Dry pressed face bricks from PGH Bricks & Pavers are making an
impressive statement at the entrance of a contemporary Sydney home designed by
John Jabbour of the Destech Building Group.
When designing his new family home, located in the Sydney seaside suburb
of Clovelly, Jabbour sought to balance his desire to create an ultra-modern,
high-tech, contemporary home with his personal preference for heritage building
materials. He believed the use of these materials would help anchor the home to
the site and its surrounding built environment.
Using an eclectic mix of modern and heritage building products and
techniques, Jabbour was able to maximise the footprint of his home, with each
elevation given due consideration regarding product selection and placement.
Along the western boundary, dry pressed common bricks, sandstone, fibre
cement sheeting, glass and timber panels in blackbutt and spotted gum were used
to define the ground floor wall and boundary line. The boundary wall of the
first floor utilised zinc panels mounted to a mansard roof.
The eastern and rear elevation of the home is set back from the boundary
line, enabling Jabbour to use a more conventional building technique. He chose
to construct walls made from double brick, featuring PGH Mowbray Blue dry
pressed face bricks for the outer skin and dry pressed commons for the inner
skin as well as for the majority of the internal dividing walls. Jabbour was
aware that solid pressed bricks offered a level of acoustic and thermal
insulation that simply could not be achieved with standard brick veneer or
timber framed construction.
Jabbour also used face bricks on the home’s facade with the seven-metre
high pixelated face brick wall dominating the entry. This imposing sculptural
feature wall uses Mowbray Blue dry pressed face bricks in a Flemish bond,
punctuated with random protrusions for a dramatic effect, which can be clearly
seen from street level but is best appreciated up close.
The use of PGH Mowbray Blue dry pressed face bricks for this application
was aligned with Jabbour’s appreciation for heritage building materials, and
which also blended well with the more contemporary elements used in the build, reinforcing
his belief that modern architecture can successfully borrow from the past and
still deliver into the future.
