Masonry Magazine April 2004 Page. 54
Masonry of the Future
Good masonry projects are not just the creation of a talented architect, but depend on collaboration between those who design and those who build. That exercise of the imagination led to a three-ring brick gyroscope, its lightness made possible by steel armatures that allowed the brick to be in tension, to float and to pivot at two opposite points. Jimenez and collaborator Keith Behrens, IMI's Southwest Regional Training Director, were off and running. With just a simple line drawing on mortarboard, Behrens started building.
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The terrazzo installation was created by Julie Elzenberg, Principal and Co-founder, Koning Elzenberg Architecture and Michael Menegazzi, terrazzo worker.
That was followed by lots of testing, and lessons learned along the way to the solution of post-tensioning.
What made the stunning results possible was dramatic risk taking, say the collaborators. Yet the result is far from futuristic, they say. "Post tensioning is such a simple process, and it's directly useable," says Jimenez associate Brian Burke. "It can be applicable immediately."
Behrens and Jimenez believe that their work opens up limitless applications for the idea of taking masonry from compression to tension, from spanning openings of even greater distances, to reinforcing wall systems, to even suspending masonry. Says Jimenez, "Brick remains a raw material in perpetual expectation."
Terrazzo
THE TERRAZZO TEAM of Los Angeles architect Julie Eizenberg, of Koning Eizenberg Architecture, and IMI terrazzo Instructor Mike Menegazzi took raw shards of slate tiles and transformed them from a highly polished smoothness to an increasingly rugged texture, all while rising and undulating from the gallery floor. The result was a stunning piece of art, but also testament that classic materials have many more lives to invent.
"We try to educate designers, building owners and decision-makers about more creative ways to use masonry, and we also push for more affordable ways." -Joan Calambokidis President, IMI
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Masonry
April 2004
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