A monogrammed trunk from Louis Vuitton. Solid gold bracelets from Cartier. The latest Apple watch. And a batch of premium designer bricks. Not often are these luxurious products available to procure in the same place, but as of this month they are all on offer to peruse and purchase from one of the world’s most glamorous shopping strips. Brickworks Building Products – the maker of super-fine construction materials and parent company of North America’s Glen-Gery Bricks – has opened the doors to its flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Rubbing shoulders with the likes of Rolex, Saks and Tiffany & Co, the studio welcomes the Big Apple’s brimming pool of design talent to consult with experts, specify spectacular products and – most importantly – stay inspired.
Lindsay Partridge, managing director of Brickworks, says the company is “thrilled” to have opened its global flagship on New York’s most famous shopping street among other legendary brands, a stone’s throw from famed buildings such as the Empire State and Chrysler. “[The Design Studio] is a pivotal milestone for Brickworks,” he declares, referencing the continued expansion of the brand in North America. “It’s an honour to bring our expertise to New York City, home to some of the most diverse, lively and iconic architectural structures in the world.”
Brickworks opens New York Design Studio on Fifth Avenue
Synching up with the ambience created in other Brickworks Design Studios, including in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, the New York showroom offers a light-filled canvas for the range of products to take centrestage. Set over two levels, walls of clear glass brick meet shimmering golden metallic surfaces. Product nooks filled with samples offer a modern take on apothecary-style drawers, beckoning visitors to touch and feel. And moveable consultation tables allow designers to lay-out their selections, backdropped by all-white surfaces.
It’s this ability to get up-close with Glen-Gery’s range that opens endless possibilities for trade professionals such as architects, designers, developers and builders. The studio features at least 20 product displays, including Glen-Gery’s 2022 releases, as well as international products from GB Masonry, Urbanstone and the award-winning ‘Kite Breeze’ breezeblock by celebrated Australian designer Adam Goodrum.
But as the suave-looking bar on the upper level suggests, Brickworks isn’t just about selling bricks. The company is well-regarded for spearheading industry events, architect speaker series’ and launching hefty monographs – all of which can be accommodated in the New York studio. Not confined to the limits of its four glittering walls, the showroom is also equipped with a state-of-the-art broadcast studio, offering a connection point with creatives from all around the world and a space to create engaging content for local and international audiences.
Brickworks New York Design Studio is located at 445 5th Avenue, New York.
glengery.com; brickworks.com.au
It’s an honour to bring our expertise to New York City, home to some of the most diverse, lively and iconic architectural structures in the world.
Brickworks Building Products is the owner of this masthead.
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After more than fifty years in operation, Jindal Mechno Bricks required an overhaul of its presence in Delhi. But the company’s second generation operators were seeking more than just a run-of-the-mill showroom. They were ready for an “intrinsic facelift” by way of a new thematic and modular design identity. Something that could be established at their flagship premises and then rolled out to any retail outlet in India and across the globe.
Since tapping local Delhi-based architecture office Renesa to undertake the ambitious project, Jindal’s dream has been realised through what is now known as The Brick Bond. Completed in late 2021, it’s an “experience centre” like no other, where the company’s core product – the humble brick – is placed at the very heart of its visual storytelling.
The Brick Bond in Delhi, India by Renesa Architecture
In line with what is expected of a showroom, The Brick Bond displays fine examples of brick in the best light – perched on sculptural plinths, counters and within recessed wall niches. The facility includes a main display area, as well as ancillary zones such as an office, bathroom and pantry section. However, the Renesa team flipped the script on showroom norms by also employing brick for all the surfaces that exist to showcase it, elevating the level of product promotion to new heights.
Surrounded by a bustling community of likeminded construction-based retail destinations, the renovation of the company’s design identity began with the facade. This starting point was chosen for its power in building a connection with consumers. “[The facade is] the primary interface of a visual connection that patrons establish with a retail destination,” says the Renesa team, helmed by founding architect Sanjay Arora.
Unassuming yet visually alluring, the uniformly punctured street-facing elevation of the premises now beckons visitors through its main portal. Headlined by the overlay of brick architecture, the facade treatment is a manoeuvre “that allows the core material to don a focal role,” the architects say, highlighting the way in which the bricks are just as memorable as the Jindal company logo that adorns them.
Considered India’s foremost manufacturer of modular bricks, Jindal carries with it a celebrated legacy of craftsmanship that the Renesa team wished to portray. Not just at The Brick Bond, but at all venues that follow in its wake. As such, the architects’ design impetus pivoted around the creation of a single “brand architectural ethos” that could define all showrooms; a design rulebook that informs not only the facade but the showroom beyond.
Focusing on the early lifecycle of each brick, from its earthly genesis to its firing, the architects carved out an interior aesthetic in Delhi that they say takes a “contemporary dive” by reinterpreting the chambers of a typical brick kiln. Expressed through a mix of brick bonding patterns, this reference has ensured the bricks will always be treated as the protagonist in the spatial scheme.
“With three distinct brick bond typologies, primarily across the facade, interior walls, floors and the vaulted ceiling, the architectural intervention focuses on exhibiting how the material can be utilised in an ingenious and malleable manner,” the architects suggest.
Displaying a warm spectrum of yellow, terracotta, brown and taupe, the floors, ceilings and walls are swathed in various brick modules that gain their distinct tints based on the firing levels the native clay undergoes. The palette tangoes with the natural light that percolates through the interstitial windows, creating what the architects refer to as “theatrical strobes of diffused illumination indoors”.
In a sense, The Brick Bond pays homage to the history of brick-making. But it also inspires a bright future – one which brims with “umpteen possibilities” in the arena of brick-led construction. Renesa’s decision to use brick for the foundations of the showroom allows visitors to connect with its sustainable, minimalistic and timeless qualities, forging a modular space that is “brand-specific and product-driven with its every weave” while at the same time dovetailed proudly with the Make in India initiative.
studiorenesa.com; makeinindia.com
The architectural intervention focuses on exhibiting how the material can be utilised in an ingenious and malleable manner.
Renesa Architecture also created the Tin Tin bar and restaurant in India. Catch up on more architecture, art and design highlights. Plus, subscribe to receive the Daily Architecture News e-letter direct to your inbox.