illusion of shadow. To add further dimensionality to the piece, selected tiles protrude from the surface. Perspex brick tiles containing LED lights transform the facade when night falls.

Corium was the ideal product choice for taking on this exterior cladding challenge as the brick tiles could be easily manipulated into position on the steel rail to create the desired tree design before being mortared and fixed in place.

close up of Corium brick cladding tree artwork

Creating Pattern

Protruding brickwork is a relatively simple technique to achieve with Corium cladding, without the structural considerations that you would find with traditional masonry thanks to the supporting rail system.

In contrast to the tree design, three-dimensional brickwork surfaces can be applied on a larger scale to create a distinctive motif that can be carried through an entire vertical cladding scheme, such as on the Cambridge Mosque project. This award-winning mosque - the first to be nominated for the Stirling Prize in history - was designed by Marks Barfield Architects, with the Corium system supplied by our UK partner Taylor Maxwell and installed by Clarke Facades.

Throughout the building’s full facade, protruding red brick tile headers were used as accents against a contrasting light buff brick tile base. These formations created Islamic patterns and words, successfully blending traditional design with a modern architectural aesthetic to create a community space with its own signature look.