By Rashmi Jha

• Interior Design Faculty

According to an old adage – Every Brick has A Story to Tell. The humble Brick has been a part of the earliest civilization, and has contributed a lot in terms of growth of human and how we have existed in the civilization. The age old trusted Bricks have evolved as the times passed based on the materials available, environmental conditions and requirements. The environmental concerns of the day have led to innovations which make our trusted brick more sustainable than ever before.

So what are the materials that can be utilized for the construction of the next generation brick?

Bricks having significantly lesser carbon footprints, may be manufactured from recyclable/waste materials, offers good thermal insulation, is environmentally sound, with minimum health hazards – are some prerequisites for bricks produced in a sustainable process. Designers and innovators have been actively exploring a variety of industrial wastes such as, Mycelium, Newspaper etc. to create revolutionary building blocks. Some of them are listed below-

Fly ash bricks are a great choice, with the popular GRIHA rating system promoting the use of fly ash in an attempt to get a second life to this post-industrial waste material.

FLY ASH BRICKS

Bio Brick -Another very interesting brick is that which can be grown on site – a rapidly renewable ‘bio brick’ which is made from mycelium (a type of mushroom species). A mycelium brick is an organic brick that is formed from organic waste and the mycelium of fungus. Mycelium when dried can be used as a super strong, water, mould and fire resistant building material that can be grown into specific forms, thus reducing the processing requirements.

BIO BRICKS

Pet Bottle Eco Bricks – A virtually non destructible creation of human – plastic is being used where we seek stability — in our walls. The simplest “Eco-Bricks” are very simply empty PET bottles filled with even more non-biodegradable material up to an optimum weight.

PET BOTTLE ECO BRICKS

Breathe Bricks – Now what if the walls could become vacuum cleaners for the environment? Prof Trudell’s ‘Breathe Brick’ does exactly that — the brick sucks up polluting particles while being a normal construction material , 30% of fine particles and a whopping 100% of coarse particles like dust. Other research is also pointing to a future where bricks could be made of material capable of harvesting solar energy and emitting light at night time. 

BREATHE BRICKS

Hempcrete bricks – An environmentally friendly alternative to concrete, ‘hempcrete’ is made of hemp, lime and water. The material is eco-friendly and carbon negative due to the amount of carbon dioxide stored during the growing and harvesting of the hemp.

Hempcrete Bricks

Recycled newspaper bricks: Two researchers from India have developed eco-friendly, energy efficient bricks made from recycled newspaper

Recycled Newspaper Brick

Many of these innovations are in the experimental stage. Some of them have begun production and are being used commercially. Initial huge costs, government policies , non coordination between agencies while sourcing raw material / waste to manufacture sustainable bricks are a few hindrances faced by these new age brick manufacturers.