Concrete Block Style
Industrial flair: See why concrete brick isn't just for retaining walls anymore
Concrete Masonry Units — CMU for short, but also known as concrete blocks or cinder blocks — are basically oversized bricks (typically 8” deep by 8” tall by 16” wide). They usually serve utilitarian purposes: retaining walls, foundations, structural bearing walls. Yet if considered and used properly, they can be left exposed alongside other materials, giving a house a semi-industrial appearance while also saving some money on additional finishes — of course depending on climate.
The following photos illustrate CMUs in a variety of applications. Most of them are smooth-face blocks — the exposed face is relatively flat and most likely sealed. But they come in a variety of textures and finishes: ground-face or burnished blocks appear stone-like from the addition of aggregates in the concrete mix; split-face blocks have a rough face that protrudes further than smooth-face blocks. Additional variety comes in the form of color, the bonding, and the mortar color.
The following photos illustrate CMUs in a variety of applications. Most of them are smooth-face blocks — the exposed face is relatively flat and most likely sealed. But they come in a variety of textures and finishes: ground-face or burnished blocks appear stone-like from the addition of aggregates in the concrete mix; split-face blocks have a rough face that protrudes further than smooth-face blocks. Additional variety comes in the form of color, the bonding, and the mortar color.
This house by Ehrlich Architects in Venice, California is a fairly open rectangular box featuring a CMU wall extending the full length. The solid wall is pierced only by the fireplace, which is located beneath a walkway that leads to the upper floor. A look at the end of the wall ...
... shows how the wall actually extends outside past the large operable glass wall; this takes advantage of the Southern California climate. Note that the wood and steel structure rests upon this wall, indicating it is used structurally. Most likely the cavities of the wall, or vertical sections of it, are reinforced with steel rebar and grout, which helps make the wall more solid than just the standard the horizontal reinforcing.
Here is another house that places a stair next to a CMU wall. It appears that the single steel stringer under the folded steel treads and risers does most of the structural support for the stair, so the masonry wall is probably used for lateral support. Nevertheless the combination of concrete block wall, steel stairs, and steel grating creates a strong image of an industrial structure.
Last week when I looked at buildings using reinforced concrete, this house by Dick Clark Architecture in Texas was included. On the opposite side of the five-story residence concrete blocks prevail, set behind a protruding wood volume.
Compare the previous photo with this one: Both have large expanses of glass in CMU walls, but this house in Canada uses split-face block in a beige tone instead of smooth-face block in gray. In both cases the mortar is only a hair lighter than the block color, giving both walls fairly monolithic appearances. Nevertheless the differences in appearance between each is certainly strong.
In this renovation of a 1920s bakery warehouse — actually the architects' studio — the CMU walls were a given. The architects decided to offset the gray of these walls with "warm, refined materials." It is reminiscent of the Ehrlich project shown previously, especially the use of wood joists, which stand out against the gray concrete. A closer look ...
... shows how the concrete block walls can be used in a bathroom. Most likely a sealer is used to keep the water out of the porous blocks, but otherwise the masonry is left bare, a stark appearance that combines with the glass and openness to feel like an outdoor room.
This house in Washington State by Spore Architecture uses CMU walls alongside other materials. The gray surface allows the wood walls to stand out even more than they literally do. Inside ...
... the CMU walls define tall spaces and give them a loft-like feeling. Even if these walls or only self-supporting (not holding up any floors or roofs) they require vertical rebar in grout to stabilize themselves laterally. In the Pacific Northwest climate, considerations of climate are also important, pointing to the filling of CMU cavities with insulation.
Also in the Pacific Northwest, this house incorporates concrete masonry units selectively. Outside CMU walls extend from the house like arms; in this case a seating nook is created near the entrance. Inside ...
... a smaller nook lined in metal is created off the living room. This wall extends to the left towards the back door, parallel to the wall near the front door. In this house CMU is used as a means of orienting from front to back, while also containing fairly utilitarian spaces, such as the powder room and stairs.
This California house uses CMU in a common way, as a retaining wall. But it does it in a way that is less than expected. It integrates an entry gate with stairs behind the wall; it sits below two types of fencing (solid and clear); and it steps against the grain of the topography, as if to accentuate the height of the house and the amount of earth behind it.
This front yard of a mid-20th-century Eichler Home uses ground-face concrete blocks to give texture to the walls, which layer themselves and increase in height as one moves closer to the house, like a means of transition from public to private. This example uses stacked bonding, unlike the more typical running bond. Since the stacked bond does not gain structural strength from interlocking blocks, these walls — not retaining walls, but site features — most likely have some vertical reinforcing in their cavities and also horizontally between the rows of blocks.
More:
High Marks for Reinforced Concrete
Great Ways with Cor-Ten Steel
More:
High Marks for Reinforced Concrete
Great Ways with Cor-Ten Steel